National Merit Finalist clarification

<p>I'm a student in a very special circumstance: I'm a junior, but I took the PSAT last year and got a 216. I am now a Semi-Finalist becuase I marked that I would be enrolling in college fall of 2009. I am going to apply to the USC RHP program (early entrance) and three reach schools. If I get rejected from all of my schools though, I was going to finish my senior year and apply again (my resume would be much stronger after senior year) with safeties and whatnot. So that leaves three scenarios for NatMerit:
1) Finalist standing extends over two years and I don't have to take the PSAT again this year.
2) Finalist standing does NOT extend over two years and I have to retake the test (and be enrolled in the competition two times)
3) or, if option 2 is not allowed, choose just one year to do NatMerit (drop out this year and retake test, or finish competition this year and really really hope I get accepted to my schools)</p>

<p>I know this is really confusing (I barely just got a grasp on it myself) but any input would be appreciated. And if you need any clarification, just ask and I'll do my best to help. Thanks!</p>

<p>This is one for the 800 number at NMS! Call them. I doubt they would let you use it for two years or people would be hedging their bets all of the time. Also, check to see if getting it this year makes you ineligible for next year.</p>

<p>In my opinion, the whole scholarship process is about as opaque as it could possibly be.
My daughter scored 236 and didn't get a scholarship. The rest of her resume was good enough to make her a current student at Princeton. If I sound bitter, it is because a couple of thousand would have made a difference to us at our family income.
Best of luck.</p>

<p>Danas - Princeton does not participate in the NM program, so when you daughter decided to attend an non sponsoring school, she ruled herself out of the most common type of NM scholarship. The NMSC does give out 1500 awards of $2500. I think the most important factor in this is the combination of the PSAT and the SAT. Those students with the highest combinations along with high grades, essays, recs, etc. are the most likely to get the $2500. Again, it is only 10% of the finalists who get this award. </p>

<p>Over all, only about half of all finalists get money from the program because so many students choose to attend non participating schools.</p>

<p>I have a question on those $2500 scholarships that National Merit gives out. Once a student gets one of those, are they ineligible to get institutional National Merit scholarships? Are they allowed to deny it in favor of a college scholarship that might get them a lot more money?</p>

<p>College policies vary on this; you'll need to check with each college to which you are applying. I do not believe you are allowed to decline the NM-sponsored scholarship in favor of a college-sponsored scholarship as the instructions state: "No student will receive more than one scholarship offer from NMSC."</p>

<p>It is important to note how a scholarship is described at various colleges. At Ohio State, the institutional NM scholarship is $1000.00, so if someone wins the $2500 NM sponsored scholarship, they can take that instead--but--Ohio State also has an additional scholarship that is given to most NMF's that includes full tuition--it is independent of the National Merit scholarship program, so a student can accept that "distinguished" scholarship as well as a National Merit scholarship.</p>

<p>So, for example, when the New College of Florida says they'll give 17,500 dollars a year to National Merit Finalists, that's independent of the scholarship program? </p>

<p>That makes sense - otherwise, the policy'd be pretty unfair.</p>

<p>You still need to check. I heard reports last year of some colleges not offering their NM package to recipients of NM-sponsored scholarships.</p>