National Merit Scholarships

shennie
Wed, 07 Feb 2007 15:47:01 +0000

Students don’t actually have to pick a school until acceptances come out. At that point, you will know if your son is one of the NM winners as they are usually announced in March. If he is not and if he decides to attend a school that offers NM money, he can then name that school as his first choice.

My son’s friend was a $2500 NM winner and attended a NM school. The school usually gives $2000 a year for 4 years to NM finalists. Since he had $2500 for his first year, the school didn’t offer him NM money his first year but agreed to give him an additional $2000 scholarship for each of his remaining 3 years.

As to the criteria for getting the $2500 award, they are usually top scorers on the SAT. My son’s friend had 1600 in one sitting as well as a 236 PSAT. In addition, he had top grades and excellent recommendations.