My D hasn’t heard anything from the school. I sent the GC an email but hasn’t responded. Anyone have the book/list for Pennsylvania?
I know this has probably been answered, but does the letter with the login information go to the school or the home? I My son finally got notification from the school, but has nothing in the way of what to do next. (Thank you all for discussing all of this. I am sure I would be lost for how this even works…)
I can’t find any news releases for PA. My son was informed by his school in late August. To avoid missing deadlines, you should call NMSC to get confirmation, and then take that info to your school. I guess PA newspapers don’t have room for these announcements due to all the football coverage.
@Dolemite I feel you. I was tired of waiting and called up National Merit Scholarship Corporation at (847) 866-5100 this morning. Got NMSF status confirmed and am resting easier now. 
AR: http://posting.arktimes.com/media/pdf/17_ar_semifinalists-natlmeritprogram.pdf
MN: http://stmedia.startribune.com/documents/17+MN+Semifinalists-NatlMeritProgram.pdf
OH: https://assets.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/documents/3106964/17-OH-Semifinalists-NatlMeritProgram.pdf
@Dolemite call NMSC then call the school principal. Cutoff is confirmed at 218 so unless your D is below that number she is NMSF.
@UniformMom in case you haven’t received an answer yet - the letter comes via the school. They log on somewhere and download it all for your son, including instructions he will need to logon and start completing the application. There will be a parental permission portion of the online application form that you will need to complete as well.
Once he gets the materials he can breeze through the rest. Here’s the essay prompt:
"To help the reviewers get to know you, describe an experience you have had, a person who has influenced you, or an obstacle you have overcome. Explain why this is meaningful to you. Use your own words and limit your response to the space provided.
Click on the button below and use the text box to prepare your Student Essay. You may copy and paste your essay from a document saved on your local computer, or you may type directly in the text box. (Note: Do not copy and paste text from the body of an e-mail message.) At any time before submitting the application, you may make edits to your Student Essay by clicking on the button below. Be sure to preview your work to make sure that your essay fits in the space provided on the PDF. Any text that does not appear on the PDF will not be read by NMSC’s Selection Committee."
@JBStillFlying – I did call NMSC today and confirmed that my son is on the list. Thanks for sharing that tip. His school has not received the information yet. Apparently it comes by snail mail and we are overseas. Thanks to all for contributing to the discussion.
Thank you @JBStillFlying. He, of course, has a guidance counselor who was new his freshman year and has followed them through. I will keep bugging her!
What is the deadline for submitting the application for Finalist? My son has not heard anything from his school and no one seems to have the paperwork there. I did call National Merit today tho and confirmed he is on list.
@Biotechgirl the school needs your son to complete the application and submit well before the deadline because the school needs to do it’s portion and submit everything together by October 12th. My daughter’s school asked her to finish her application by early October but she told them she’d be done before that time. It’s a very easy application to complete - the essay would probably take the longest amount of time but if he can piggyback off one of his college essays he should be in good shape.
Edit/update: you should contact your son’s school ASAP so that they can get to it. You might want to involve the principal at this point unless you know they definitely delegate to a trusted counselor.
Idaho’s information came out today. There are 95 Candidates for the state, and 47 came from the 4 schools in the Boise School District (which only houses 9% of the state’s students). My daughter’s school usually has 1 or 2 candidates but has 5 this year.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5gwcgK9T7CLWjhKSEl4SU0tTi1SbUIwWjhjZWFYeG1UTk9n/view
Would love to see Virginia if anyone has the document!
My son would like to look for friends in the lists for Michgan, TX, MA, NY, NJ, and DC if anyone has links.
See post #6767 for NY info.
Anyone has Georgia’s press release?
There are 9 for S’s school which is ballpark for what I think they’ve had the last few years. Can’t find any published lists yet. (KS should be a pretty short list!)
After hearing nothing from the school, I called NM and confirmed that DS indeed made it. Then I went down to the GC office. She didn’t even know what NM was. Someone found the letter sitting in a stack of papers in the office. Our school had two SFs. I have no idea if the other one even knows. Another GC is looking over the letter and hopefully they’ll get the information to DS tomorrow.
We have one or two SFs every year. Our GC is new, so I can cut her a lot of slack, but someone down there ought to have a clue. I’m glad I trusted my instincts and took action on my own. SMH.
School still didn’t notify the kids today - they found out online on their own. I’m sure everything will work out because there are so many NMSF every year they must know what to do.