How would you address non-notification of SF status?

anouilh · 10-08-2012, 11:33 AM

As I watch my D power through her NM finalist application, I am wondering what would be the best way to address the fact that she was never notified of her status. First thing tomorrow I will be requesting a meeting with her school principal. I need to address both her not being notified and then the apparent near-complete inability of the staff to sort out & prioritize what needed to be done next. I want this meeting to have a positive outcome for future students & not just be a defensive "pacify the angry parents and get them to go away" production. Suggestions?

napalm2013 · 10-08-2012, 03:27 PM

There is a large component of the application that has to be done by the school. Even if your D has done her part, she cannot become a finalist without a lot of work on the schools part. The deadline is Wednesday, the 10th, so you should talk to someone at the school ASAP.

Also, if she was never notified how did she find out?

momlove · 10-08-2012, 04:16 PM

The counselor at my child's school told me that he contacted National Merit early last week and that he would be allowed to submit all of the school required information after the October 10th deadline (he seemed to indicate that the schools really had maybe a couple of weeks after the deadline for everything to be in). I don't know if schools have to make contact with NM to get an extension of the deadline (my guess is no), but it certainly wouldn't hurt if your counselor/principal called them by Wednesday to get one. The counselor has a lot of work to do and our school had a record number of finalists, so I can understand the deadline is pretty tight for them.

mommafrog · 10-08-2012, 06:24 PM

When my d (2011) was having issues with a totally nonresponsive GC, I did call NM, and momlove is right -- they will not penalize a student if the school is a bit late...but it does need to be done. D did get notified (they handed her her letter...), but then GC kept denying that she knew anything about the process (they had had other SF in previous years...). So I politely (taking vacation time...sigh) camped in her office quietly the day before the thing was due, making sure to say hello to the principal...

D is a NM Scholar, and she made sure to thank the GC (paste that smile on, dearie!) for her "help" with a note and a treat. Since then, I have noticed that the school has a "PSAT info night" in the fall...hmmm....

anouilh · 10-08-2012, 08:26 PM

Thank you. These are all helpful comments. Like mommafrog, I would like to see some positive changes at the school after our experience, and that's what I want to focus on with the principal. I am hoping not to have to take a personal day to see this through. I believe the school has done its part, though I'm not sure how I can really know, but it took days of constant phone calls to get anyone to understand that my daughter also had a part to do and that she could not do it until they gave her her login information.

Napalm, to answer your question, we found out she was a semifinalist because it popped into my head that this might be about the time to be notified. When did a quick search, I found that notification time was well past. When I looked up the cutoff score, I found that she was well above it. I wouldn't have known to do any of this if my older D hadn't been a NMF. We would have just missed out on the scholarship opportunities. I hate to think of that happening to any future students.

RobD · 10-08-2012, 09:23 PM

anouillh: you can look at the student login site at NMSC to see if the counselor has submitted their portion.

Hillo · 10-10-2012, 01:38 AM

What is this "student login site at NMSC?"

Could the student electronically submit the application AFTER the October 10th deadline?

cannyh · 10-10-2012, 01:40 AM

bump.! goo thread :]

Hillo · 10-10-2012, 02:52 AM

Hey, I think we should just write and essay and submit it tomorrow.

I've read the following from old posts:

"It should say:
"You submitted your portion of your application on ....(student)
Your completed application was transmitted to NMSC on ...."(school)"

"the child's app does not go back to the counselor; it is the GC's responsibility to complete his/her part separate from the semifinalist, and they are matched up when it all arrives at NMSC. "

"The deadlines do matter. My nephew missed all of the deadlines because his high school didn't think that the letter was important and so he didn't find out until December of his senior year that he was a semi-finalist."

"The college counselor at our school suggested not stressing about it or worrying about making it a literary masterpiece."

"The essay is not really important in achieving finalist status. It is available to be read by participating colleges. it's a nice way of describing yourself and creating the "hook"

"My son's school told him that it didn't matter how good his National Merit essay was, so he put no thought into it and didn't have anyone look at it. I assume that it was pretty bad. He did become a finalist"

anouilh · 10-10-2012, 05:34 AM

DA, yes, you should go ahead & write your part of the application and submit it, for the sake of having it done. Don't forget to go to the College Board website and have your SAT scores sent. If you Google "Requirements and Instructions for Semifinalists in the 2013 National Merit® Scholarship Program," you'll find a pdf that will walk you through the steps you need to take and will give you the code to have the scores reported. The National merit folks won't see your part of the application until the school completes their part, I don't think, so do follow up with the school when your break is over.