Deadline for NMSFs to apply to be Nat. Merit Finalist
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Anonymous
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My kid’s school has given no information to the National Merit Semifinalists on how to apply to be a finalist. From what I can tell online, the deadline might be Oct 9, and both the school and the applicant have to do a lot of paperwork (and an essay). And the applicant needs a passcode, perhaps supplied by the school?
Can anyone who has gone through this please supply some information? I’m wondering how loudly to ring the alarm bells or whether we should just sit tight. |
Anonymous
| My kids school hasn't even notified the semifinalists yet that they're semifinalists. Found out from the county-level news article and nothing from the school. |
Anonymous
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My kid's school gave him a letter from NMC that contained the information needed to set up an account, including temporary password. The letter was dated late August, and the school gave it to him on September 11 or whatever date it was that the press release went out.
I would have your kid go to his counselor or college advising office and ask them about that. If for some reason the school did not get a letter, they should call NMC and ask. It's not a terribly complicated application -- mostly stuff they can cut and paste from common app -- but it will take an hour or two to fill out, depending on whether they need to adjust their common app essay for the NMS app. And yes, it's due October 9, and I believe it's the school that ultimately submits it, although perhaps they just submit their part and we submit our part on that date. |
Anonymous
| And depending on your kid's focus level (being real about how some kids get forms and they just end up living in their backpacks until a future excavation), you might want to just double check with them to see whether they have that letter -- they may well have gotten it and not realized it contained important information. |
Anonymous
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OP here. I called school. They are giving out information this Friday.
Would PP mind posting the essay prompt? |
Anonymous
| Unfortunately, I don't have access to his account, but you should be able to google it -- just search for national merit scholarship application or something. You should be able to find the entire application. |
Anonymous
I don't get why Blair (who has a lot of NMSF) holds the notifications so long. Just tell the kids and give them their letters. |
Anonymous
Guessing your kids are at TJ in VA then. 
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Anonymous
No, Blair. They literally just told the kids who got it for the first time today. Thought that was dumb, given that they've known for a month and the kids have the next phase application due Oct 9 amidst an already busy time with college applications. |
Anonymous
Equity. They will do everything to stall the progress of non-URMs. Because they are racists. Please sue them. Only Blair has enough lawyer parents to sue MCPS. |
Anonymous
The chances of that being the reason are extremely slim. It's to a school's advantage for their students to advance from NMSF to NMF. Much more likely just someone followed through with this slowly. |
Anonymous
| Yes, Blair deliberately did not release the letter and password to start the finalist application until today Friday. They had it since Aug 27 and could have released it on Sept 11. Surprised that the school would deliberately do that to its own students! |
Anonymous
there you go again. 
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Anonymous
| In August last year his school notified us DC was selected as NMSF but asked us not to tell anyone until it became official in September. Soon after that the school counselor told all the recipients the next steps to take, application process and deadlines, etc. DC handled it by themselves without problems. A MCPS magnet HS (not Blair). |