I’m keeping up a good thought for everyone waiting. Based on last year, I know how hard it can be.
January 15th is tomorrow. You’d think someone would post that they have received one yet…
Well… I had other questions to ask the National Merit people- so I called them today. I also asked if he knew when the rejection letters were sent. I don’t think they want to give an exact date on that. I got the impression that maybe they were going out later this year than in years past. Sigh…although d has no Cs and no discipline issues, I will continue to check the mail every day.
oh no! I thought I was in the clear, but apparently not. No letter yet, but I’m holding my breath for another month. o you think they went out sometime this week?
I did not get any kind of hint as to when they would be sending them from the conversation. However, I know they have an appeal process and that they will be mailing NMF notifications on 2/3 to the school. I would think they would try to give people who receive the rejection letter at least two weeks for an appeal to be filed and for it to be processed, with the goal of a final decision on the appeal by the date that the notifications for NMF are sent to the school. For that reason, I think that they want the letters to be received between 1/15- 1/19.
Yes, from skimming finalist and “rejection letter” threads of years past here on CC, I get the impression that they want the exact date of the mailing kept secret for purposes of appeal, as you explained above. I don’t know in how many years an appeal has been successful, though. I do believe NM won’t let a GC appeal on the basis of grades anymore.
It appears that NMCorp wanted the SAT scores to be RECEIVED by Dec 31st. Likely, many/most NMSF students had long sent them, but there were probably some that didn’t send until mid-to-late December.
I believe that NMCorp contacted those students who still hadn’t sent scores by mid Dec.
SAT scores would be the last thing to be considered since all other info would have been received weeks/months earlier. Those who were being rejected for other issues (GPA issues, discipline, etc) would have already been identified.
Once Jan 4-6 rolled around, those who were only being rejected because of SAT scores would likely have then been identified.
After that, it wouldn’t take much more time to send out rejection letters.
In the threads from 2013 and earlier, people posted they had gotten them around Jan 14-15. So you’re saying NM might send the rejection letters out in batches–like, for instance, they had mailed the rejection letters out to the NMSFs who had sent in their SAT scores months ago and thus had every component of the application in, but we’re still rejected? I’m thinking NM doesn’t send them all out at once, but in batches as they receive SAT scores. Maybe the first batch when out last week?
A rejection letter is pretty likely in our son’s case due to his grades, so when/if he gets one I’ll let everyone know. He’s fine with probably not advancing, btw.
Thank you @mstomper for keeping us updated. Everyday is quite the nail biter waiting for that rejection letter
It’s possible that the letters are sent in batches. There are only about 1000 of them, so it’s not nearly the production of notifying the 16000 NMSFs or the 15000 Finalists.
The ones who are being rejected for GPA would have likely been identified by about Thanksgiving, as well as the ones who’ve been rejected for being a discipline problem.
If there are some otherwise “clean” NMSFs where NMCorp is still waiting for qualifying SAT scores, then those could be the last rejections sent out. That said, it’s mid-January so Dec SAT scores should have been sent 2+ weeks ago.
So you’re saying possibly that for those rejected for grades and identified by Thankshoving, their rejection letters might already have gone out–the “first batch”, let’s say, and the second batch would be made of letters for those who hadn’t sent their SAT until December or so, but still didn’t make the cut because they didn’t score 1960+?
NM must have this whole process computerized, because everything is pretty much done electronically now, application-wise, and they must just print out a semi-customized letter (with ye rejected student’s name, address, and the date) and then mail it out. It can’t that labor-intensive.
No, it’s not labor-intensive but the letters do state the reason for the rejection…grades, SAT, etc.
As for being rejected for grades, I was just looking at things logically. High schools had to send transcripts by some date in October. NMCorp does allow a little leeway here. So, logically they had the grades by Thanksgiving, right? At that point, if they wanted, they could identify those who’d be rejected for grades. Certainly some transcripts came in with several C’s or worse and those would likely be filtered for rejection.
The school input that deals with discipline issues might be something that is hand-read, I don’t know. Or maybe it’s a “check the box” thing and filters catch those as well.
My point is that it’s not as if NMCorp only knows of rejections after Dec SAT scores are sent.
I totally understand what you’re saying–that was my reasoning exactly. I was just thinking the rejection letters for those who were rejected around Thanksgiving had already been sent out sometime last week, or possibly even this week, since NM had already identified them and printed out their letters giving the particular reason for their elimination. It’s the 15th, and no letter so far for me.
Gosh, I came to check in for some news…holding my breath for all who are waiting…and we still have NO news! For all who are waiting anxiously, I’m really sorry. The waiting last year was awful (for me, anyway) and I sympathize.
FWIW, I recall that last year we saw rejection letters arrive over the span of a few days and then no more.
Good luck, everyone! @lcgusa I’m rooting for you!
Thank you soooo much @GoAskDad! This week was a tough one, checking the mail, and I hope I can chill out about waiting after next Saturday (the 23rd?), but it’s hard to say, as no one has posted that they have received a letter yet. I’m just assuring myself that I will know for sure a month from now whether I am a finalist or not.
@GoAskDad I remember your situation and how stressed you were because your mail delivery was often irregular.So glad that your son ended up making NMF.
the issue of how many Cs are allowed can be crazy. One year, a Kansas kid was rejected for ONE C. It made little sense because it was an AP class, unneeded, taken just for interest. The mom was here on CC, understandably very upset. It’s not as if he had a bunch of Bs either. It just doesn’t make sense sometimes.
However, maybe if too many in a particular state have all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed, then the down-selection involves rejecting students who have a minor flaw.
Yes, I definitely believe that theory about NMF rejections. Maybe everyone in 2013 was meticulous about turning in applications and meeting SAT requirements that NM was forced to reject students with one C. Florida usually has around 800 NMSFs every year, so surely some didn’t turn the paperwork in?
Do you think when they are trying to determine which NMSFs to reject, all other variables being the same, it all boils down to the course rigor, how highly their GC rated them, and unweighted GPA? I’m hoping my 3.83 GPA really will work in my favor if worst came to worst and NM was/is considering rejecting me.
I think there are auto rejection factors like too low of SAT, D’s on the report card, didn’t do paperwork, rude essay, and reported discipline issues. After that, it’s probably more of a gray area.
That’s what I’m thinking. Sometimes NM really has to take an in-depth look into those with C(s), and so rejection is on a case-by-case basis; some make it, while others don’t.