Received in SC!
D18 received her letter today in California - she is a Finalist! Still no word from the school, though.
Congrats to everyone who made finalist! My daughter received her letter today in California. She is thrilled and I’m very proud and happy for her. It is an amazing achievement, but sadly I don’t think it will help with any of the schools she’s interested in.
We recd. the letter in mail today in VA. No news from school yet but then they had 159 Semifinalists so probably will take time.
Received the letter in mail today in MA. No news from Principal yet. Wait is over!
Received the letter in Austin, TX. No news from school yet. Happy now!
Received the acceptance letter from CA and school.
Will NMSC release a list?
Received letter in NC confirming finalist status. One day after informed delivery scan showed it.
Received my letter in NH today! 
No word from school yet.
@AggieMom68 They do not release a list of Finalists since 90% of semi-finalists make it to finalist (they reasoning).
None of the papers in our state released a list of SFs this year. They might list the scholarship winners in March for those few that make it.
Letter in the mail today did not show in informed delivery.
At this point if you haven’t received a rejection letter can you assume that you are a finalist??
We heard from principal on Tuesday, received letter at home on Thursday —St Louis suburb.
Son was told at school yesterday, but not given any letter or certificate. Received letter at home today. Yay! Northern MN.
No letter in our mailbox yet (NY), but son received an email yesterday from the guidance counselor congratulating him. His classmate received a letter already, so I guess our mail delivery is just slow.
Received letter in Arizona…D19 is finalist!
@catmomof3 Normally, I’d say if you hadn’t received a rejection letter that you were safe, but there was that strange case last year where the parents of a NMSF hid the rejection letter from him because it was a stressful time in his life and they were hoping to save him some grief. They managed to make it worse as he had hopes for another few weeks looking for the acceptance letter.
So, I’d assume you’re in unless your mail service is bad or people hide mail from you. Regardless, you should hear soon or will be able to call NMC very soon to confirm.
So will all 15000 Finalists automatically get at least the $2500 Scholarship?
Same question as @fly4wind
@fly4wind and @anthonydavis23 - the answer to your question is a resounding “no,” and this is where lots of confusion comes in. Only 2,500 of the 15,000 receive the one time award that is good anywhere. Another approximately 1,000 receive an award from a sponsoring corporation (you need to have some connection to the company - usually a parent working there to be considered).
For the rest of the Finalists, the only way to become a Scholar is to select one of the schools that sponsors an award as your first choice by their deadline (usually May 1st, but it could be sooner)… Around 4,000 kids do this every year. That accounts for the 7,500 National Merit Scholars out of the 15,000 Finalists. The other 7,500 kids get nothing other than recognition as a Finalist. Being named a Finalist is a big deal for families that are targeting schools that give big awards to attract Scholars. It means next to nothing for the vast majority of other Finalists (even the $2,500, while a nice honor, is a drop in the bucket in the context of a $300,000 private school education, assuming no demonstrated financial need).