NMF rejection letters go out very soon...heads up!

<p>Learn something every day! Virginia is a hotbed of homeschooling, but everyone I know does it in an actual home by their parents. I know a few who use the local colleges and universities for one or two classes that their skills have passed their parent’s abilities, but didn’t realize their was a system like you describe.</p>

<p>Yes, homeschoolers can have an advantage. But you gotta homeschool to get that advantage. If it’s worth it to a family for the better chance of NMF status, go right on ahead.</p>

<p>As the parent of a NMSF who doesn’t have the equivalent of mostly As and a few Bs and no Cs (school d/n use 4.0 or 1-100 system, no ranking) AND a younger student who did a year of “homeschooling”, I’d like to add: Some homeschooled students have teachers/grade-givers who are not the parents. These programs are usually through a public school district, using a statewide or national curriculum and teachers/resources. My limited experience was that the grading standards were incredibly low and that As were very easy, for a student (not the NMSF student) who struggled at times but some potential. More than once, I contacted the e-teachers and asked them to get tougher on student and to ask for revisions, citations, etc. Was my e=schooled student a 4.-0 student or as bright as these NMSFs who received rejection letters? Not even close. And yet, on paper, the e-schooler would look better, for solely the GPA. Just some layperson observations.</p>

<p>tjmom…I had no idea, either, until I started HSing my younger children. (My NMSF kiddo goes to public.) There are lots of resources for homeschoolers that allow them to take classes away from home. There is a local homeschooling tutoring service here that really runs like a University model school, but they don’t call themselves a school so as to avoid testing requirements, etc. Most classes are taught by certified teachers. Every now and then a retired professor will teach a class. We even have a couple of private schools here that have a “homeschool enrichment” option that allows homeschoolers to enroll part time. For many homeschooling families, the “homeschooling” label is inaccurate, as much of what they do is not at home. </p>

<p>It really is a great way for some kids to get a fantastic education. There are many wonderful opportunities out there, and as the movement grows, I see more opportunities every year. </p>

<p>Sorry to take this thread way off topic. Back to original programming. :-)</p>

<p>Wish we knew if all the letters had gone out. My daughter made one C in a college Gen Chem class and 3 Bs (early college HS). So far no rejection letter yet.</p>

<p>They may have a few B’s, but if their parent wants them to move onto NMF, they’re not going to put C’s on their report cards…even if it means assigning “extra credit” or whatever to bump their kids’ grades. </p>

<p>This might be hard to believe, but the majority of the homeschooling families with high school students (both locally and on national forums) I come across know very little about the PSAT and the National Merit scholarship process. As a homeschooling veteran who has gone through this before, I spend a lot of time counseling families about the importance of taking the PSAT, how and when to go about it, and the potential scholarship opportunities attached to it. Padding the transcript with A’s ‘just in case’ the student scores high enough to be in the running in a few years isn’t even on their radar. And as I said in my previous post, most of the high achieving homeschool students are taking college and university classes where they are subject to the same requirements and grades as the regularly enrolled students. A vast majority take other classes online or in co-ops where, again, the parent does not assign the grade. I just really think this is a non-issue and a sad digression from the original topic.</p>

<p>My daughter made one C in a college Gen Chem class and</p>

<p>??</p>

<p>Would that be on her high school transcript?</p>

<p>M2CK- Yes, she is in an early college high school and takes all college courses for her Junior and Senior years so it counts on her HS transcript.</p>

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<p>I hope you ponder over why so many elite schools do not recognize the program as you go thru college. Will you be attending a college that will make you a NM Scholar?</p>

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<p>I haven’t decided yet, but no, it is highly unlikely that I will get a scholarship specifically for being a NMF (if I become a NMF, don’t want to jinx anything here). However, I think you’re being too specific. I won’t be getting a scholarship specifically for anything on my resume. As far as I can tell, most of the large scholarships awarded directly by universities are moving away from requiring any specific thing. I mean, of course you have your “xxxx SAT+x.x GPA = $$$,” but for the competitive scholarships most are moving towards holistic review. So people can argue til they’re blue in the face that there are fewer and fewer opportunities exclusively for NMFs. And I’ll agree with that. But I don’t believe that this is proof of devaluation of the award; merely a shift in US colleges towards a more holistic review process for everything from acceptances to scholarships.</p>

<p>Also, not sure what you mean by “many elite schools do not recognize the program.” Colleges remain very cognizant of the NM Competition and awards, otherwise thousands of students wouldn’t have wasted space listing it on their apps. Unless you simply mean “many elite schools don’t award scholarships directly for the program,” which is true. Of EVERY single program in the world.</p>

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<p>So, did you list finalist on yours where you were accepted?</p>

<p>Yes I listed semifinalist. I didn’t exactly have a plethora of academic awards to choose from. :p</p>

<p>But I do believe that it is still a meaningful award to have. There are many more prestigious academic awards (USAMO, Siemens, etc), but I think NMSF/NMF is still a leg up from the A Honor Roll/AP scholar/Teacher’s favorite award type things.</p>

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<p>You are more than just those awards. That is why the holistic system exists.</p>

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It’s not the universities giving the $2500 scholarships, is it?

Well, NMF was never going to be one of the defining points on my application. But, is there any data suggesting that any school in the past waited to see about NMSF–>NMF before making a decision? I don’t think that that was ever the case, so it may be at a consistently low value rather than actively depreciating. In any case, in past years 15/16 NMSFs advanced so yes I would say the difference between NMSF and NMF (when scholarship money is out of the picture) is small/negligible. But I don’t see any of this as an indicator that the value of NMSF/NMF is going down.</p>

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<p>When a finalist declares an affiliated university as a first choice, that university pays the $2,500 as sponsorship money to turn her into a scholar.</p>

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<p>There was a time when some of the top schools abandoned their EA/ED programs. </p>

<p>It has value but only as a confirming indicator to what the SAT. However, Intel and USAMO etc suggest a person is in the 3rd SD.</p>

<p>A university can see everything NMSC can see, right? More information, in fact. So I would think the college has a pretty good idea of who will make it or not, with only a few cases on the cusp.</p>

<p>perazziman - I’m confused. Quote “When a finalist declares an affiliated university as a first choice, that university pays the $2,500 as sponsorship money to turn her into a scholar.” When I contacted University of Chicago to ask about the $2,000 a year they give to NMF’s they said that if a student was receiving any institutional grant their NMF scholarship would take the place of that portion of institutional grant, but if they received the $2,500 from NMC it would be “outside” scholarship money.</p>

<p>Yeah the 2500 is from NMSC, not the universities. [National</a> Merit Scholarship Corporation - NMSP](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php#merit]National”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php#merit)

OK? I’m still not seeing any indication that this was because they were waiting to find out which kids were NMF.

I agree with that. It’s overall a pretty useless award. High test scores and grades and you’re in. As intparent said, it’s a pretty predictable award. If a college sees a kid with NMSF and a 4.0, they know he’ll be a finalist. If a college sees a kid with NMSF and some C’s, they can judge for themselves if there was a good reason for the grades.</p>

<p>mommaof5, If the student finalist does not qualify fo a corporate or NMSC scholarship, the sponsoring college awards a scholarship that turns the finalist into a scholar. I am just saying that the elite colleges have even stopped doing that.</p>

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<p>There was a time when Harvard recognized NMFs and sponsored them. It does not anymore.</p>