<p>If you proceed to finalist standing, will this award play a substantial role in your decision of what college to attend?</p>
<p>What colleges are you applying to? Are you aware that if you are a NMF, there are certain perks like getting in-state tuition at Univ of Texas at Austin or Univ of Florida at Gainesville, as well as a completely full ride at U. Alabama at Huntsville?</p>
<p>If you search for National Merit finalist free rides, a listing will appear of colleges/universities that offer usually just in-state tuition, or occasionally a full ride if you note that college as your first choice on your national merit finalist application.</p>
<p>Best wishes!</p>
<p>No, it's not a factor in what schools I pick. Money (luckily) is not a problem for my family. However, if the situation was any different, then it probably would.</p>
<p>I'm applying to some colleges like the New College of Florida (and maybe UTexas at Austin, or University of Houston--Houston gives out full rides) that'll give me a lot of money for NMF status. Money does matter to some extent for me, and I want to have some more "safe," cheaper schools to balance out the more chancey, expensive ones.</p>
<p>^ same as this.</p>
<p>it really isn't impacting my decision that much-I had already decided on schools that will most likely give me aid for my SATs...it was too hard to guess whether my score (220 in NY) would be semi to count on full rides.</p>
<p>geographical proximity/distance is more of a factor than NSMF</p>
<p>I recieved NMSF, and i had a 194/94%ile on the PSATS. I am hoping that my standind as a semifinalist and potential finalist will help me get into IVY league schools such as PENN, Harvard and Cornell. Does anyone know how this honor aids in getting accpeted to more prestigious schools?</p>
<p>In general, NMSF does not carry much weight, if any, with the Ivies.</p>
<p>how did you get nmsf with a 194 thats ridiculously low for a nmsf thats so unfair I got a 210 and missed out by one point while you could a ****ty 194 and get full rides to plaves</p>
<p>I can speak for geek_son on this; he wouldn't have applied to our flagship state uni if it weren't for the generous NMSF/NMF scholarships (both full-ride-plus); however, it's a safety and not his first choice. He didn't like it very much during his last visit, so he's looking at other safeties with generous aid for NMSF/NMF in the event his first choice doesn't work out.</p>
<p>One of his school's NMFs from last year accepted a very generous scholarship from Pitt; the other accepted a similarly generous scholarship from NM Tech. The scholarships were probably major factors, as our GC points these things out to students.</p>
<p>To putrid, post #7: The cutoff for NMSF is determined separately for each state (and some other locales), each year. Roughly the top 1,000 in each locale get NMSF. So if schools are very good in your state and/or your state has a very large population that participates in PSAT testing, your state's cutoff will tend to be higher. You might consider this unfair, but the student you jumped on might consider it unfair that you have access to a better education system and better test preparation, and therefore you already have a leg up in admissions, scholarships, &c. Consider this -- If you lived in Massachusetts, New Jersey, or DC, your score of 210 would have missed the mark by 10 or 11 points.</p>
<p>One could argue that this system is more fair because it equalizes for potential across the country regardless of differences in the quality of state education systems, or one could argue that it's less fair because it doesn't reward the top scores across the board. Both arguments have some merit; ultimately it's their money, their rules.</p>
<p>All this said... I don't know of any locale in which 194 is actually high enough for NMSF. It's actually several points lower than the cutoff for NM Commended status. Here are the cutoffs for 2008 NMSFs:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061054682-post583.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061054682-post583.html</a></p>
<p>^Yea from what I've heard 200 is commended, and NMSF cannot go lower than 200.</p>
<p>I believe a 194 would be sufficient for the National Achievement or National Hispanic scholarship, depending on the poster's race.</p>
<p>theendusputrid: yes it seems unlikely, but you don't have to be a jerk about it. stop whining</p>
<p>schoolmarmabc: no, getting NMF won't be a big deciding factor because i already know what schools i want to go to based on location/major/chances :)</p>
<p>it was....A factor, but not a big one, by any means.</p>
<p>it allowed me to choose a safety that offers free tuition for NMF (for financial reasons). but that's pretty much it....</p>
<p>oh yeah, i would get half-tuition at USC too, if i got in. but even if i get in there, i'd need much more than that to afford USC :(</p>
<p>hmm im wondering, when do you declare a school if youre NMF? do you have to select a school along with ur NMF app? cuz if thats the case then oh boy</p>
<p>IIRC, you have until mid April to declare your first choice. HOWEVER, some college-sponsored NMF scholarships require a decision before then.</p>