does anybody know when semi-finalists for this year will be notified of finalist status?
April is when the commended are notified, and September is when SF’s are notified. @innercircle
If I remember correctly, finalists were notified sometime in late February or early March. It was too late for D to add this to any of her college applications.
@mkumar17 I’m actually a semi-finalist myself and submitted my application for finalist status in October, so I’m just wondering when I’ll be notified if I become a finalist, but thanks anyways for the info!
@mtrosemom thanks! hopefully I’ll find out in less than a month 
@mkumar17 When the notify the commended, do they notify 50K students, as those going to be semi finalists are scoring more than the commended cutoff anyway.
They don’t actually notify the commended students. They send a list to schools and ask if any of the students on the list are no longer at the school or are ineligible. People figure out the commended cutoff from who is on those lists.
@Ynotgo So school will notify the students? The commended gets a Paper Certificate to keep at some point? When will that come.
Some schools notify students that they are at least Commended in April. Homeschool “principals” get the same notification, so that is usually how the cutoff is figured out here on CC.
Certificates for commended aren’t given out until a few months after NMSF announcements are made, because you don’t get a Commended certificate if you are a NMSF.
@innercircle, By coincidence, our school announced the 2016 (graduating seniors) NMF in today’s newsletter. So the official notice is out to schools. You might want to ask your counselor or principal if you haven’t heard yet.
Question…in April do they just ask the schools about the commended students only? I think my son is looking to semi finalist but will they notify the school in April about that? Does that even make any sense? We are just to figure out if you get semi finalist are you commended also?
@Tgirlfriend , in past years the April notification was about anyone still in the running for NMSF. This includes anyone from the national commended cut up. Keep in mind, actual cuts aren’t out until late summer, so even in a high state like CA, a past 204 and a 224 would be counted the same in April.
Then come September, you are either a semi-finalist after clearing those state specific cuts, or by default, commended. (Commended notifications will come out after the SF notifications in the fall.)
@PAMom21…Thank you. So our Principal needs to be on the look out for something in April and then again in September. I will let him know. Hopefully in April people can figure out what the commended cutoff will be then the state cutoffs will be easier to figure out. Who knows?
Yes, but I always make my comments read 'in past years" or the like, because this year has proven to be unique in many ways. I do hope those letters still go out in April, because that actual commended cut was the most predictive number we got before September. (My son was a NMF for the class of 2015.) Keep in mind no actual cut is quoted in these letters, but with homeschoolers playing along, it was easy enough to figure out where that cut fell when Joey was in with 202, but Johnny wasn’t with 201.
@mtrosemom thanks for the info! I actually got a letter in the mail today from the corporation that says I was named a finalist!! so excited
@innercircle - Congratulations! Very happy for you! My S16 is also a finalist, and S17 is also hoping to make commended or better. Note; Make sure you read the back of the letter, which advises you fill in your “first choice” school on your account with the National Merit Corp., so they can notify your school. If you haven’t decided where you are going yet, that is fine, just list it as “undecided.” The letter states that, if your first choice school awards their own National Merit scholarship, getting it listed by March 1st may give you priority consideration for such a scholarship. If you are “undecided” you just need to update your account, with the name of your chosen school by the end of April. Good luck with all you do in your future!
1350 score, 204 SI, 97%user and 98%natl. 98% in reading 95% in math.
Not sure if data is still being collected
Commended this year is a 209 (called the NMSC).
Well I got a 208 'fml
Do we know cut off for commended/NMSF letter on its way??
The reason there is a gap here after February is because people switched over to this thread: