Today’s mail brought an in invitation to UKentucky’s Merit Weekend. S has already applied, and been accept. I will let the site’s ‘veterans’ speculate whether or not colleges get advance notice of finalists. I have no idea, but wondered if UK would extend invitations before knowing whether or not semifinalists had made it to finalist? The timing may be coincidence, of course.
Good question @2009Refugee! My D got the Merit Weekend invitation in the mail today also…Since we are OOS sure don’t want to pay that registration and required pre-enrollment fee for Merit Weekend unless D is a NMF…so more waiting
^ DS got one of those UK mailings, too, but he hasn’t been home to open it. Also, it looks like Baylor called him. Both NMF-only options for DS, but I figured they just start putting the hard-court-press on NMSFs about now.
Maybe somebody more knowledgeable about this will post here.
** OMGosh! I just had a Flash-Back to the infamous “Carleton Mailing” discussed ad nauseam on the main 2015 NMSF Cut-Off Thread back in the fall! ** Who remembers that? I don’t think we every concluded if Carleton somehow “knew” who was a NMSF, did we?
That just brought back some memories. What a crazy few days those were.I was stress-eating Candy Corn then, as I recall.
We didn’t get the Carleton mailing OR the recent UofK one, X_X
Us either @pamom21. Cookie?
Um sure, thanks! :x
I do take comfort in the fact that he really did make SF, LOL!
No UofK mail here, either, although it’s possible it’s in GoAskDad’s mailbox.
No @Barfly. It is in @GoAskDad 's neighbor’s mailbox.
OK, full stop on this speculation. It is not specific to Natl Merit, and looks like it was sent to S because he had already applied. Put down anything sugary! 
Chips, anyone?
Nothing from Carleton or UK here either.
It would make sense the colleges would get a sneak peak at the NM Finalist list if the NM Corporate Sponsors were given one.
Oh, good point, @Joe2015. A little perk from NMSC to let the NM sponsor schools get a leg up on recruiting the NMFs. I forgot about that earlier post indicating that the corporate sponsors had intel.
I have a friend…cough, cough…who received a couple of pieces of mail that were invitations to national scholar programs for schools to which the friend did not apply. The friend’s parents wondered if the schools had preliminary lists or if all semifinalists were being called National Scholars. The friend’s parents are also suffering from mailbox denial syndrome. Junk mail in the friend’s name today sent the mother’s heart almost through the floor to the other side of the earth…a return address away from the defibrillator. May the next two weeks fly by.
NMSC mails the first pool of names to their designated first choice colleges beginning in March. I do not think colleges get any other notification of finalist status. In fact, one of the schools D applied to 2 years ago asked her to send a copy of the certificate for verification before March. However, I guess it wouldn’t preclude the college calling NMSC with a list of their semifinalist applicants to ask about their NMF status or even calling the student’s high school after the Feb 2nd date when NMSC mails the certificates to the high schools.
Also, Corporate-sponsored scholarships are announced in March while mailings for college-sponsored scholarships do not get sent until starting May 1st so the timelines are different.
You all are getting giddy here. I think it’s the end of the wait and relief seeping in.
Have to agree with 2009refugee. The UK mailing is for a special weekend for ‘high-achieving’ (not necessarily NMSF) admitted students. Refers to the UK portal, not being able to change major designation at the event, etc. Another way to get these kids to visit and wow them so they’ll choose UK over alternatives. They are running the show 3 times in March.
AND soak the parents. Fee to attend is $250 plus $30 per guest. That pays for the parking. OK, it pays for lunch one day too (prime rib and prawns?) Partially refundable later if you don’t enroll in the fall- $125. The kids register there for their fall classes, so get some scheduling priority this way. Take the foreign language placement exam between sessions. Supposed to do the math placement online before the weekend for registration purposes. Hmm, maybe it’s actually for kids who are pretty serious about UK, the more I read it. I wonder if all honors acceptances go out before then.
Something similar came from UCF a few days back, though maybe got pitched before anyone took a good look at it, so not sure what it was about. They send SO much stuff. Stacks. They have a Scholar’s Day/Pres Dinner event in March. These guys are all copying each other. I wonder how much they charge for their shindig.
Agree with @celesteroberts. Hate to be Debbie Downer but the UCF mailer said something like, “if you are named National Merit Semifinalist instead of Finalist please contact UCF to see what other scholarships are available”.
Yikes! Guess I should happy I didn’t get the UCF update? Could be because S already applied, so no need to continue to encourage him. I will say that the SF event in November at UCF was very nice, and other than the plane fare down, totally free.
I agree that the UKy Merit Weekends are better suited for those who either have Kentucky as their top choice or are seriously considering attending. The biggest advantage IMO is students who know they will be attending UKy can register for classes, get their student ID, etc well ahead of other incoming freshman. Merit Weekend takes the place of any summer orientation session, so the students would be all set until K week starts in August.
Positive thoughts to those still hoping for “limited mail”. Every day is that much more good vibes!! [-O<
Thank you, @Wolverine86. We certainly can’t pull the trigger on a UKy visit in this house until we know sbout NMF, but I appreciate the info. We’re snacking on various candy & junk food items here on this thread while we wait. Did you happen to bring the chicken wings? 