Yeah, I totally agree. I really don’t understand why our school district essentially ignores national academic achievements & focuses so much on local achievements in sports or school club activities. I appreciate an inclusive attitude, but why not celebrate all of the achievements?
2 Likes
When I click inspect on my OSA portal and ctrl+f “finalist,” there is something in there called “finalist letter.” Not sure if this means anything.
1 Like
You can find your child’s finalist status by this:
https://osa.nationalmerit.org/application/finalistLetterViewPDF.html?applicationId=<your child’s application id>
You can find your child’s application id by “view page source” and search for “openPdf”
Enjoy!
9 Likes
Well that’s quite the little hack. It worked. (Need to remove the dash in the application ID.)
2 Likes
Wondering about the timeline for scholarship announcements, the $2500 one-time NM awards for those not eligible for a college-sponsored award. Summer?
Nevermind, I see this: “Finalists who have not been chosen to receive a Merit Scholarship award will be informed by mail in mid-May after most selections have been completed”
Yep works
1 Like
Yep works
1 Like
Awesome hack, it works ! Thank you
1 Like
Thank you! I found my student’s letter!
1 Like
Thanks 
That worked!
1 Like
Woohoo! Congrats to all! You gotta love the internet! My CS finalist is shaking his head at how easy it was to get this.
3 Likes
Really, too easy. Maybe this all ends up as public info anyway…
Adding: looks like one needs to be logged into the OSA system in order to see the letter.
1 Like
I’m a bit confused about the college-sponsored scholarships of a stipend between $500-2,000- is this in addition to the NMF scholarships that some schools provide, like USC that are 1/2 - full tuition? This whole process has been so confusing.
And now we move on to hoping D25 made it. I hope there is no “surprise” due to the DPSAT.
1 Like
My understanding is that yes, college-sponsored awards are different from the big institutional scholarship offers for NMF. See, e.g., post 68.
Yes, NM scholarships vary widely at schools. Some schools give no money for NM, some give a nominal amount (back in the day, I got a whopping $250), some give huge awards (Bama, Tulsa, etc.). All depends on the school.
And college awards are totally different from the NMF awards and corporate awards. You can only get one, though.
The big scholarships like USC’s half tuition award for NMF are different from the college-sponsored awards referred to in the finalist letter, as far as I understand. I think the “college-sponsored” awards are also relatively small and typically stack onto the big scholarship.
3 Likes
Yes, that’s what I’m asking. So you don’t have to “worry” that your kid gets one of the awards set forth in the letter (NMSC sponsored/corporate sponsored/college sponsored) and then not be able to get the NMF scholarships listed on the college websites, like USC, BU, Alabama, etc. The “college sponsored stipend” is in addition to the scholarship’s listed on the college websites. I’m just getting this now.
1 Like
Yes, that’s correct. The wrinkle that you probably noticed is that BU apparently only gives the big scholarship to those identifying BU as their first choice in the OSA portal by March 1, which is approaching. Northeastern by April 1. But, USC doesn’t care, just need to do it by May 31, I think.
1 Like