When will NM winners be notified? It said March on the letter, but anyone have a more specific date roughly?
I got a college sponsored award letter in the mail a few days ago.
I got a call yesterday from a National Merit representative. He asked me if my major and intended career path were the same as I had indicated on my initial application. Did anyone else receive a similar call/ email? Any ideas on what it was all about?
College-imposed scholarship deadlines are frustrating. I know I’m in a much better situation than many schools, but one college wants my first choice by April 4, and I don’t get my last decision until April 1. Going to be a stressful 3 days.
@GoPack87 I got a call in January about whether my daughter would qualify for a corporate scholarship through the company I had just retired from. I told them I was not sure and they said they would contact the company directly. For me the good news was that it was a sure indicator that she had been selected for Finalist, which she was. I suspect your call had similar importance but you will need to figure out the context.
@timbercreek16 NMSC does not mail any college-sponsored award letters until starting May 1st. What you received is probably a letter from the college itself saying that you WILL BE awarded one of their college-sponsored awards if you attend. This is NOT the same as the official letter directly from NMSC. And if this is a letter regarding a large 1/2 to full tuition scholarship or more, those funds are directly from the school and do not involve NMSC at all. They are awards the school itself decides to give to some or all NM Finalists.
Awards for Corporate Scholarships will be mailed starting early March and the $2500 awards will be mailed late March, all before anyone gets mailed an official award of a college-sponsored scholarship.
got a letter today about a company sponsored scholarship from nmsc!
We also got a letter today about a company sponsored scholarship but it is all so confusing. It says it is a minimum of $2500 but renewable and eligible for more based on an application. But it gives no clue how much more. My son plans to go to a university with a $30,000/year scholarship for NMFs. The letter today says you cannot accept more than one scholarship “administered by NMSC” - does that include these bigger scholarships through the university?
@mukfamily … No, the larger scholarships like the $30K/yr one that you mentioned are considered “unofficial” NMF scholarships and are not administered by NMSC. The “official” NM scholarships that a student can only have one of are either the one-time $2500 NMSC award, a smaller “NMSC administered” award (usually in the $500-$2K/yr range) which is usually included as part of a school’s overall NMF award package, corporate scholarships, or NM special scholarships.
Your son is fine, and the corporate award should be added to the $30K/yr award.
Congrats to your S!!
DD nominated USC as her first choice, but now is having second thoughts about it since she got few other options and also got Presidential scholarship based on her USC scholarship interview. Is it safe to change first choice nomination to undecided now?
@Ballerina016 you can change her first choice as many times as you want up until the deadline
What @greeny8 says is true as far as NMSC is concerned but what do you mean by “safe”? I see that notification of admission comes out April 1. NMF who are admitted are guaranteed the Presidential Scholarship, and a requirement is that a NMF has USC listed as First Choice (although it isn’t clear if this is required before April 1 or perhaps influences admission decisions). I really do not know if changing to undecided now would hurt your DD’s admission, but I don’t see why you would want to risk it. Has she been admitted to other schools that offer NM college-sponsored scholarships with First Choice requirements before April 1?
I don’t see any benefit in changing to undecided now. I can understand changing to another school who asks for an early declaration of First Choice needed for a scholarship decision, but I don’t see how going to undecided now buys you anything in this case. Of course you can do it now, but why would you want to if you think somehow that will affect an offer from USC? You just need to make sure your DD has either undecided or the absolute final choice (if going for a college-sponsored scholarship) at any time in May. You can’t change your mind and get a different NMSC college-sponsored scholarship after April 30 because NMSC starts mailing those offers on May 1.
@STEMFamily She has been admitted to USC back in January with invitation to apply for Presidential (half tuition) scholarship. Last week she was awarded Presidential scholarship unrelated to her NMF status. Since she has few other options now, half tuition at USC is not that attractive, but we would like to keep this door open for now. The UCLA or UCB, for example, is much cheaper without any scholarship.The other schools she considers might offer small 2,000-4,000 awards for NMF that is why we change to undecided now.
@Ballerina016 Sounds like it won’t make much difference what you do right now. Just make sure she has the place she WILL attend as the only school listed as First Choice any time in May if it is one that awards NM college-sponsored scholarships. NMSC rules say you can stay undecided until May 31 but make sure the school she will attend does not have an earlier deadline (some specify May 1).
USC guarantees Presidential scholarship for NMF? Good to know. How about U of Miami - do they guarantee a Presidential scholarship?
They guarantee the scholarship, but do not guarantee admission to USC.
And is it always half - or can it be more?
No. Always half.
@What???!! The guaranteed scholarship for admitted NMFinalists at USC is half-tuition. But many of the NM Finalists are also in the running for the very competitive full tuition scholarships that consider many more factors.
Is there any garantee at U Miami?