Class of 2024 National Merit Discussion

While we are waiting on college decisions , I believe if we are not decided on the school , we should change the first choice as undecided ? this looks confusing , currently we named our first choice to some college in Florida , this may not be our finial decision as we are waiting on other results and those will not be ready by March 1’st
If a better college gives admission we would like to change the preference to that college

Not sure why this process is difficult, as if we had a choice that our preference may or may not give us admission

Ahhhh . . . mine applied to all three, but has been deferred so far. I have heard that neither BU nor NEU give the NMF scholarship to all NMFs that get into the school, unlike USC that gives it to all of the NMFs that get in. So, is there some sort of strategy to be played here? Start with BU, see if you get in and the scholarship, if not, change to NEU, see if you get in and the scholarship and if not, then switch to USC, and hope for that? Unfortunately, all three have become a crap-shoot.

Edited to add/fix:

From NEU’s website, all NMFs who get in and designate NEU on the NMSC website by the priority deadline of April 11 “will receive a competitive merit based award” - so all will get it, but no info re how much. And not sure what “competitive” means, compared to their other merit-based awards? or comparable schools’ (in the area or nationally) merit-based awards?

And BU says if you are offered admission and are a NMF you “will be considered” for a $25/yr presidential scholarship. So - no guarantee, but at least you know the amount. Oh but you also have to identify BU as your first choice by March 1, which unless you got in ED, is before you’d even be notified of your admissions decision. So - not sure what’s going on there.

And again, the question is whether or not identifying BU or NEU or USC would be beneficial to your application as once you do, the schools know you’ve done it. And then if you change it, the schools know that too. Thoughts?

That’s correct. I was asking about all that last fall. The discussion should be upthread someplace, let me see if I can find it. I asked around post 92, but I can’t find the conclusion yet… (my S is attending his ED school, so it’s no longer relevant for us and I’ve lost track)

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From what it appears is we have only one choice …

If we name first choice as some xyz school and if we don’t take it after March 1’st , it is gone …

=================================================
IMPORTANT: If NMSC receives notification of a change in college choice from a Finalist after
posting a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offer to that student’s OSA dashboard, the change in
college choice will not be processed by NMSC or reported to the newly selected college, and the Finalist
cannot be offered another college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award. This applies even if the new
choice of college is one that also sponsors Merit Scholarship awards. Therefore, a Finalist who has
previously reported a sponsor college as first choice but is uncertain about it may change their college
choice to “undecided” to prevent being made an offer from a school the Finalist is uncertain about
attending; such notification must be submitted online at osa.nationalmerit.org before May 1. The
Finalist can subsequently report a firm college choice that NMSC receives by May 31.

You have until May 1 to change the choice that affects this. I think the real issue is with BU vs Northeastern and getting their big competitive merit offers, not knowing whether one is admitted to either.

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Ah, I see what you mean. I’m sorry! I misunderstood :slight_smile:

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This @evergreen5 is the question I’ve been asking and I don’t think we have any information to know either way, and the schools are holding this info close to the vest. (BTW, I found and read your prior responses, thank you!)

Help me out, please. I’m not getting this to work…

Paste the link into your browser, then after the = put your student’s ID number, 24xxxxx. You must be logged in under your parent or student login first.

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https://osa.nationalmerit.org/application/finalistLetterViewPDF.html?applicationId=

Enter this url, but add your student’s application ID after the equal sign. Do not include the dash when typing your student’s ID. There should be 7 numbers after the equal sign.

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I also wonder if it is better to change my son’s #1 college choice to undecided from where he will likely attend…ASU…since they don’t require choosing them as your first choice until May 1st. If we change to undecided, he could have a chance at gettting one of the $2500 awards from NMSC in case he decides to attend a college that does not sponsor awards…then we could change back to ASU by May 1st and still get their package?? Wondering about logistics, how people play the game… Does anyone know how many $2500 awards NMSC gives out, not attached to colleges or corporations? Thanks!

I am under the impression that the $2500 NMSC awards are not determined until after you indicate your first choice college (by May 1). Anyone else know?

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The scholars are not announced for a few more months (late April or early May).

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Okay, looking at the letter, the first bullet point states that all finalists are being considered for the 2500 single payment and the third bullet point is in regards to the college-sponsored awards. So not a clear answer, but seems to suggest that putting a first choice college does not disqualify you from the $2500 from the NMSC, just if you receive the award… not sure the timing on when ASU (or other colleges) upgrade their scholarship offers for NMF. Perhaps I will email ASU/NMSC for clarification.

There are three ways to become a National Merit Scholar (NMS).

  1. Receive a $2500 NMS Scholarship from NMSC
  2. Receive a corporate NMS scholarship
  3. Receive an college sponsored NMS scholarship.

If a student does not receive any of those three scholarships, they remain a National Merit Finalist.

USC’s half tuition scholarship is for all admitted National Merit Finalists. Some of those Finalists will receive the NMSC scholarship and become a National Merit Scholar. Some will receive a corporate scholarship and become a National Merit Scholar. However, if an admitted student does not receive either of the first two scholarships, USC will award an additional $4000 ($500/semester) on top of the half-tuition scholarship, to convert the National Merit Finalist to a National Merit Scholar. Note: The $4K from USC is larger than $2500 from NMSC. If you are offered the NMSC scholarship and turn it down, you are not eligible for the USC $4K scholarship.

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Ahhhh got “error processing request” so either they figured out that people were hacking it, or my daughter didn’t make it, which would be weird? No reason not to make it. Hmmm…

Be sure not to include a dash in the ID number.

Yeah, I did remove it. I feel like they’re onto us. :wink:

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I think they are. It no longer works.

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I believe that if yours didn’t make it you would have gotten a letter in the mail a few weeks back letting her know that. The high schools should have received a letter today or later this week (it was mailed on Monday) letting them know the kids who got it and then on Monday (next week) I believe a letter goes out to all the kids who made it.