Agree with @2009Refugee. NM is fair for all.
@2009Refugee and @studycollege I agree as well. To be honest, as long as you can hit the marks for standardized tests and have decent grades, it is actually one of the easiest ways to get scholarship money. I like it that it is not done of the basis of need, strength of school, etc. That would just complicate it.
The state by state thing can be hard to swallow too. My son did qualify in PA, but 1/2 mile away he would have just missed in MD.
@Rdtsmith I don’t believe they ever publicly release an official list of all Semifinalists or Finalists. It’s up to local news outlets to publish the semi-finalists names so maybe they have a complete list but only publish the names their market is interested in. There is isn’t any public release of a complete list Finalists at all, just those who become Scholars. Our local newspaper publishes all the state semi-finalists most years but doesn’t publish Scholars’ names. The only place I have seen local Scholars’ names is on the websites of our school district and the local private school and in our company newsletter (as a corporate sponsor).
@PAMom21 Yeah, that is tough too. It is a little discomforting to know that I qualified with a 211, but for lots of other kids, that would be too low. Especially since I am home schooled, so what type of school district and such I am technically in makes scant difference.
No letter here today. I got a note from OU asking me to apply, but I’m not reading anything into that because I’ve gotten mail from them for months.
Yes tried to google. National Merit shares their lists with newspapers and other media outlets, and I’ve found some that are state wide, city or school district but that’s about it. Wonder why?
NO Letter today! Hoping Monday!
Let’s get the good news on Monday! It must be the day to get the good news!
“There’s a reason I got a 78 on Writing”…hahahahaha @albert69, our running joke was that S scored so high on “writing” precisely because there was no writing. He can certainly get by, but we are grateful the grammar was so heavily weighted on the real deal, 
.
Good thoughts, but agree this isn’t the place.
@PAMom21 I totally agree with that. It is sooo much easier to pick out incorrect things in someone else’s writing than to write something perfectly yourself. I hated that essay with a passion, lol.
@studycollege According to NMSC paperwork, NMSC will mail certificates to principals on February 3rd (although a previous poster said NMSC told them on the phone they would be mailed Feb 2) However, that is when they are mailed not received so it will probably be midweek before any principals receive certificates.
Midweek is optimistic, their mailings tend to go by carrier pigeon.
I don’t expect to hear anything from the school when they receive the certificates, so we’re pretty much waiting for the letter from NMSC to arrive at the house. The timeline shows Feb 10 for Finalists to be “notified at home”, but whether that’s a mailing date or a start arriving date I don’t expect to see anything here until probably the 3rd week of February. Things seem to arrive here at least 3-4 days after other folks on CC start seeing them (sometimes longer). In any case, it’ll be nice to finally have something in hand. Our HS holds the certificates until Senior Awards night in early May, so the NMSC letter will have to do until then.
Wonder if carrier pigeons are more reliable than mail trucks and airplanes with all that snow on the ground!
@STEMFamily Maybe in the South, don’t birds go south for the winter?
Just called and a guy said that that the letters are being mailed to the schools today .They will mail the letters to the students on Monday ,Feb 9th
February 9th? And here I was anticipating tomorrow like crazy…
I have NO idea what to think…whether there’s a certificate on the way to DS’s school…or a rejection letter for DS that’s floating around out there somewhere. We have new neighbors who moved in a few months ago, and they remarked to me over the weekend that their mail service is terrible, and they wondered how they could file a complaint with the post office. I told them they could walk a mile in my shoes…
Once we have any reports of NMF mail receipt from our Homeschool Principals, i will probably be parking myself in the school office for an answer, either way. We have a lot riding on this, too, though I think @SparkleMom97 wins the prize for The Most Riding On NMF!
I really hope I make it. I genuinely want to go to the school that I can with that scholarship. I just hope I don’t screw up grade wise - the GPA requirement is 3.5 to keep the scholarship.
I admit that a part of me really wants to be a NMS. My sister was one, and I want to be one too for bragging rights. I think my best shot is the college-sponsored scholarship, as I don’t think I’ll get the $2500 award since my scores are lowish. Not unless somebody thinks that I wrote a wonderful essay.