A big AMEN to that @suzy100!
@LMHS73 Thank you for posting the Presidential Scholar comment – I’d never heard of it and it turns out DS qualifies and will be invited to apply as well. Thank you so much. I think that perhaps because he didn’t include his SS or perhaps because it was a ‘State’ sitting for the ACT, it didn’t fold into the automatic invitations. THANK YOU!!
@goinggoing Since I’ve gotten SO much great information from all of the different posters on these threads, I’m glad that I was able to pass something along as well. Good luck to you and your S!
@saismom So it sounds like that UCF scholarship for NMFs is a much better deal for in-state students than it is for OOS?
It is a good deal for anyone really!
I missed the origin of the Presidential Scholarship. Where can one access information on this? Thank you!
Candidate list is here. For guys, need perfect test scores. For girls, especially in smaller states, a highish 35 may be good enough:
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/psp/index.html
Edited to add- no scholarship. Just the honor and a visit to DC if you make the final cut.
Look to Pres Scholar website for history. There used to be $, not much, but a little. Now it is about the trip and getting to meet government hot shots.
“For guys, need perfect test scores. For girls, especially in smaller states, a highish 35 may be good enough.”
And they say men and women are equal.
No letter in NM yesterday.
So, on the matter of Rejection Letters, this thread hasn’t seen evidence of mailing in “waves,” though it’s obviously possible this occurred and we just didn’t get posts about it.
Unless a student’s letter has been lost in the mail, we probably do not expect to see additional letters arriving at this late date, correct?
And at least one poster has confirmed that NMSC will mail letters to schools on Monday, 2/2, with a list of of Finalists, right? But we don’t know when/if the schools distribute this info. Obviously, it will probably depend on the school. So the earliest that schools would have the list is mid-next week…even as late as Friday, depending upon the mail.
If a student’s name is NOT on the list sent to the school, I wonder if the school will notify the student that he/she has not advanced?
And letters go to the student’s home address sometime in mid Feb? I read on another thread that a student or parent can call NMSC @ 2/6 to obtain confirmation of status over the phone. Posters on prior threads have had success with this approach. (I would probably have a heart attack while making that call…just waiting while Jimmie the Intern looked up my DS’s name to tell me whether or not DS advanced.)
DS is traveling/visiting a school today that he can only attend if NMF. We waited until the last possible minute (yesterday), and then went ahead with the trip after checking the mail yet again. If I go to the mailbox today and find that letter… Well, I’m really hoping that does not happen.
Happy Friday, everyone. To those who’ve stuck around with those of us waiting, I really appreciate your support. I also continue to appreciate the kindness of those who posted about receiving letters, because that information was helpful to our broader group.
After reading all these posts started to get worried about my son’s GC and if she actually submitted his NM requirements since we have had problems with her following up on college apps. Called and found out the NM people follow up directly with high school if they don’t hear in time and that the letters to schools will be sent out Monday and to the families the following Monday.
I’m still lurking around here, hoping that no more letters are received by anyone on this thread. (How could I not after we all went through the cutoff thread waiting together?) I agree @GoAskDad, we haven’t seen any waves and it’s looking like the letters may have all been sent. Good luck to you all. 
Every day feels like Groundhog Day between waiting on decisions, scholarships and NMF status. Next Monday is soo faar awaay…
Does anyone know when the finalists who won a merit award will be notified? Is that information contained in the letters that are mailed to the finalists’ homes in Feb., or are the scholarship awards announced later?
@shuttlebus I think the awards for NMFs come out in March at the earliest.
prospitfox, the poster from KS that got rejected for NMF got an acceptance letter today for NAF.
No letter here.
From the information sent to semifinalists (or maybe it was on the login site):
Note, as with Finalist notifications, these are dates that NMSC puts the offers in the mail, not the dates they would be received.
And colleges find out about finalists directly from finalists or do they all automatically get lists from national Merit?
@Rdtsmith I do not think colleges (even sponsoring colleges) get lists of all finalists. I believe they only get the names of Finalists who name them their first choice. I can’t remember which school it was, but one my D applied to 2 years ago asked for a copy of the National Merit Finalist certificate so they could offer her their NM package even without having yet been named her First Choice.
However I have no proof and I have never called any of the colleges and asked.
Yes we had one college ask for that too. For a copy and son is still undecided. I’m pretty sure he mentioned it somewhere in his app.