From the numbers I have seen, only about half the national merit finalists get any money. And that includes the kids who get money from colleges and corporate sponsored awards. So about half the finalists will get nothing in terms of money.
It doesn’t help you get into the very top colleges, as they could probably fill an entire class with NMFs, nor does it give you merit money, as these schools don’t have to offer merit aid. But if you’re chasing merit, don’t overlook your state flagship, as well as slightly below tip top LACs, such as Skidmore, Oberlin, Bryn Mawr, etc.
"If that is the case, one should need to name the top school choice as early as possible to increase the chance of getting the scholarship. "
that is NOT the case with USC.
NM Scholarships are automatic.
I am repasting the comments of the Admissions Dean regarding WHEN students need to let NMSC know of their first choice school, with Caps added for emphasis.
“Students don’t need (and never have had) to tell NMSC before May 1 that we are their first choice and I believe that NMSC allows students to change their designation anytime between now and the end of May. Bottom-line is that as long as we receive a roster from NMSC with an admitted student’s name on it indicating a USC first-choice, he or she will be awarded a Presidential, REGARDLESS of when that roster comes to us.”
“The last I knew, roughly 15/16 of all NMSF qualified as NMF. Of that group, I think about half receives money. Is that right?”
Yes but ONLY if they enroll at a college that sponsors NMSC, OR has a parent who works for a company that sponsors NMSC, OR is one of the 2500 or so tip-top students who recieve one time $2500 scholarships directly from NMSC, and not from a college or corporation.
So of the many NMF’s who end up enrolling at HYPS, etc, only those that are also awarded corporate or one time awards are counted among the 8000 NMScholar annual total.
"So about half the finalists will get nothing in terms of money. "
That’s because of the parameters listed above.
http://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/annual_report.pdf?gid=2&pgid=61
see pages 13-16 for listings of NMScholars, and the colleges they attend.
Agree with menloparkmom. To my list in #39, I should have added the possibility of students receiving a National Merit Scholarship directly from their college.
It doesn’t take long for a student who is NMSF to fill out the form to become NMF. I think it is probably worth it, even if the student does not get money in the long run–if only for the benefit of the local school, that tends to want to brag about its number of NMFs.
Odds of receiving money go up if the student wants to go to a college that gives scholarship money to NMFs (obviously), or if the student qualifies for one of the corporate or community-restricted scholarships.
I think that a student who has a PSAT score that qualifies for NMF in all 50 states, and has the grades and course rigor to go with it, along with a pretty good EC record has a good chance of receiving one of the $2500 scholarships directly from NMSC. There is a fairly large gap between the PSAT cut-offs for NMSF in the “easiest” states vs. the “hardest” states. I would guess that the NMSC awards factor in the PSAT score quite heavily, for a student who doesn’t qualify for one of the limited-eligibility scholarships.
I noticed from the document linked by menolparkmom that they are currently saying that about 90% of NMSFs advance to NMF status (rather than the 15/16, the figure I had commonly heard earlier).
Another interesting item: For students who are eligible for a corporate-sponsored scholarship, but who do not become NMFs, there are “special” scholarships, awarded directly by the corporations, to the tune of about $10 million, in the report mentioned in #43. My guess is that these mainly go to Commended Scholars–students who would have met the cut-off PSAT score if they lived in one of the easier states, but did not reach it in their particular state.
Precisely - and of course this means the NMF’s who end up enrolling at HYPS that do not also get corporate or one-time awards, but still get full, or at least significant need-based aid, are NOT counted. And for a significant percentage of students at these schools, the need based aid can dwarf the merit aid they may have gotten had they chosen another school.
^^ if they are lucky enough to get accepted.
It’s a very nice honor to have, but the reality is that at the most competitive universities, there are many applicants with stellar standardized test scores, so it does not really set you apart. At those schools, there is a demand for students with talents that are not reflected in standardized tests, as well, so the NMF is just not the be-all-to-end-all. There are some very good state flagship schools that like to advertise how many NMF they have, it helps at those universities.
It is a small plus.
I think some schools do keep track of how many NM scholars they are accepting. They would probably prefer to avoid having the number of NM scholars accepted fall significantly compared to prior years. If the number is down this year and they have some NM scholars in their pool of candidates that are close, they may decide to add a few more. I don’t think they will reach very far though.
Yes. It always made me question the “N” in NMSF.
^^^well that gap is a lot smaller with the new PSAT
I asked an admissions officer at a top college whether it hurt to list another school as your first choice with National Merit. It was a LONG time ago, but he said that since his college doesn’t give money for NMFs, they thought it was perfectly reasonable for a student to list a college which does give $ as first choice. They do NOT assume that if a student does this, his/her first choice for NM purposes is really his/her first choice.
Certain colleges may offer NMFs scholarship above the limits set by the NM organization. The website states:
Meaning NM will only pay up to $2000 per year for each “scholar” at a college. Some colleges (USC for example) offer a much higher award to NMFs and that money comes out of their own merit award money. As noted above, USC says they offer NMFs Presidential awards. I believe that was the same for my kid at his school. As far as I recall, he was not named a NM scholar, but just got a bigger merit award. Not sure if students getting those awards are included in the 50% scholarship statistic. A lot of students choose to got to a school that does not give any merit money, even to NMFs.
I certainly would not consider USC (ranked 21 by USNWR) second tier. Many excellent schools still give merit aid to NMFs.
But keep in mind, it’s PSAT based. For a most selective, no matter how many applicants have it, what matters more is the actual SAT/ACT, the rest of stats and rigor and how the applicant presents in the app and supp.
In my daughter’s school, there is a very strong correlation between those who become NMSF and those who end up in good schools because of their GPA/rigor/ECs etc. So I wouldnt dismiss it as “just PSAT-based”. Honestly, its the only standardized test ALL kids at each cohort take. In other words, the kids who make it to NMF are usually the kids you would expect to do so. If the exclusive colleges dont factor NMF status heavily, its probably because they see dozens of them anyway.
Bowdoin, (like Carleton, mentioned upthread) gives $2000/yr for NMF, even though they don’t give other “merit”.
Also, if you are likely to have any need-based aid in your package Bowdoin is VERY generous when it comes to the students’ use of OUTSIDE scholarships. They do not limit the amount, like other schools do, to the aid you would otherwise get through loans/work-study, and do not lower the college grant. Student can truly use outside scholarships to help pay the ‘students/family’ portion. Son at Bowdoin. Daughter at Hamilton - if her outside scholarship earnings exceeded her loans/ws, then they would lower the need-based school grant - - this is how most schools do it. Would be worth looking in a year for some additional scholarship $$ for her, since will be down to 2 in college and the allowable loan portion of the package increases…but for now her scholarships equal the loan/ws portion, and it wouldn’t have benefited her to have more.
DS was offered a NMF scholarship from a school he chose not to attend. Since he declined he won’t be counted in the 50% who are NMF scholars. It was the school he listed as first choice on his NMF list.
USC may use the May 1 deadline but the chatter in NMF boards is that some schools start getting NMF lists with preferences in March and have an earlier cut off.
There are schools that offer their own $ to NMF which is separate from the NMS corporation $. At those schools you can often stack NMF $ (either any school or school specific scholarship).
Such informative replies, made this process a bit more clear for me and probably many more like me. Thank you for taking time to help others.