<p>Are there any National Merit Finalists that are going to GW? What do you know about scholarships?</p>
<p>Also, I got my financial aid package last week and it included a presidential scholarship. I'm a NM Finalist and I just changed my first choice school to GWU, so can I expect an additional scholarship from them? Or would it just replace my presidential scholarship?</p>
<p>Hi Octopod, I’m a National Achievement Finalist as well, and they gave me the GW Board of Trustees Scholarship for the amount of $20,000. I was actually wondering the same thing as you, cause I still haven’t received the e-mail talking about need-based financial aid. Hopefully they decide to be generous in the final package!</p>
<p>Just curious though, how did you change your first-choice school for National Merit? I originally put down Georgetown, but now that GW is my top choice, I would like to change it as well before the 15th =)</p>
<p>I downloaded this form:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Col_Ch_Mer.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Col_Ch_Mer.pdf</a></p>
<p>and faxed it in.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard anything from them yet, so I don’t know if they notified GWU yet.</p>
<p>Also is the Board of Trustees for national merit? Or was that just for merit?</p>
<p>octopod: I believe Board of Trustees is just for merit because I received it and I am definitely not a National Merit Finalist. Hope this helps. ~</p>
<p>@insomniac: it does, thanks</p>
<p>Because today I saw this on their website:</p>
<p>Important Notes on Combining Merit Aid (Including the GW Guaranteed Grant & BOT Scholarship): You may meet the qualifications for several awards, but only one may be accepted. Your merit award will be reduced by the amount of any GW-sponsored National Merit Scholarship Award.</p>
<p>Which I assume means that even if I do get a National Merit scholarship from them, it wouldn’t change the total amount of money I’m receiving, just where the money comes from.</p>
<p>Yes, I think it means that the FA plan they have given you is it; now it’s only a question of the source of this money. Let’s suppose they may have given you a Presidential Scholarship worth the same amount of money as a National Merit Finalist Scholarship. GW leaves you with the choice of which one to take. But you can’t have both because for them, it would an astronomical amount if every student did that.</p>
<p>Yep!</p>
<p>I’m just hoping I got in a loophole since I’ve already been offered a presidential scholarship, and now I’ve reported GWU as my National Merit school.</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll luck out and get both!</p>
<p>Hey! I’m a Nat’l Merit Finalist too, and I had to go through the ringer to get the answer from GWU, but here’s what they told me:</p>
<p>Even though on the website it says that Finalists get $x per year if they name GW as their first choice, I was told awards have nothing to do with naming the school as their first choice. They said that, as Nat’l Merit Scholars, they assume that we have the test scores and GPA to qualify for a Presidential Scholarship, which will of course be true in 99.9% of cases. I was told that there isn’t even a specific “National Merit Scholarship” that they give out because of that assumption, so they will not add another award on top of what you’re already getting. What you have now is what you’re getting.</p>
<p>Kinda stinks, I know. 
I wish it were different!</p>
<p>Bummer :/</p>
<p>Oh well, getting a Presidential Scholarship is pretty nice on its own. Just would have been nice to get another scholarship on top of that.</p>
<p>I was going to say: “Good luck octopod! Hope you get both; you definitely deserve them.” … until I saw GeminiRising’s post … 
That is a true bummer. Still, from what I have heard, Presidential Scholarships come in large amounts, which hopefully makes the school affordable for everyone who gets a PS. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, you guys know you have accomplished a lot by being a National Merit Finalist!!! I only know one person who is a finalist as well.</p>