Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

I'm pretty sure that I made it to the semi-finalist stage of national merit because one of the counselors at my school said that my status had been discussed at one of the counselors meetings.

However, I have not gotten anything from my school. Apparently, my counselor has gotten some forms for HIM to fill out (or at least he thinks they're for him) and I'm supposed to get my forms in the mail....

Have most semi-finalists already gotten applications in the mail? Have they gotten apps from their school? Do counselors have forms to fill out too or is my counselor just filling out my form by accident?

By Chen (Chen) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 05:46 pm: Edit

I've gotten my forms from my school, but I'm sure others have gotten them through mail. Someone higher up does have to fill out the forms, and I wasn't sure who. I thought it was the principal, but it makes sense that the counselor fills them out. The deadline for us to hand in our forms and essay is this Friday, but that could just be the date my school posted to allow time for late ones.

By Trojan1444 (Trojan1444) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 06:03 pm: Edit

WTF! I heard from someone else on this board that the deadline for essays is friday, but i haven't even got mine yet!!!

By Chen (Chen) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 06:18 pm: Edit

Many of the Semi-finalist threads on here have the essay question. Get started on it now :D

By Chen (Chen) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 06:18 pm: Edit

[delete this post, double]

By Pookdogg (Pookdogg) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 06:35 pm: Edit

The deadline for the essay and the entire application isn't until the first or second week fo October. However, you will need to submit that application before the dealine to your school, so they can do their own things on it (recs, transcripts, etc.) Sept. 11 is an arbitrary date they set to make sure you give your school enough time.

By Trojan1444 (Trojan1444) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 06:48 pm: Edit

What's the prompt?

By Thedad (Thedad) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 07:08 pm: Edit

Stupid counselors...there are several parts of the form that you should fill out *first* and then get back to the school so that they can fill out their parts. The packet is due to be mailed back from the school by Oct. 10 and rationally it doesn't matter who does what in which order but imo it should get to the student *first*...the school should have its act together to get their part processed in short order.

The prompt is:

ESSAY ABOUT YOURSELF In your own words, describe your personal characteristics, accomplishments, primary interests, plans, and goals. What sets you apart? Your essay of about 500 words should be typed on this form or computer printed and affixed with nonglare tape. MATERIAL EXCEEDING THIS SPACE CAN NOT BE USED.

Space measures about 6-5/8" wide by 7-5/8" long.

Good luck.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 08:44 pm: Edit

And, when in doubt, you can telephone the Nat'l Merit Scholarship Corp. people. They don't bite. Their website and phone number are easy to locate.

After inquiring several times about her Nat'l Merit status at school, I called Nat'l M. They said her score met the commended level, and that they had sent the info to our school. Several more inquires later, the school "found" the letter, and warned my daughter when they gave her the letter that someone was probably "just trying to get money from her." So, don't wait on your school, and hope you have better luck with your guidance dept. than we did!

By Sunshine916 (Sunshine916) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 08:53 pm: Edit

this is so dumb. its not like my counselors/school doesnt know about National Merit or anything because we always have 10 kids or so who make it to commended and 3-4 who get semifinalist.

WHY ARENT THEY TELLING ME???? are they trying to kill me? i'd go in and ask but the counselors are so hard to track down (each counselor is responsible for 400 kids or so) and you have to request a time and the time is usually a week later, and its just a big mess.

all i know is that they better not give it to me the day before its due or i will spazz out.

By Zorro5280 (Zorro5280) on Tuesday, September 09, 2003 - 10:48 am: Edit

Try this: Supposedly, no info is to be released to THE MEDIA until 9/17. Some schools may be interpreting this to mean not to tell the semi-finalists themselves until then. I mean, who can keep such a secret, right? Nat'l Merit themselves doesn't need the forms back until, I believe, 10/10. That's still not a ton of time in which to write a great essay, but one could also look at the topic and figure that using your "basic" college essay will probably do quite well, recycled.