National Merit

Test Preparation
21

<p>I may have misunderstood the original question. The notification I am talking about is with regard to National Merit Semifinalist/Finalist designations and NM scholarships, not reporting PSAT scores. </p>

<p>If you are identified as a NM semifinalist, you will receive a packet and application to complete as part of the process of selecting finalists. Part of that packet is a form on which you designate your "first choice" college. That selection can be changed until the time when the actual National Merit scholarships are awarded (they are in the process of doing that now for 2007 awards), but many schools with special scholarships want you to make that designation by March 1st (as a sign of commitment, I guess). </p>

<p>The process is pretty well explained at the National Merit website (<a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/)%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nationalmerit.org/)&lt;/a>. It's worth reviewing the information they have to offer.</p>

<p>Good Luck.</p>

22

<p>okay i think i understand all of that PennilessParent.
and i think i'll probably get SF when the time comes so i'll remember your advice</p>

<p>however, i recently recieved something from the national merit people saying basically that i am in the competition (meaning i'll be either commended or sf) and that i need to pick 2 schools
these schools are separate from the two schools i pick if/when i get semi?</p>

23

<p>That is correct. The 2 school you pick now is just to let the school know that you are interested in them. If you get semi, then the first choice pick will be very important regarding scholarship.</p>

24

<p>I'm not sure whether or not I should send my stuff to Ivies anymore... since they don't care.</p>

25

<p>Ivies are flooded with candidates with amazing stats so they normally do not care much about National Merit. However, it will not hurt to send to those Ivies that you consider.</p>

26

<p>Maybe I'll just send one to a reach and one to a match school. Thank goodness I still have time to think about this.</p>

27

<p>Still deciding where to send mine, Caltech and Olin will probably have a flood of them coming in pretty soon. Can someone confirm that UCs don't care about it?</p>

28

<p>Don't send to UC's. I am positive they don't care about these things.</p>

29

<p>I know one of my schools is columbia</p>

<p>should i send the other to pomona or stanford? im prob more interested in stanford, but is that one of those schools thats just flooded with these msgs</p>

30

<p>I chose Rutgers and WUSTL, two schools that work with national merit, although WUSTL won't count for anything because the schools that will give you money for PSATs demand that you make them your first choice before they offer you a scholarship.</p>

<p>YOU ALL SHOULD BE VERY CAREFUL HOW YOU USE YOUR FIRST CHOICE - IT MIGHT DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT YOU GET MONEY AT THAT SCHOOL (THAT IS, IF YOU'RE NOT IN A TOP-TIER SCHOOL THAT DOESN'T OFFER MERIT AID)</p>

<p>besides, schools will know if you're interested in them if you send them any old sat scores.</p>

31

<p>Yale and Johns Hopkins</p>

32

<p>tothemax, I don't know if I would recommend sending them to ivy leagues. They don't really care. They get thousands of these letters. I wouldn't send it to stanford either, since they're just like the ivies. Too many people send to them.</p>

33

<p>i know that sending to ivies dont help but it makes me feel better and i dont want to go to any other school besides yale</p>

34

<p>well, if you want to be able to get money at your safety if you don't get into yale, then put safeties as your choices</p>

35

<p>Do not worry about scholarship money at this round. When you make finalist later you will be asked to put down one school and that will be the one for scholarship. This time is just to indicate to those two schools that you are interested in them.</p>

36

<p>but if you put down "one", what do these colleges mean by "first" choice?</p>

37

<p>I'm really confused. My friends who got lower scores than I did (they got 96th percentile, I got 99th) received NM letters, but I didn't... Am I right that this is weird?</p>

38

<p>Yeah it is weird. Ask your school, it's probably just a funky mistake. Also if there was an asterick next to your score on the score report, it means you didn't qualify for NM for some funky reason like not being a citizen or in the 11th grade.</p>

39

<p>Nope, I'm a US citizen AND a junior... I'll wait a couple more days, just in case my guidance counselor is behind, and then ask.</p>

40

<p>Middlebury & Brown</p>

<p>Btw... if your username is "ToHarvard-Ihope," then why didn't you send your scores there? Kind of funny. Just wondering.</p>