<p>Today, I received a letter notifying me that I am a National Merit Finalist, and I selected Chicago as my first choice school. </p>
<p>According to the letter, "We [NMSC] will begin mailing National Merit Scholarship offers to winners at their home addresses in March."</p>
<p>If I receive a college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship, will I still be informed in March if I applied regular notification?</p>
<p>Late March/early April, depending on when Chicago mails things out. It shows up on your financial aid statement.</p>
<p>Actually, you get notification of the award from National Merit, even if it's one of the Chicago-sponsored awards ($1K/year for students not receiving need-based aid and 2K for those who do) rather than the $2500 one-time award. Notifications for those National Merit awards comes later than the offers of merit scholarships (which I think come with the RD acceptance letters; EA applicants who get one of those awards receive notification about the time of the RD decisions and before the National Merit award).</p>
<p>Then, the actual money shows up as a credit on your quarterly bills.</p>
<p>Hmm, I seem to recall my NMS scholarship coming with my Chicago acceptance packet in the folder with the financial aid offer. I think I was notified by National Merit as well. Perhaps they've changed things recently.</p>
<p>Is it recommended to let the colleges you applied to know you are a National Merit Finalist? The app. mentioned I was a semifinalist, but is it worth it to update them with an Email or something? Thanks.</p>