<p>Morp, 10 char</p>
<p>D got her letter on the 11th. Still no word from the school (even after she contacted them on the 2nd and they said that the whole office would keep an eye out for it).
M2CK- I think you have a good idea. It might be time to modernize their notification process!</p>
<p>Son received his letter last week also. School still hasn’t said anything to the kids although he did say one of his teachers said that they saw it mentioned in an email a few days ago.</p>
<p>Sorry, I think I posted on a different thread, didn’t mean to leave you hanging after you were so helpful! D got her home letter on Saturday. She is definitely a finalist. Yeayy!</p>
<p>Our school has not notified her or anyone else. They corrected the former press release on the one boy to state his advancement in the National Achievement contest. You’d think they would love to brag about the NMF’s, too. After all, this is is the first year we have had three all at once (I know this sounds laughable to those whose schools have hoards of NMF’s, but anyway…)</p>
<p>Do you know when the “official” offer will come from Alabama in writing? I’ve seen the potential offer but I’d like to see the real thing.</p>
<p>How does one change the school listed on the letter?</p>
<p>Do you know when the “official” offer will come from Alabama in writing? I’ve seen the potential offer but I’d like to see the real thing</p>
<p>=================</p>
<p>Debbie…</p>
<p>Congrats and what a relief! Again, more examples of complete craziness from America’s high schools and the NMSF/F process. I think some educators actually pooh-pooh the whole thing. :(</p>
<p>Your NMF award letter should come from Bama within a few weeks. All final scholarship award letters go out in early Spring (I think around the same time any FA offers go out), in time for students to review with other offers. I’m thinking early March…but can’t swear to that.</p>
<p>If you want a firm date, then send an email to:</p>
<p><a href=“mailto:lindsay.hutcherson@ua.edu”>lindsay.hutcherson@ua.edu</a> Lindsay will give you a more firm date as to when the official NMF offer will get sent.</p>
<p>Congrats!</p>
<p>How does one change the school listed on the letter? </p>
<p>HI Texas! you should call NMSF and ask for a new blank "first choice "card be sent to you. Your DS has until mid may to list his final first choice, so you may want to wait until he decides where he is going to college to let hem know. That’s what we did.</p>
<p>Debbie…</p>
<p>I just found out that Lindsay has been promoted to another dept… The person to contact is:</p>
<p><a href=“mailto:amber.capell@ua.edu”>amber.capell@ua.edu</a> but I think she’s out of the office today.</p>
<p>My son got his letter two days ago, the school has not said anything.</p>
<p>Boy, I have combed the threads here and still feel confused about how to “leverage” this. </p>
<p>It seems that I gather that what you want to do is review your child’s list of colleges, and name the “first choice” as the one who offers the most in NMF money/packages? How do you find this out, how much each college offers? I understand some don’t such as Haverford, but some do, such as Kenyon. Yet Kenyon lists their awards on their page as 2,000.00 Am I to assume that this that all they will offer?</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know the “etiquette” of using NMF offers as leverage with private LAC colleges…I mean do they just know you are getting offers, or at what point or where do you say, Gosh he really wants to attend here but the money offered at college B is tempting. Thanks</p>
<p>“and name the “first choice” as the one who offers the most in NMF money/packages?”</p>
<p>You dont have to do that until mid may, after he has received his acceptances and KNOWS where he wants to go to college. </p>
<p>'How do you find this out, how much each college offers?"</p>
<p>you have to do research my dear. here are good places to start:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/136920-full-rides-national-merit-finalists-scholars.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/136920-full-rides-national-merit-finalists-scholars.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html</a></p>
<p>“Also, does anyone know the “etiquette” of using NMF offers as leverage with private LAC colleges.”</p>
<p>You can attempt to do this after receiving the FA offers from the colleges that have offered acceptances. </p>
<p>.“.I mean do they just know you are getting offers”</p>
<p>NO, they dont.</p>
<p>"or at what point or where do you say, Gosh he really wants to attend here but the money offered at college B is tempting. "</p>
<p>After FA offers have been received .
College FA offices can be “prickly”- often they will only consider matching FA offers from “peer” colleges and many wont consider matching “scholarship” offers at all, even though $$ is $$. It often boils down to how much they want your kid, and how big a difference their FA offer is from the amount of the scholarship. So If you DS lands a full tuition scholarship from Alabama, for instance, but wants to go to Dartmouth, dont count on D budging their offer. But between 2 LACs- like a Pomona and Williams, they may very well match offers. YMMV, but that seems to be the pattern. It never hurts to appeal a FA offers respectfully, but dont count on colleges that DONT offer big NM scholarships to greatly adjust their FA offer. </p>
<p>A word to the wise- NEVER use the word “NEGOTIATE” when talking to colleges!! You are “APPEALING” their FA offer, in hopes of being able to afford to send DS there…</p>
<p>We received a letter from U of Oklahoma today. Interesting note they put in the letter stating that “Colleges and Universities are not notified of the student’s standing in the competition beyond the public announcement of SF.” I assumed that the schools would have been notified of finalist status but I guess that isn’t the case.</p>
<p>since most NMSF advance to NMF status, colleges may send out letters to all students who qualify for NMSF standing. Colleges dont know of Finalists status yet.</p>
<p>lauren624,
another good place to start is to go to NMSF </p>
<p>[National</a> Merit Scholarship Corporation](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/]National”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/)</p>
<p>and open up the 2010-2011 annual report - [a pdf doc]
[ click on the photo/ icon of the report. its listed under documents and guides] and scroll down to page 38, where it lists the colleges that enroll NMF’s . Look ONLY for colleges that have a * next to the number of students enrolled. ONLY colleges with *'s offer NMS scholarships.</p>
<p>Got my letter but schools haven’t responded yet. Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>*Boy, I have combed the threads here and still feel confused about how to “leverage” this. </p>
<p>It seems that I gather that what you want to do is review your child’s list of colleges, and name the “first choice” as the one who offers the most in NMF money/packages? How do you find this out, how much each college offers? I understand some don’t such as Haverford, but some do, such as Kenyon. Yet Kenyon lists their awards on their page as 2,000.00 Am I to assume that this that all they will offer?</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>I think you have until MAY 1st to name your first choice school, unless a school has an earlier deadline.</p>
<p>As for Kenyon…does it say $2k per year or is it one time? Does Kenyon just apply that to “need” so you really aren’t seeing any real benefit? many find that the school just gives less need-based aid.</p>
<p>*Also, does anyone know the “etiquette” of using NMF offers as leverage with private LAC colleges…I mean do they just know you are getting offers, or at what point or where do you say, Gosh he really wants to attend here but the money offered at college B is tempting. Thanks *</p>
<p>Schools know that there are some schools that offer huge NMF dollars. Most schools won’t really care about that, unless you’re a highly desirable prospective student and they have large scholarships to give out. </p>
<p>If the desired school mostly gives need-based aid, then it may not care what other merit offers you get. </p>
<p>If the schools that offer you more merit aren’t considered “peer schools,” then your desired school will not likely care</p>
<p>Highly desirable schools KNOW that high stats kids can get big merit elsewhere…so that’s why they generally aren’t going to match offers from lower ranking schools.</p>
<p>So I have a question, not sure if anyone will be able to help me with this…</p>
<p>I was named National Merit Finalist and the first choice school I listed was the University of Arizona. When I got my letter about becoming a finalist, it had information from the U of A which tells me that they for sure know that I listed them as first choice. But a few days ago, on my University of Arizona email account, I got an email from the University of Arizona Honors College that basically said “You are going to be awarded the National Scholars Award.” </p>
<p>I’m not sure if I should take this as official or not because it didn’t come from NMC…</p>
<p>What is Arizona’s NMF scholarship package? It could be that the school gives out a package that is mostly “unofficial” since it is not with NMcorp but given out independently by the school.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if I should take this as official or not because it didn’t come from NMC</p>
<p>=============</p>
<p>College sponsored NMF awards are usually announced to the student by the college. You will later get something from NMCorp about the official part of that scholarship, which is likely about a thousand dollars.</p>
<p>National Merit Finalist Award 2011-2012
Award Amount:
Arizona Scholars: $15,000 per academic year + one-time iPad!
Non-Arizona Scholars: $30,000 per academic year + one-time iPad!
Availability: Four consecutive years (8 semesters total) for fall and spring semesters only; based on academic year renewal requirements</p>
<p>or are you asking if you’re getting something else?</p>
<p>In a letter my son got regarding NM from U. of Oklahoma, it stated that “A Finalist may change his or her college choice in writing with NMSC as often as necessary between now and the end of the business day on April 24, 2012. Only the college listed with NMSC as of April 24, 2012 may sponsor the Finalist.” </p>
<p>The Finalist letters from NMSC state that they will begin mailing college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offers on April 25.</p>
<p>Just wanted to mention this as I had previously thought May 1 was the all-important date.
Obviously if a student’s chosen school does not give NM scholarship $, this date is not so important.</p>
<p>If you’re NMF and have UA as your school of first choice then you’ll get the UA National Scholars award. That comes from UA, and not from the National Merit folks so your notice from Honors is legit. </p>
<p>It’s $15K/yr for Arizona residents ($30K/yr for non-residents), and it includes an iPad 2 and a one-time $1500/yr award that you can use for study abroad at any time in your four years. It’s guaranteed for four years as long as you maintian a 3.0GPA and take 30 UA units per academic year. </p>
<p>So congrats on the award - it’s a pretty sweet deal!</p>