National Merit Scholars

<p>Hmm, I never sent in my first-choice college card b/c I figured I wouldn't be going to any of the colleges they listed. Bad idea? Am I ineligible to receive any sort of money now?</p>

<p>I got a scholarship as well...jenz129, when I didn't send my card in, the people at NMS called me and asked for the info.</p>

<p>Jenz129, I also got a call from NMS when I didn't list my college because I knew Yale wouldn't give me any money. I told the NMS woman my college right over the phone. However, I don't think you can get the $2500 if you don't list a school, because it said in the letter that the scholarship was specifically for my use at Yale. You need to fill out a separate form if you change your college choice.</p>

<p>Darkofnight, thanks for the congrats! After I got in EA, I didn't even bother applying anywhere else and I withdrew my only other application, Stanford. I figured, this is where I want to go, period, no matter where else I get in.</p>

<p>According to the [url=<a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php#merit%5Dwebsite%5B/url"&gt;http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php#merit]website[/url&lt;/a&gt;] "Winners are selected without consideration of family financial circumstances, college choice, or major and career plans." So it sounds like you don't need a first choice college listed. </p>

<p>Is it too late to get a letter? I mean, if they've made it all the way to so-cal... :(</p>

<p>So I guess I'll wait til I hear back from all of my schools and then I'll send in my first-choice college? If I send my card in by mid-April, what are my chances of getting a scholarship?</p>

<p>Zeller-I'd call them up. I've heard that they're very friendly + helpful on the phone.</p>

<p>zeller i just got my letter today and i know a lotta cali people who dont know about it yet</p>

<p>I'll do that. I'm not sure how much information they will be willing to divulge, but it's worth a try.</p>

<p>jenz129, based on the information on the packet, listing a first choice college only matters for the college scholarship so your chances aren't changed for the $2,500 scholarship or the corporate one. They send out notices to colleges from March 1 to May 31. I imagine the sooner a college recieves notice that it is your first choice the more likely it will be to offer you an award if it only offers a certian number of awards. Of course, it depends on which college you list, some give awards automatically.</p>

<p>I got 2k per year, renewable for 4 years, from the company my dad works for. I was really surprised to find out so early (we got my letter about 2 weeks ago), but I'm thrilled...I didn't think I'd get anything. Congrats to all the other winners!</p>

<p>I believe that the college that is mentioned on your NMS letter can be changed, by letting them know as soon as you have decided. We received an NMS letter listing a certain school, and they want the Reply Form back by April 1st. They have stated though that we can change the school :

[quote]
...this scholarship may be used at another institution; however, if you change the college you will attend, you must report the change to NMSC as soon as your college plane are firm.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I just called and the lady I talked to said that the $2,500 scholarship letters were sent on March 24. She also said they would take 3-10 days (!) to arrive. Seeing as how I live in Nebraska, I can't imagine it would take that long for a letter to arrive, but hey, I'll keep my hopes up.</p>

<p>She also said that having a first-choice college listed didn't matter for the $2,500 scholarship since it can be used anywhere.</p>

<p>NMSC only awards 2500 of these out of 1.3 million entrants, I had no idea that NMSC was so exclusive. I did the math that is only 2 NMS out of 1000 entrants</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I believe the math is that there are approx. 15,000 NM finalists - and there are approx. 8,000 scholarships to award - spread between the $2500 one-time awards, the corporate-sponsored awards (announced to winners starting about 2 weeks ago), and the college-issued awards.</p>

<p>beachy wrote "8,000 scholarships to award "</p>

<p>I read that but I believe that NMSC only dictates 2500 awards (denoted by the "registered trade mark"), and the other donor entities (corp, school) dictate the other "special circumstance awards"</p>

<p>Wouldn't this indicate that the 2500 were actually endorsed by NMSC?</p>

<p>(cut an pasted from NMSC website.)</p>

<p>National Merit® $2500 Scholarships</p>

<p>Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards</p>

<p>College-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>A large number of the corporate awards are actually dictated by NMSC - the company puts up the funds for X scholarships for children of its employees (or students in a city where it operates, or whatever criteria it wants), but it lets NMSC actually pick the winners, according to the guidelines it has set up...that way the firm has no hand in the actual decision-making, thus there are no charges of nepotism, or sour grapes to worry about. Also, it's possible that a number of these awards that may go to non-NM finalists - they would be commended or semis, but they meet all the company's other criteria, and the firm wants to give a certain number of awards, but doesn't get enough NM finalists to fill the slate.</p>

<p>That's what my D got, a corporate-sponsored award. She did not even make it to semis last year with a PSAT of 221.</p>

<p>It was mailed out on March 22, and you will probably have to fax it back for it to reach Illinois by April 1st. Don't know there is such a small window, but when I called them they said, do not mail, just fax.</p>

<p>beachy Thanks for you help</p>

<p>no thanks necessary, renotse - I figure we're all in this together!</p>

<p>Yay, I got one of the $2500 national merit scholarships.</p>

<p>i didn't even make finalist...ima go slit my wrists now</p>

<p>peace all</p>