About 15,000 of the 16,000 NMSFs become NMF. So if your grades and test scores are good and you don’t have discipline issues, you should be fine. Good luck.
@saillakeerie Thanks for the help. How many National Merit Scholars are there? 2,500?
About 7,500 National Merit Scholars. From the most recent NMSC report:
“A total of 7,468 Merit Scholar® designees in 2015 were chosen from the Finalist group to receive Merit Scholarship
awards worth a total of $32.1 million. The rigorous review process that Semifinalists undergo to advance in the competition results in a talent pool of exceptional Finalists who compete for National Merit Scholarships.
The names of Merit Scholar awardees were released to news media in four separate announcements in the
spring and summer.”
There are three types of scholar awards, school sponsored, corporate sponsored, and NMC sponsored. The award from the national merit Corp is a one time $2,500 award. My D15 has a school sponsored award of $750/year for 4 years or $3,000 total. So just understand that there are more awards than what the NMC alone gives out.
Do you know if @TestRekt 's numbers include school and corporate sponsored awards? or are those just the NMC sponsored awards?
@TestRekt @mtrosemom Thanks very much for the help! I’m surprised that no NMF(about 20 of them) in my high school’s class of 2016 became a NMS.
If they went on to top schools instead of a scholarship school, it is not really surprising.
They may have and you don’t know. NMC only prints the names of those who receive their scholarships.
@nw2this The 7,500 figure is for Merit Scholar awards from colleges and corporate sponsors. There are an additional 1,200 Special Scholarships from companies. The Special Scholarships do not require winners to be Finalists.
Thank you for all of the information you have shared. I have learned quite a bit on this forum. My question is this - Can a C really prevent a student from being a finalist? My son received one C in an AP Calc class as a junior. His school grades on the 93,85,78 scale. Will NMF take that into consideration? I know colleges look at schools and grading scales. Thanks for any insight you can share. (He seems to be very close to the predictions so I would like to help him see if he has a shot.)
@Mamelot said a “release date” of September 14. What does that mean? NM people told me that SF lists were being sent out today (23rd). Last night my principal told me that they get the results along with a letter telling them when they can make the information public. Is that the “release date”? Gee whiz, that will drive me us crazy! My kid is already working on her college apps, and she really wants to be able to plug that in her resume.
The ‘release date’ is when they make the formal announcement on their website that the finalists have been selected and notification has been sent to schools. Some schools will not tell students their finalist status until the formal announcement. Between 8/23 - or 8/24 when the letter is mailed and 9/14 when the announcement is made, is when all of us will be trying to determine cutoffs based on the nice GCs who notify students before release date.
I doubt we will see any results before this Thursday.
Also, the release date is when you can call them for cut-off information and the confirming SAT scores (old and new). They are mum before that date. Hopefully our schools will notify the kids MUCH sooner!
Good luck everyone! I for one can’t wait for some closure on this one way or the other. My anxiety is through the roof (and I’m not even normally an anxious person). :))
Before the chaos ensues I’d like to take a chance to thank all of those who have contributed to this thread. I’ve enjoyed the correspondence, and the bouncing of ideas back and forth. A lot of information was located and shared, shedding light on a pretty crazy process this year. I will be watching to see how close we came with our predictions - best of luck to all of the parents and students!
I have been following this thread daily since its inception. So many of you have contributed to my knowledge in so many areas. I wanted to specifically thank @CA1543 @Mamelot @suzyQ7 @DoyleB @thshadow and the many, many others that have contributed significantly to this specific thread. Good luck to everyone! It has been a long and winding road, to be sure! I am glad that this portion of the Class of 2017’s crazy saga will be over soon.
Before things get too crazy, I have a question. Does a national merit SF need to take the SAT with writing? I was under the impression that the old SAT included writing but it is optional on the new one. My son will only take the SAT if he is announced as a SM and he doesn’t need the writing portion for his applications.
Also the official announcement on September 14th - which our school will enforce bc it is a rule- will be after the October SAT registration deadline. That’s inexcusable in my opinion so there may be a valid reason why SF do not choose to go on to achieve Finalist. Senior year is just too busy!
@My4Sons: no on your first question - I called about that. They never factored in the essay even when it was part of the SAT automatically. My D3 is in the same situation as your son and didn’t sit the essay for the March SAT.
On your second point - good point! The release date this year potentially eliminates a test date. I notice that NMSC seems to pin its release date on the last Wed. before Mid-Sept. (or something like that . . .) so last year was on the 9th and this year the 14th - 6 days later! Perhaps you can contact your son’s GC about that and see if you guys can get an “early” notification.
Yes, this thread has been fun.
My predictions have always been predicated on DD making NMSF - facts be damned - so I don’t think any of the charts I generated will be remotely close… :)) :((
@My4Sons but its not a rule that the school can’t tell your student. AFAIK the rule is that they can’t make public announcements.
CB website says you can register online for the Oct 1 test as late as Sept 20, if I’m reading it right.