Also, O.U. achieved a 90% retention rate last year. That’s a huge sign of a successful school. Some schools are “proud” of a 60% retention rate.
No letter here in Florida as of today. Colleges: UF - waiting will be full ride if NMF, FSU accepted honors, asked to apply for Presidential scholars will be fullride if NMF plus extra if scholar, UCF accepted honors will be full ride if NMF, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - weirdly didn’t hear anything on the EA - calling monday, Tulane - deferred, SCAD - accepted - partial scholarship offered, Stetson, accepted - honors with scholarship offered, Duke - waiting, Yale - waiting, Columbia - waiting. I could not convince daughter to check out Oklahoma despite its fabulous package - she just says she doesn’t want to go to OK. UT Dallas looked good, but she doesn’t want to go to Texas :_
@stacey063 I have an older daughter at SCAD and they do get an NMF now and then! LOL. Is she thinking of something in the arts?
Sorry new to this thread, does anyone know the specific day when students and schools are notified for finalist status?
According to the materials they sent to the semifinalists, notification is mailed to the schools on Feb. 6th, and to the Finalists at their home address on Feb. 13th.
I was under the impression that schools find out ON the 6th, whereas families have to await snail mail that is sent out on the 13th. Does anyone know whether this is accurate?
In researching it further, I think that @JBStillFlying is right: letters are mailed to schools on Feb. 6, so won’t arrive until perhaps Th., F or Sat. of the week of the 6th (and letters to home one week later).
@looking for the write schule, My DD is starting her 2nd semester at UTD as a NMF and is loving it! She is living in the honors dorm and does know all the McDermott’s and Terry scholars as well as alot of other honors students. She is getting out of the honors bubble by joining other activities - swim club, CS clubs, UTDallas radio and other activities. It has been a good fit for her because she has no interest in big time athletics (she prefers to participate herself) or greek scene. I hope your finalist weekend for McDermott goes well. I know my DD regrets she did not pursue it.
@MatzoBall I could not find something that says letters are mailed to the schools on the 6th. I thought I remembered reading the schools were “notified” on the 6th - somehow electronically or by phone or something. Fax? It’s 8 days away and I can’t bear waiting for several days AFTER the 6th for the school to learn and inform my S. Can you quote what you read or link to it, please?
@Tex151 It is mailed to the high schools on the 6th.Waiting is tough.The " Worry" part of the title of this thread applies to me.
http://nationalmerit.imodules.com/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/merit_r_i_leaflet.pdf?sessionid=9df1652b-cac1-4bd1-96ec-59ad52deb7db (See page 4)
Thanks GTaustin for your insights regarding UTD. Great to hear about first hand experiences there.
Does anyone know if a college might choose not to give the scholarship if a student doesn’t choose them by March 1? That is, for the school that reserves the right to sponsor/not sponsor any given finalist (i.e. not automatic)?
@binky17 you can always call the National Merit liaison at the subject schools to get clarification. The hard deadline is actually May 31st and there surely must be NMF’s who don’t hear from their sponsor college till sometime in March. However, on the theory that it’s better to be safe than sorry, we are strategizing with D17 on what college to list conditional on where she stands by around mid-Feb. (by which time she will hopefully know her NMF status). Fortunately, it turned out that she doesn’t have two competing schools offering National Merit money among her Regular Decision schools.
It’s tricky because students don’t know where they are accepted to yet so choosing the first choice by Mar 1 I would imagine will be difficult for some students. I don’t know if a college might choose not to give the scholarship if they are chosen after March 1 but it does say that NMSC will transmit first choices periodically after Mar 1. My son only has one school on his list that offers NMF any money so it made it easy for him to select that school as his first choice from the start.
So even if a student think they probably will be going to a non-NMF money school, they can list a NMF-money school as first choice and it doesn’t’ affect the hool, correct? My son was accepted to WashU in St. Louis (which gives no NM money) and will most likely be going there, but we have some uncertaintly around my DH’s job that makes me want to keep a NMF-money option as long as possible. So could I list OU as his first choice for NM, that doesn’t impact the Wash U status, right? And if something dire happens he could dwitch to OU as long as it is before their deadline?
Correct, @candyandnuts. I would list the most preferable choice among the college-sponsors. No sense in listing a school that doesn’t give anything to NMF’s. There is definitely some strategizing to all of this!
Edit to add: The $2,500 National Merit Scholarships that NMSC gives out directly, as well as corporate scholarships that are part of the program, are actually transferable from one school to another, and I believe that the criteria there is that it be a regionally-accredited US school. Not a sponsor college. Someone is free to correct me on that, of course, but that’s the way I’m reading the information my D received from NMSC last September.
I think so, @candyandnuts. And thanks, @JBStillFlying and @paveyourpath. The timeline at USC is frustrating because we won’t hear about need aid until April (and admissons info March) Meanwhile, Northeastern has shown a lot of love (and we love them back) but obviously you just want to keep options open. Anyone here looking at USC who knows how generous their need aid is?
While we are on the topic of USC and Northeastern, I had a question about their NMF packages. From what I understand, each school seems to have different deadlines for naming the college as first choice. USC’s is April 1st(not 100% sure about this one, might be a different date), while NEU’s is April 3rd. Would this mean that, if I switch my first choice from USC to NEU between April 1st and 3rd, I could theoretically receive the NMF scholarship from both USC and NEU and decide which to accept later on? Or is this not possible?
Based on the instructions, that’s not possible. If you list one school and change your mind after one school grants the national merit scholarship then choose a different school, the scholarship gets canceled and the new 1st choice is not submitted by NMC.
I think the crucial date is 5/1. You can check with USC and NEU for clarification on this - but NMSC doesn’t begin mailing scholarship results till 5/1, according to their materials, and they basically seem to be saying that if you have a change you need to let them know before that date (or else you probably forfeit one of the other types, i.e. the one-time $2,500 or the corporate-sponsored, as well).
Very confusing!!!
Edit to add: not sure if that 5/1 means that anytime before that date is OK. I guess that’s the key question, right?