Big congratulations to proud DCUMD parents and their NMF kiddos. Its a big deal. Best of luck with getting scholar status.

Just got our letter this evening too. Awfully proud of my boy.

Congrats to the students above!

Received letter in snail mail today confirming National Merit Finalist. DC school (Ivy) doesn’t give scholarship for this though, so perhaps some other scholarship.

My son received his letter saying that he is a finalist today.

Our mailman just delivered *the* letter here in McLean.

Congrats to all who made it!

Anonymous wrote:My DC's school (DC private) received the information today.

does anyone know what the DC cutoff number was this year?

Anonymous wrote:My DC was a NMS with a $2500 award direct from NMSC. DC was not given an option to get a school award instead or in addition to that money. It varies by school what they are willing to give, but DC’s school said they would only allow one type of award and that DC could not decline the NMSC-sponsored award.

So getting NMF status actually hurts if you need a big scholarship, and since it doesn't help admissions (your real SAT score means more), why do it?

And, would schools that do track interesr notice if you were a finalist but hadn't selected them as first choice? Could this be a double edged sword?

Does anyone have any insight in using first choice to demonstrate interest? Would the school consider that if they don't consider demonstrated interest on cds?

My DC was a NMS with a $2500 award direct from NMSC. DC was not given an option to get a school award instead or in addition to that money. It varies by school what they are willing to give, but DC’s school said they would only allow one type of award and that DC could not decline the NMSC-sponsored award.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A counselor told DC today.

If the parents' employers don't offer scholarships to NMF, is there a chance to receive a scholarship from some random company? I'm not quite sure how they choose the recipients if they have no connection to their company.

REad up on it. ASAP...school choice is due by March 1. It is very late in the game to be asking. You should have been reading about it last fall when your kid was a semi-finalist. We used our shot to get our kid a full ride scholarship.

Congratulations to your family on the full ride! Was it your child's first/second choice or did they mostly choose it because of the scholarship? DC isn't quite interested in any colleges that participate in this program, that's why I asked about corporate scholarships in my message above. I looked through the list of participating corporations, and 99% of them only give scholarships to their employees' children.
It's such a tough decision to make. DC plans to study CS. On the one hand, they can do well no matter what college they attend, even if it's a no-name college overseas. On the other hand, if they get accepted by Carnegie Mellon, MIT or Harvard, how could we reject such an opportunity? Thus far, was accepted by GT and tells me every day how happy they are about that and want to go there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A counselor told DC today.

If the parents' employers don't offer scholarships to NMF, is there a chance to receive a scholarship from some random company? I'm not quite sure how they choose the recipients if they have no connection to their company.

REad up on it. ASAP...school choice is due by March 1. It is very late in the game to be asking. You should have been reading about it last fall when your kid was a semi-finalist. We used our shot to get our kid a full ride scholarship.

DP. On the subject of school choice:

"As you make your decision about who to report as first choice (or whether to remain undecided), research the websites of each of the colleges you are considering. This will help you determine if they participate in the NMSC program, how much they award, and if they have any particular deadlines you need to meet to gain maximum consideration. When selecting a first-choice college, keep these things in mind:

Sometimes (not always), there can be an advantage in reporting a college as first choice by March 1. Some colleges limit their awards and give priority to the students who appear on their first roster from NMSC. Alternatively, you may want to show “demonstrated interest” at a particular college by letting them see you have selected them as first choice.
Remember, if you report a college as first choice, you can always change your mind. However, be careful not to miss NMSC’s deadline for reporting this change. Technically you have until May 31 to change your first choice. However if a college offers you an award and NMSC goes out with an announcement of that award on May 1, then you are no longer able to transfer the college sponsorship, and you will be ineligible at the new institution. Therefore to be safe, make sure you report your new first choice to NMSC by April 30 at the latest. This makes sense, since you’ll be deciding where to enroll by then anyway!"

Source: https://blog.getintocollege.com/so-youre-a-national-merit-finalist-now-what-part-1/

FCPS just got the list. You can your counselor

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello. I am clueless and need help. Are we talking current Juniors who took the PSAT this past Fall? Thx.

No read up on it. It can be a free ride if scores are high enough

The free rides are likely at schools your Merit Scholar has no interest in attending. Ask me how I know