It's definitely worth a shot if your kid is a strong test taker, but I wouldn't stress if they aren't, esp. if you live in a competitive state. I did a bunch of research on this since DS qualified. He did end up winning one of the $2500 scholarships from the NM organization, so he is officially a NM Scholar. He strongly considered USC as they gave him a scholarship that made it the price of a UC, and for his purposes (undecided, multiple varied interests) USC was a much better fit than a UC. IF you get into USC and IF you are a finalist, you automatically get the Presidential scholarship plus a $1000 annual USC NM scholarship (since he got the $2500 one from NM, he would have forfeited the $4000, ironically).
However.. he was mostly looking at small liberal arts colleges and chose to attend one we both liked a lot that so far appears to be a perfect fit for him. They don't give any merit aid (but they do give great need-based aid to those who qualify) so the $2500 was certainly better than nothing! It was a really tough decision but he went with fit.
Some of the other schools he considered would have given him a small NM scholarship, sometimes in addition to other merit scholarships.
I shared the info. below with a couple of posters, but since this keeps coming up I'll put it here. If anyone has a question about NM, I'm happy to try to answer it for you. I found the process a bit confusing!
The majority of semifinalists become finalists, as long as the rest of their stats are excellent and they put some effort into the application, esp. the essay. As Punkyboo said, it's good practice for the college apps and, indeed, the apps are evaluated by college admissions officers and high school counselors.
2500 finalists are chosen as $2500 winners from NM
some get scholarships from corporations - check if your company sponsors one
Some get scholarships directly from the college they choose
Approx. half of the finalists get some sort of scholarship.
here is a list of colleges that give NM scholarships -you should double check for accuracy
https://www.collegetransitions.com/d...t-scholarships
NM official guide
https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758...c09c90ab5&cc=1
There is a list of companies and colleges that sponsor NM scholarships on page 32 of this guide.
**Interesting... apparently, there are also special scholarships awarded by two-thirds of these companies based on their own criteria, even for students who aren't finalists. I don't know much about this, but there is more info. on page 22!
"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What? You, too? I thought I was the only one." C.S. Lewis