My D25 received her letter today. I have no idea what it says though as she isn’t home yet. I’m hoping her common app essay fits for the essay. That would make it so much easier. Although, she is right at the 650-word limit so might have to tweak it a bit.
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The 208 index cutoff for commended is the real number right? I saw it posted online somewhere but didn’t know if it was official
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That seems to be correct. From page 14 of https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/guide_to_the_national_merit_scholarship_program.pdf, “The national qualifying score for Commended Students in the 2025 program is 208.”
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My NMSF S2025 has already applied to the University of Alabama. This is his first choice. He plans on following his sister to UA on the NMF Scholarship. For those who may be unaware, UA offers a tremendous NM Scholarship. My D2023 has just started her Sophomore year. Last year as an 18 year old freshman, it was wonderful to see her attend her CE classes and then her weekly Stem to MBA class. It is amazing to think she will graduate with her Bachelors and MBA in a 4 to 5 year period at Full cost of attendance. So far I have only paid for football tickets. My current NMSF plans to major in Computer Engineering also as well as either Masters of Engineering or an MBA. If there are any questions about the program feel free to ask.
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Have you commended kids been notified yet? My kid’s index was a 208 and we have not heard anything. Would like to include it on the common app, so wondering when she will hear. Someone told me they thought it would be November for commended students?
I don’t remember receiving any kind of official communication. If 208 or above you can safely include it.
Yes - my kid was Commended and they notified him on Tuesday and then had a “celebration” at school yesterday and posted their pic on the school IG account.
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Many schools don’t do this, but you are correct in that OP can just check with their GC. Celebration or not, they did receive notification. NMSF need the actual letter, though, because it includes their login to the application for Finalist.
Congrats to all the NMSFs out there in the class of 2025!
I’m the President of the University of Tulsa. Come check us out! We have a higher % of our students as NMSFs (30%) than any university in the nation.
We probably have more in absolute terms (230 in the freshmen class) than any university, including the behemoths of Alabama and Florida.
Why? The most beautiful campus in America. Wrap around service for students. #12 (Wall Street Journal) engineering school in the nation; more Rhodes Scholars than TCU, Baylor, and SMU. Leading writers and translators. 2x the national average of medical school admissions. Terrific entrepreneurship and finance programs.
And for NMSFs, free tuition and room and board and books.
Ping me if you want more information! I look forward to talking.
Brad Carson
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How important is the Letter of Recommendation from a NMSF’s high school with respect to achieving finalist status AND receiving a scholarship from the NM committee? My D has very little interaction with her HS counselor and administration. It’s a large school with high student-to-counselor ratio, and she just hasn’t needed counseling advice. My D will provide her counselor with her resume and lists of activities, honors, and leadership. But in the end, the person writing the letter does not know my student, and honestly I don’t know how much time and effort they will dedicate to it.
I have absolutely no concerns about anything negative being written - stellar grades, no behavioral issues, academic rigor, and high AP scores and GPA.
But what if the letter is just so-so and simply lists a few activities and says “She’s a great student?” Would that hurt my D’s chances of finalist status and a NM committee-awarded scholarship?
A generic letter will in no way prevent her from advancing to finalist status. Over 90% do advance, and the minority who don’t either have very patchy grades (multiple Cs or worse) or behavior/legal problems.
I am not sure about the NM committee awarded scholarship. The students who get this award do tend to be the “top” NMFs which they say is determined by a holistic process. I suppose a truly outstanding letter of recommendation could make the difference in an edge case.
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In a similar boat here, in that I think my son met the Commended student criteria, but we haven’t heard anything from the high school. To be fair, it doesn’t look like the school has done anything for the semifinalists, either.
I’m waffling on whether or not to contact the school and ask if they have received that information and if they plan on doing anything with it. I don’t know how else to find out officially. 
I would call the school and ask. I can’t see a downside to asking.
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To anyone who has logged into the NM Scholarship system (OSA), can you see the tasks not yet completed by the high school? I am frustrated with my daughter’s HS b/c they told her about her NMSF achievement well after I saw it on a local news source, and now they have yet to send her the login information so that she can begin completing her steps on the application. I am anticipating them waiting until the last minute to complete their steps before teh oct 9th deadline, so I’m wondering if we’ll be able to see their progress (once my daugher can actually login).
Might be worth following up with the HS counselor—my kid found out yesterday that the school had never gotten a notice that C25’s part of the application was completed, and so they didn’t know that it was over to them now.
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In the past, students/parents have called NMSC directly to receive confirmation. I think (not sure) that some people received their log in info from NMSC as well.
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I agree entirely. Also, having it run through the school puts yet another job on school principals’ or counselors’ plates. National Merit Corporation sure doesn’t pay the school district for their time.
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Visiting Missouri S&T and Iowa State next week. S&T has a good scholarship for semifinalist. (S25 grades mean that he is not a shoo in for finalist, although I think he will probably be ok.). Iowa State does not have NM scholarship for OOS students but it may unlock some other aid. S25 interested in engineering. I can report back if others are interested. After we know if he makes finalist we will look into visiting UCF, UAH and UTD and maybe Tulsa.
If you’re at S&T, come on down to Tulsa. We’re not too far away ( a couple hours from Rollo). We have one of the great packages for NMSFs. That’s why TU has more NMSFs per capita than any university in the nation (about 30% of class) and probably more in real terms (250 per class) than any other schools (though data is hard to find, but Alabama often has about 200). Check us out.
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Time crunch last week but we will combine with a future trip to Dallas. Thanks for reaching out!
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