<p>Is being a NMF less of a credential today than in previous decades?</p>
<p>What do you mean? At ivies and elites? Yes, probably not much prestige, since many of their students are NMFs.</p>
<p>At mid-tiers? It still is important and can mean substantial merit money. Schools report how many NMFs they have, so it must mean something to them (or their ranking).</p>
<p>For my son, it meant a lot of money in scholarships. And, when he was hired for his summer internship he was told his salary. Then when they found out he was an NMF, they raised his salary by $3 more an hour (weird!)…LOL…</p>
<p>I don’t think the prestige has declined. The relative worth of the NMF awarded scholarship has. A friend was able to get through Yale with his NMF scholarship and a summer job, years ago. The amount of the award hasn’t changed and the COA has significantly.</p>
<p>I don’t know that it’s less prestigious.</p>
<p>When I look at their web page, it seems that they have a set # of students that they select. They say they pick approximately 34,000 commended and then start 16,000 off as semi-finalists. Almost all of those (15,000 of the 16,000) make finalist. </p>
<p>I can’t find any history, so I can’t tell how those numbers have changed over time. If they’ve been consistent, then, if anything, it should be more prestigious as more students go to college and a smaller percentage are chosen for national merit.</p>
<p>It is easier to make National Merit Finalist in some states than others, so it might be “less prestigious” in the easier states, but you’re still one of the top scorers in your state.</p>
<p>Even if national merit is equally as prestigious, that doesn’t mean that colleges will reward it the same over time. At some points in time, they might want to raise their academic ranking, so they recruit more national merit kids with $$$. Other times, they might want to seem more affordable, so they give more smaller scholarships to a bigger number of kids.</p>
<p>I was thinking more in terms of NMF as a credential for admission to a top 20 school.</p>
<p>Comparing my experience in the way back times to my kids’ results makes me think the top 20 schools give little or no weight to NMF status.</p>
<p>
NMF is based primarily on scores, and those schools are only taking people with high scores. As a result, it doesn’t really add anything. At those schools, it’s like being in the National Honor Society.</p>
<p>Some time ago applications to top 20 schools were still somewhat regional (or based on family affiliation). That is much less true today, particularly with the advent of the common app. With the broader pool of applications to top 20 schools I think scores have probably gone up so, as Hunt states, NMFs are common at those schools.</p>
<p>I was told by an assistant dean of admissions at a highly selective LAC (little Ivy) that they view NMSF and NMF in the same light as being the captain of a varsity team.</p>