While we await the press release, some handy links that turned up in a google search:
DEADLINE: Your completed National Merit Semifinalist Application is due to NMSC on October 11, 2023
NMSC must receive your scores no later than December 31, 2023 for full award consideration.
Has everybody received notification about being a semi-finalist already? We homeschool and haven’t gotten a letter yet, but kid needs to get started on the application. Kid scored a 227 and we got a letter for commended, so there shouldn’t be a problem with either the score or our address. It was the first time that I’d ever gotten a letter addressed to ‘principal’, so that was amusing.
My son, who is at a public school in the Bay Area, has not yet received semi-finalist notification from his school.
Okay I thought NMSC does not post the list of names on their website or at least last year they did not.
My understanding is that it usually includes a list of names by state and high school. Many students have yet to hear from their high schools and it’s easy to imagine the paperwork sitting in some administrator’s inbox.
NMSC has a social media person retweeting school announcements this morning, but meanwhile hasn’t uploaded the press release link to the site. I wonder if they wait until end of day?
I am not sure if they ever upload the press release to their own site.
ETA - I can see from Twitter that they do. Can anyone see what time they linked the press release in prior years? [I don’t have a Twitter account.]
I believe last year it was some time in the middle of the day…but as l mentioned earlier I did not see the list of each state’s semifinalists posted with the press release on NMSC site
They always do a press release but it is not a list of names. They release the names to media outlets. So then parents and students scour the internet and eventually cobble together lists, state by state. It is silly. My daughter was called to a meeting with the principal with a total of 7 students for congratulations this morning. I was happy because my s19 didn’t get that (different school, different state). We knew she had made the cutoff, but nice to have it official. 
The process is so odd that there must be a reason they do it this way that has been discussed elsewhere. But, why, in a digital age when the application paperwork from student and high school (which may or may not be administratively skilled at responding swiftly) have a due date in 4 weeks. Why should media outlets know before students themselves?
From past years, they send out notices to the high schools in early September. The schools can (but often don’t) tell their students when they get the notice. Some schools think they can’t announce until today, so you will see a slew of schools announcing today. And then as has been discussed, this is the day that National Merit releases the name to media outlets, but there is no guarantee when those lists will be published and it will be different per metro area/state. My daughter was a semi finalist last year and her school didn’t tell her and the list for the Bay Area came out way after many others.
However, you should already know if your child is a semi finalist based on the released cutoffs. We knew our daughter was and she had to constantly badger her school to receive her paperwork so she could fill out her finalist application.
We know, but I have some kind of paranoia about falling through administrative cracks.
Press release is posted. No names.
On the upside, looking for news articles from today, it was nice to come across the name of a friend’s child in a different town. Knowing this family, this is no surprise, but happy tidings nonetheless.
I have the same paranoia. My son applied through AE, and like you, I was worried about him falling through the administrative cracks. My DD22 was named a NMSF a few years ago, and I did not have this same feeling with her because she qualified through the PSAT. With AE, there’s just no “proof” that anything has been processed.
Yeah, that’s why it’s important to pester your school if they don’t announce today. IIRC, the application is due in about 3 weeks. My daughter’s school didn’t give her her application until 3 days before the deadline and that was with her asking about it a ton. My daughter still managed to get her part in on time, but the school did not. Luckily, NM extended the school an extension.
I read on Reddit you could call NMSC (847) 866-5100 and they can confirm it for you. I haven’t tried yet.
Call 847-866-5100 and they will confirm over the phone for you.
Great minds lol (I tried it)
My son was called out of class yesterday to be congratulated and receive his official letter. He was told not to tell anyone but his immediate family. Today his name was in the paper. I guess he can now tell his friends why he was called to the principal’s office yesterday.
Yes, they can and they are CRAZY helpful. We did know that she was a NMSF, so that wasn’t the concern. Only the high school has the paperwork to be filled out and it took a long time to get that from them.
Call the number. They will confirm and you can ask what to do since you didn’t get a letter because they just direct you to the school for more information.