S/O: National Merit Scholar money….is it really worth it?

[AnnieW625]

So apparently per a Google search an NMS scholarship ranges in value from $2500-$8000 and there are about 15,000 of those awarded each year out of about 1.5 Million kids who take the PSAT. That is 1% of the total test takers.

So if your kids have qualified how much money did they get and did they get extra money from university (in state public, out of state public or private) as well because of the extra NMS status?


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[PunkyBoo]

We are in the process right now. DS1 is a NMS semifinalist. There isn't really anything to be "worth it" -they have to take the tests anyway, it's an honor to be recognized (and looks really good on college applications, especially since UCs aren't letting students put their SAT scores on the application) and any offer of merit aid is a help. We will not qualify for any need based aid so any merit aid is welcome. The UCs don't do anything for NMS but I've been told they may be more likely to get Regent's scholarships. There is an application process to get from being semifinalist to be considered finalist/ NMScholar and we felt it was a huge benefit to go through the process as a preview of the college application process.

ETA if admitted to USC, NMS finalists get half off tuition. Thats a LOT.
ETA2- here is a list of schools that give merit aid for NMS that Globetrotter sent me. https://www.collegetransitions.com/d...-scholarships/

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[SnuggleBuggles]

We are in the process right now. DS1 is a NMS semifinalist. There isn't really anything to be "worth it" -they have to take the tests anyway, it's an honor to be recognized (and looks really good on college applications, especially since UCs aren't letting students put their SAT scores on the application) and any offer of merit aid is a help.

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Congratulations to your kiddo!

I totally agree with you on the “worth”. It’s not like you have to go out of your way to do anything extra. Take the test and if you qualify, awesome!



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[PunkyBoo]

Congratulations to your kiddo!


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Thank you!!

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[chlobo]

We are in the process right now. DS1 is a NMS semifinalist. There isn't really anything to be "worth it" -they have to take the tests anyway, it's an honor to be recognized (and looks really good on college applications, especially since UCs aren't letting students put their SAT scores on the application) and any offer of merit aid is a help. We will not qualify for any need based aid so any merit aid is welcome. The UCs don't do anything for NMS but I've been told they may be more likely to get Regent's scholarships. There is an application process to get from being semifinalist to be considered finalist/ NMScholar and we felt it was a huge benefit to go through the process as a preview of the college application process.

ETA if admitted to USC, NMS finalists get half off tuition. Thats a LOT.
ETA2- here is a list of schools that give merit aid for NMS that Globetrotter sent me. https://www.collegetransitions.com/d...-scholarships/

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Congratulations! How did you find out? I seem to recall my daughter meeting some benchmark but I can't remember what happened after.

[essnce629]

So apparently per a Google search an NMS scholarship ranges in value from $2500-$8000 and there are about 15,000 of those awarded each year out of about 1.5 Million kids who take the PSAT. That is 1% of the total test takers.

So if your kids have qualified how much money did they get and did they get extra money from university (in state public, out of state public or private) as well because of the extra NMS status?


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It's EXTREMELY hard to be a NMS finalist in California. It's not based on raw test scores, but on the selection index score, which is different in every state. The selection index for CA is one of the highest every year. For instance, this year the cutoff in CA is a selection index of 221 vs the selection index in North Dakota which is 207. The only states with a selection index higher than CA is Maryland and New Jersey. It is much easier to be a NMS finalist or semifinalist in states with lower index scores. For this reason, we didn't even think about it when DS1 was taking the test since it's so incredibly difficult (you need close to a perfect score).

Here's the selection index for each state and how it's calculated:
https://blog.prepscholar.com/nationa...toff-2015-2016

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[ett]

It's EXTREMELY hard to be a NMS finalist in California. It's not based on raw test scores, but on the selection index score, which is different in every state. The selection index for CA is one of the highest every year. For instance, this year the cutoff in CA is a selection index of 221 vs the selection index in North Dakota which is 207. The only states with a selection index higher than CA is Maryland and New Jersey. It is much easier to be a NMS finalist or semifinalist in states with lower index scores. For this reason, we didn't even think about it when DS1 was taking the test since it's so incredibly difficult (you need close to a perfect score).

Here's the selection index for each state and how it's calculated:
https://blog.prepscholar.com/nationa...toff-2015-2016

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MA's selection index is also 221, so qualifying for NMS wasn't on our mind either when DS1 took the PSAT.

[o_mom]

There isn't really anything to be "worth it" -they have to take the tests anyway, it's an honor to be recognized (and looks really good on college applications, especially since UCs aren't letting students put their SAT scores on the application) and any offer of merit aid is a help. We will not qualify for any need based aid so any merit aid is welcome.

This is our take on it. Our school has everyone test, so no extra work or fees.

If you have a kid with a ton of other honors, and more extracurriculars than they can fit on the common app, and it would cost you time and money... then, yeah, unless they are really likely to make it (somewhat state dependent) I wouldn't put a bunch of effort I to it. If, OTOH, you have a kid like mine who tests well, but doesn't have 10+ ec's and is looking at less competitive schools, even putting NMS commended can be a help.

I also think that extra testing practice can only help, especially when it is just "practice" and the scores won't really go anywhere.

[PunkyBoo]

Congratulations! How did you find out? I seem to recall my daughter meeting some benchmark but I can't remember what happened after.

Thank you! The list of semifinalists was sent to the school at the end of September. Then the counselor had to fill out a bunch of stuff for it and run the transcripts; he had to fill out some forms and write/submit an essay, all with a deadline last week. We won't find out if he's made finalist until Feb.
He qualified using the Alternative method that they created for covid restrictions. He was not able to take the PSAT (for the the second time) in 11th grade, which is the usual time for NMS consideration, because his school was remote the entire school year. The Alternative method allowed him to instead take the SAT (for the first time) in the spring of junior year and have that count for NMS consideration. There was a conversion they did to get the SAT score "scaled" to be weighted equally with PSAT scores.

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[Globetrotter]

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!