<p>“wulfran… If by certificate of merit you mean the letter that they send you telling you you’re a NMF, that was what I sent them in the first place; if not, I have no idea what you’re talking about, because that’s the only thing I’ve gotten on being a NMF…”</p>
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<p>Hi wulfran, </p>
<p>I’m sure Northeastern was fine with receiving just your notification letter. For your own file, though, it’s nice to get the NMF Certificate! The certificate is sent to your high school. I think the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) expects the school to hold some kind of ceremony. Many schools do, and some hand it out at graduation…My son’s school did neither. I had to chase down the certificate through his dean. I’m not sure what they were going to so with it…Maybe just put it in his file? Anyway, it’s supposed to be given to the student!</p>
<p>Also, I’m not sure if the “first-choice commitment” to the NMSC determines when NEU sends out its letters. There’s some kind of monthly report sent out by the NMSC to the colleges and universities letting them know which students have elected them as a first choice. </p>
<p>If I were you, I’d call NEU and ask if you need to make that first-choice commitment by a certain date to be eligible for the scholarship. My son made his election pretty early, so this issue never really came into play for us. (Once again, this may not impact you, I just thought I’d mention it.)</p>
<p>Good Luck.</p>