National Merit Finalist (Class of 2019) - rejection/acceptance letter

Paying for College National Merit Aid
441

@mountainmomof3 – it will only matter if he is still in the running for the $2,500 National award. If so, then NMSC would need to know to send it to Delware if he gets it. If not, then it absolutely does not matter what you do with his first choice, since he is not going to be a NMS and NMSC is not going to send any money anywhere because he is not going to enroll at a sponsoring school. You can leave it as it is, change it to undecided, change it to Delaware, or change it to any other school in the country. The effect will be the same – no action by NMSC, and he will simply be one of the 7,500 NMFs who do not become a Scholar.

If you have not been notified that he is not receiving the $2,500 National award, I would change the first choice to Delaware just to be safe, whether or not it would stack with what he is getting from Delaware. It won’t hurt, and could possibly net you an additional $2,500.

Congratulations on finally reaching your destination!!! :slight_smile:

442

So a couple of nights ago I finally placed USC as my first choice school. How long after the designation is set with NMSC send it to the school, and when can I expect to heat back from USC on if I am getting awarded (I am assuming it won’t be when they publish their admission decisions this weekend)

443

@NJDad00 - thanks for the help! He went ahead and switched it just in case. Not sure what will happen since he is already at 100% COA plus.

And yes, very happy to be decided finally (for good this time!) Funny how this process plays out. ?

444

Does anyone know when the winners of the $2500 scholarship will be released?

445

It’s up. If you log into the portal, there is a “message” for you to click open.

446

And folks getting sponsor school scholarships are not notified until May??

447

I don’t see a message — where is it?

448

It’s right on the front page when you log in. It’s a new #4. Only the ones receiving the $2500 award will see it.

449

Guess that explains it! Thank you!

450

Are National Merit scholarships mailed to our physical addresses? I was checking my mailbox all week and had no idea that it was online

451

@ThinkOn or @Carolinasun can you provide the link to the portal you’re talking about ?

452

https://osa.nationalmerit.org

453

Thanks

454

@SnowShadow It’s the link where the student submitted the application for NMSF.

https://osa.nationalmerit.org/

Good luck everyone!!

455

question - do the college-sponsored award and the national merit $2500 stack up or is it either of those only?

456

@AggieMom68 I hope someone can answer your very good question. My twins are attending schools that are unaffiliated with NM corp…

457

It’s either one or the other. Same with corporate NM awards.

458

From the letter sent in Feb:
“Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in 2019; no Finalist can receive more than one award.”

The 3 types are

  1. 2500 single-payment $2500 Nat’l Merit Scholarships offered on a state representational basis
  2. Corp /business sponsors will make awards to eligible finalists who are the children of employees or who plan to enter specific careers, etc.
  3. Eligible finalists may be considered for noe of ~4000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.
    Sponsor Corps/colleges are here: https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/merit_sponsor_leaflet.pdf?gid=2&pgid=61&sessionid=6df1a2ba-99f9-4dcb-86d8-ccd0ee5ff738&cc=1

FWIW, my son has no #4 on his front page. Guessing that means he did not get the #1 type of scholarship.

459

Makes sense. My D is undecided as she has applied to many NM colleges and has few college-sponsored scholarships on hand. She does not have #4 option on the portal.

460

Do check with colleges that offer scholarships to National Merit Finalists. Some parts of the scholarship might be sponsored by NM. That’s the part that can’t be stacked with corporate/NM $2500