<p>We are gathering supplemental information to submit to the schools at which our son has been waitlisted (Harvard, Princeton, Cornell). He recently received one of the NMSC $2500 scholarships. I understand that 2500 students receive these. I am assuming that makes him a National Merit Scholar. Correct?</p>
<p>What about the @ 6,000 NM Finalist students who don’t get a $2500 NMSC scholarship, but do receive a college-sponsored or corporate-sponsored merit scholarship. Are they National Merit Scholars? Or just Merit Scholars?</p>
<p>We don’t want to falsely represent that our son is one of 2500 2007 National Merit Scholars if these other Finalists who receive merit scholarships from non-NMSC sources are also deemed National Merit Scholars.</p>
<p>It’s just a designation. YOu will know if your child is one in the midway senior year probably after your applications have gone in . By the end of the junior year you will know if he is a Semifinalist. The definition that he is a Semifinalist will probaby be on his school transcripts but you could mention it too.</p>
<p>Darius, does the letter your S got from National Merit have a phone number? If so, call it and ask them what the different designations are. If not, check out <a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org%5B/url%5D”>www.nationalmerit.org</a> - there are definitions there as well as contact information.</p>
<p>Sorry Darius. I think they are NMScholars also. Your h.s. guidance department would be more than glad to help.Just taking the scholarship money does’t change the designation. I don’t think?</p>
<p>Congratulations, darius - your son is a National Merit Scholar! Those $2500 scholarships are for a very select few - I think they’ll be of special interest to the schools where he’s waitlisted. (It’s no small accomplishment to get on the waitlist at Harvard and Princeton, either!)</p>
<p>
You couldn’t be representing this falsely, since your son is a National Merit Scholar. To clarify, you could report that he is a recipient of a National Merit one-time $2500 scholarship - admissions professionals won’t confuse these with the other scholarship programs. My d, who was a National Merit Finalist, received a National Merit scholarship from her university - and they call her a National Merit Scholar on the award letter each year. I’ve always thought that recipients of all three NM scholarships - from the National Merit Scholarship Corp., sponsoring corporations, and sponsoring colleges, could legitimately be called National Merit Scholars. But your son’s scholarship is the hardest to get! :)</p>
<p>Hi, my son was one of these 2500 winners last year and yes, it is the top scholarship from National Merit, but no, it doesn’t necessarily mean you get into those top schools. My son was waitlisted but didn’t get into any of his top choices. It can be maddening as other kids with what appear to be lesser scores get in. Our son also placed 3rd in an event at a national science competition and had sports (but not varsity-big H.S., so that was too competitive). Our son is in the honors program at our state university and we were quite worried that this would be a bad fit for him, but it’s working out quite well. Saves a LOT of money, nice scholarships and the thing that has been best for him has been placement in the honors housing at the U. The kids in honors housing are really great.</p>
<p>I wish they would list all the numbers of NM finalists, or at least semifinalists (since they publish those names and not those of the finalists- wonder if that is to not embarrass the small number who don’t proceed from semi to finalist staus?), in NMS counts at various colleges/universities- some schools have a lot more NM semifinalists than those who sponsor a lot of NMSs… I was a NMS, son was “only” a finalist; since we did not need the money I discouraged him from listing the public U as his first choice as I figured the money should go to someone who needed it. I had a one time $1000 award eons ago, schools gave 4 year renewable awards (I wish I had listed the local U as my first choice, but I wanted to leave town…now you can change your choice later than in my day)- both are NMS. NM also manages the awards for some corporations- strange at a HS awards ceremony when a student who wasn’t even a semifinalist gets money throiugh NM; they made sure they distinguished between the finalists and the other award… (although here people aren’t very aware of the NMS prestige). Son probably would have had perfect HS grades if he needed scholarship money (they were still good until senioritis)… Be proud of the NMS designation, but also realize the other finalists can be just as, if not more, deserving of awards. Not sour grapes, just older and wiser. I needed recognition, son doesn’t- he’s another excellent student like peege04’s, one of the many who went to their excellent state U instead of a lesser private U when the very top schools had no room…</p>
<p>The top 50,000 students nationwide are notified now (at end of Junior year) and are all National Merit Scholars. My Junior DD just got her letter from them a couple weeks ago. There are commended students and semifinalists in this initial group and most kids don’t know which they are, but they are the top about 2% nationwide. Both designations get to name two schools they want the NMS to be sent to and all are national merit scholars. After everything has been tallied for the various states, 16,500 of them are named semifinalists, but they don’t find that out until September of their senior year. You can pretty much guess if your child will be semifinalist or not by comparing the previous years index score for your state. For example, my DD would be a semifinalist in many of the states nationwide, but the index score for California is so high (215 last year) she will be just commended (had a 213-darn). The semifinalists then have to submit transcripts and an application and I believe a recommendation plus get a good score on the actual SAT. Only some of those semifinalists are named finalists. The finalists are the ones that get the $2500, I believe.</p>
<p>All 50,000 of them should put it on their college applications and I am very proud to have a probable commended student. The colleges know if you come from a state with a high index score.</p>
<p>That said, I don’t think NMS means a whole hill of beans to the elite schools. Many students score higher on the SAT’s then their NMF schoolmates. I know my #1 DD was also commended and got a 1480 on her SAT’s. Some of the NMSFinalists at her school had lower SAT scores then that. Go figure.</p>
<p>Hey, I think I do remember that only some of the finalists actually get that $2500, not all of them. Anyway, it’s just a drop in the bucket, but a nice recognition for those that receive it.</p>
<p>citrusbelt, only those who actually receive a monetary award are called “National Merit Scholars” – but there are 3 kinds of scholarships, and any one of those can legitimately be referred to as a “Scholar” – I think there are about 7900 of those in all, about half the total number of Finalists.</p>
<p>darius – the colleges are familiar with the process, so there is no need to provide them with a number when updating them. I do agree with others that it is unlikely to make a difference in terms of admission to the top colleges.</p>
<p>They don’t use the exact term, “National Merit Scholar”. In fact, the word “scholar” in and of itself is never. The terms used are, Commended students, Semifinalists, Finalist, and Merit Scholarship. So it is open to interpretation what National Merit Scholar refers to. I would think the strongest statement OP could make is that DS is a National Merit Finalist who received a National Merit Scholarship. That would not be a false representation, nor would it leave ambiguity regarding his actual accomplishment.</p>
<p>^Regarding use of the word ‘Scholar’, from your link:</p>
<p>“Winner Selection”</p>
<p>“All winners of Merit Scholarship® awards (Merit Scholar® designees) are chosen from the Finalist group, based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments–without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. A variety of information is available for NMSC selectors to evaluate–the Finalist’s academic record, information about the school’s curricula and grading system, two sets of test scores, school official’s written recommendation, information about the student’s activities and leadership, and the Finalist’s own essay.”</p>
<p>So, NMF who receives a National Merit $2500 Scholarship, or a Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship award, or a College-sponsored Merit Scholarship award is a “Merit Scholar designee”. I believe those who receive no money are referred to as National Merit Finalists. Those who did not progress to NMF in the competition are National Merit Semi-Finalists or National Merit Commended.</p>
<p>But, our school refers to the whole bunch…NMF, NMC…scholarships or not, etc… as National Merit Scholars. Not sure if it’s a clueless thing or if they are just like bumping their numbers for press releases. As a parent of Merit Scholar (Finalist who received a college scholarship), it bugged me briefly that the school didn’t recognize the distinction. They certainly didn’t lump all the AP Scholars together. But then…it’s only high school…and who really cares? ;)</p>
<p>The corporate sponsored money winners should not be counted in the same group insofar as they don’t even need commended level scores (they could be both semifinalists and corporate winners- their parents happen to work for a company that uses the PSAT and NM to do the work of selection). Commended students didn’t score as high as semifinalists, and those semifinalists who don’t become finalists either didn’t persue the final paperwork or didn’t have good grades or otherwise meet requirements. Finalists either didn’t list the right school to get the award or fell short as there wasn’t enough money to hand out. NM will publish semifinalist’s names, ie give out the information to the media (our town does nothing with it, sigh-even the scools don’t seem to care much about it) but does not publish the list of finalists, they do so for money winners. Being commended is definitely a cut below semifinalist whereas getting/not getting money depends in part on which school one chooses- does one go for Arizona State to get $, or does one choose a better school that precludes getting the NM $? I list this as an example because I am annoyed by ASU’s emphasis on their playing up the numbers of NMSs at their school when better schools don’t use NMS to lure good students. And yes, who cares xxxty years later. But then again, who cares where you went to college- I have seen Harvard and MIT grads end up in the same locations and jobs as the locals. However, the prize can never be taken away from you, just as the college experience can never be changed regardless of your future.</p>
<p>Be prepared to be asked and have to explain if you claim your commended student as a scholar when asked how much money they got… Those who advance in the competition are less likely to make claims because they are more aware of the distinctions… It may seem harsh, but somehow being a commended student and bragging about it, unlike stating commeded with a tone of regret for not doing better, is like bragging about 700 SAT scores when people know above 700 is better…</p>
<p>Some may wonder what the big deal is (aside from the money), especially when it all hinges on a single test score. I know of many students who graduate with 4.0 (unweighted…) who would never get good PSAT scores, if they bothered to take the test, and who take few, if any, AP classes. Then there are the students who excel on the test but don’t do the work to get the grades (more likely to be boys), even though they may have many excellent AP test scores. I’m glad some of these hidden gems get recognition- maybe it even gives some of them an incentive to do the work they’re capable of. Out here in the real, average world the national academic honors are few and far between- some of you live in a world where just about everyone takes the PSAT, goes to college and many are NM-whatevers each year. This difference in awareness sparks discussions like this; my experiences in different scholastic environments (as a child and as a parent in particular), plus the knowledge gained in growing old(er) help me figure out why it matters more/less to people.</p>
<p>I’m having trouble here- I think I’m trying to state that those of you who live in the elite academic environments should understand where those in the “boonies” are coming from, yet the elite standards should be upheld in giving status for awards. I quit - before I make this post any worse…</p>
<p>“The corporate sponsored money winners should not be counted in the same group insofar as they don’t even need commended level scores (they could be both semifinalists and corporate winners- their parents happen to work for a company that uses the PSAT and NM to do the work of selection).”</p>
<p>Not necessarily true. My child received a $2500 corporate NMS from Pepsico. We have NO affiliation with Pepsico whatsoever. </p>
<p>If you read the info on the NM Foundation site, some corporations target high achievers who fit certain attributes.</p>
<p>My child scored very well on the PSAT and later scored 4000 (1600 on the old SAT I, 800 on three SAT IIs - all on the first attempt.)</p>
<p>From the website–note that all three groups are taken from the finalist pool:</p>
<p>Beginning in March and continuing to mid-June, NMSC notifies approximately 8,200 Finalists at their home addresses that they have been selected to receive a Merit Scholarship® award. Merit Scholarship awards are of three types:</p>
<p>National Merit® $2500 Scholarships
Every Finalist competes for these single payment scholarships, which are awarded on a state representational basis. Winners are selected without consideration of family financial circumstances, college choice, or major and career plans. </p>
<p>Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards
Corporate sponsors designate their awards for children of their employees or members, for residents of a community where a company has operations, or for Finalists with career plans the sponsor wishes to encourage. These scholarships may either be renewable for four years of undergraduate study or one-time awards. </p>
<p>College-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards
Officials of each sponsor college select winners of their awards from Finalists who have been accepted for admission and have informed NMSC by the published deadlines that the sponsor college or university is their first choice. These awards are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study. The published deadlines for reporting a sponsor college as first choice can be viewed on page 3 of the leaflet Requirements and Instructions for Semifinalists in the 2007 National Merit® Scholarship Program. (Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or above is required.)</p>
<p>Something about this doesn’t ring true to me. My son is a NMF. Of the three schools he was considering, two were sponsoring schools and one was not. He chose to attend the one that was not. So in that case, and by the logic stated here, his choice of school dictated whether he would be called a NMF or a NMS. Somehow that doesn’t make sense to me - but much in life doesn’t.</p>
<p>SBDad – I was thinking of a situation like yours. It does seem odd that/if where one goes to school affects whether one is a NMS. But from post 16 (above), it does look like that is so.</p>