2016 Requirements and Instructions Leaflet.indd

REQUIREMENTS FOR BECOMING A FINALIST

As a Semiﬁ nalist named in the fall of 2015, you must advance to Finalist standing before you can be con-

sidered for a Merit Scholarship

award to be offered in 2016. You must meet all speciﬁ ed requirements and

deadlines, or you will be withdrawn from the competition. To qualify as a Finalist, you must:

1. Continue to meet all program entry requirements (published in the 2014 Ofﬁ cial Student Guide to

the PSAT/NMSQT

2. Be enrolled in the last year of high school and be planning to enroll full time in college in the fall of

2016 or be enrolled in the ﬁ rst year of college, if grades 9 through 12 were completed in three years

or less.

3. Be a citizen of the United States; or be a U.S. lawful permanent resident (or have applied for perma-

nent residence, the application for which has not been denied) and intend to become a U.S. citizen

at the earliest opportunity allowed by law. If you have not yet become a U.S. citizen, see box below.

4. Be fully endorsed for Finalist standing and recommended for a National Merit Scholarship by your

high school principal (or school ofﬁ cial designated by the principal).

5. Have a record of consistently very high academic performance in all of grades 9 through 12 and in

any college course work taken. Your school must provide a complete record of high school courses

you have taken, grades earned, and course work you will take in grade 12. The school should also

notify National Merit Scholarship Corporation (

NMSC) of any noticeable decline in your academic

performance during the current year. If you are now in college, high academic performance must

continue and must be documented by an ofﬁ cial transcript of your record (see instructions on page 2

of this document).

6. Submit the completed application to your high school ofﬁ cial as soon as possible using

NMSC’s

Online Scholarship Application (OSA). The school ofﬁ cial will complete the school’s sections of the

application for ﬁ nal transmittal to NMSC by October 7, 2015.

7. Take the SAT

and earn scores that conﬁ rm your 2014 PSAT/NMSQT performance. You must take (or

have taken) a national administration of the

SAT between October 2013 and December 2015. Also, it

is your responsibility to ﬁ le a request with the College Board SAT Program to have an ofﬁ cial report

of your SAT scores sent to NMSC (code 0085). See page 2 of this document for detailed information

about authorized

SAT administrations and score reporting.

8. Provide any additional documentation and information that NMSC requests.

Requirements and Instructions for Semiﬁ nalists

in the 2016 National Merit

Scholarship Program

National Merit, Merit Scholarship, Merit Scholar, and the corporate “Lamp of Learning” logo are federally registered service

marks of National Merit Scholarship Corporation. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of National Merit Scholarship Corporation

and the College Board.

SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of this document.

If you have not yet become a U.S. citizen, you must submit with your completed National Merit

Scholarship Application:

•

A letter signed by you explaining your plans for becoming a citizen, including the date on which

you expect to be eligible and will apply for U.S. citizenship.

AND

•

If you are a U.S. lawful permanent resident, a copy of your Permanent Resident Card

(Green Card); or a copy of your passport including the identity/biographical page and the

“I-551” stamp showing that you have been granted lawful permanent resident status.

•

If you have applied for U.S. lawful permanent residence, a copy of Form I-797 Receipt

Notice from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) that veriﬁ es you ﬁ led the

“Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status” (Form I-485). Note: Form

I-797 Receipt Notice must be received by

NMSC on or before January 31, 2016.

TAKING THE SAT AND HAVING YOUR SCORES REPORTED

To become a Finalist, you must conﬁ rm your PSAT/NMSQT performance with scores on the SAT. It is solely

your responsibility to:

1. take the

SAT on a date authorized by NMSC; and

2. request that the College Board SAT Program send an ofﬁ cial report of your SAT scores to the

National Merit Scholarship Corporation (code 0085).

NMSC must receive your scores no later

than December 31, 2015, for full award consideration.

You can register for the SAT online at www.collegeboard.org or by mail. For more information, contact

the SAT Program at (866) 756-7346 Domestic or (212) 713-7789 International.

The

SAT Program will not report your scores to NMSC unless you request it, and you cannot substitute

a photocopy of the score report sent to you or your school for the ofﬁ cial report. Send all testing and score

reporting fees directly to the

SAT Program.

Authorized SAT administrations

Scores earned on national administrations of the SAT from October 2013 through December 2015 will

be considered by NMSC. NMSC will not accept scores from a national SAT administration taken earlier than

October 2013 or later than December 2015. Your critical reading score, mathematics score, and writing

multiple-choice subscore [CR + M + W(mc)] will be the basis for determining whether you meet the con-

ﬁ rming score requirement. Please note that

NMSC will consider only the highest set of scores from a single

administration of the SAT.

If you have not yet taken the

SAT

(code 0085):

•

October 3

•

November 7

•

December 5

We urge you to take the SAT no later than November 7 and not wait until the December administration.

If you have already taken an authorized administration of the SAT

IMMEDIATELY request that an ofﬁ cial score report be sent to NMSC (code 0085) by using one of the fol-

lowing services:

1. View and Send Scores at http://sat.collegeboard.org

2. Automated Telephone Service at (866) 756-7346 Domestic or (212) 713-7789 International

Be sure

NMSC will be sent a report of your SAT scores

Look at the score report sent to you by the SAT Program to verify it shows National Merit Scholarship

Corporation (code 0085) as a recipient. If NMSC is not listed, immediately contact College Board to request

that a score report be sent. This is very important because you will be withdrawn from further consider-

ation in the competition if

NMSC does not receive a timely report of your scores from an authorized SAT

administration.

SEMIFINALISTS NOW ENROLLED FULL TIME IN COLLEGE

As instructed in the OSA, submit the completed application to the school ofﬁ cial (high school you last at-

tended), who will complete the school’s sections of the application for ﬁ nal transmittal to NMSC by October

7, 2015. If you report a college choice using the OSA, it should be the college you plan to attend during the

2016–17 academic year.

To be considered for Finalist standing, you must meet all requirements speciﬁ ed on page 1 and, immedi-

ately after the end of the current term, arrange to have your college send an ofﬁ cial transcript of all college

course work you have taken to Scholarship Administration at

NMSC.

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COLLEGE CHOICE

College choice is not considered in determining whether a Semiﬁ nalist qualiﬁ es as a Finalist. However, it is

requested because every National Merit Scholarship can be used only for attendance at a college or uni-

versity in the United States that holds accredited status with a regional accrediting commission on higher

education. All National Merit $2500 Scholarships and almost all corporate-sponsored awards (explained

in the Information about the National Merit Scholarship Competition document) are transferable from one

regionally accredited U.S. institution to another, but college-sponsored awards are not (as explained in the

next section).

You are asked to report your ﬁ rst-choice college (to which you are applying for admission) on your

National Merit Scholarship Application using the

OSA. However, if you are unsure, indicate “undecided” on

your application and report your ﬁ rst-choice college to NMSC as soon as possible. To report your college

choice or a change in your choice, log back in at osa.nationalmerit.org using the username and password

you created when you set up your account. Please note that you may not make a change to this information

until your high school transmits the completed application to

NMSC. It is your responsibility to apply and be

admitted to the college you plan to attend.

REPORT OF A SPONSOR COLLEGE AS FIRST CHOICE

Consideration for a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award is limited to Semiﬁ nalists who qualify as

Finalists and who also

1. report to

NMSC that a sponsor college is their ﬁ rst choice (see the list of college sponsors included in

the “Competition Instructions” section of the OSA and at nationalmerit.org/resources.php);

2. have applied for admission to the sponsor college; and

3. have not been offered any other National Merit Scholarship (corporate-sponsored, National, or an-

other college-sponsored award). No student will receive more than one scholarship offer from

NMSC.

A college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award can be used only at the institution ﬁ nancing it and therefore

is canceled if the winner changes college choice.

Schedule speciﬁ c to college-sponsored awards:

March 1 through May 31, 2016: A Finalist who has reported a sponsor college as ﬁ rst choice by

March 1 will be included in the ﬁ rst group referred to that institution for scholarship consideration. Only

the sponsoring college you have listed as your ﬁ rst choice will be notiﬁ ed. Periodically

NMSC will notify

sponsors of additional Finalists who have reported (by May 31) the college or university as their ﬁ rst choice.

May 1, 2016:

NMSC will begin mailing college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offers.

NOTE: If

NMSC receives notiﬁ cation of a change in college choice from a Finalist after mailing

a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offer to that student, the change in college choice

will not be processed and the Finalist cannot be offered another college-sponsored Merit

Scholarship award. This applies even if the new choice of college is one that also sponsors

Merit Scholarship awards. Therefore, a Finalist who has previously reported a sponsor

college as ﬁ rst choice but is uncertain about it may choose to notify

NMSC that he or she is

now “undecided” to prevent being made an offer from a school he or she is uncertain about

attending; such notiﬁ cation must be submitted online at osa.nationalmerit.org before May 1.

The Finalist can subsequently report a ﬁ rm college choice that

NMSC receives by May 31.

May 31, 2016: Deadline date for NMSC to receive reports of a sponsor college as ﬁ rst choice. Because it

is necessary to end the competition in a timely manner, only college choice reports that NMSC receives by

May 31 will be used to identify the ﬁ nal group of candidates to a college or university that sponsors awards.

See the Schedule and Deadlines on the next page.

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January 24 Selection committees begin choosing Merit Scholarship award winners

February 3 NMSC mails notiﬁ cation to high school principals about the status of their Semiﬁ nalists;

a Certiﬁ cate of Merit is provided for each Semiﬁ nalist who qualiﬁ es as a Finalist

February 10

NMSC notiﬁ es Finalists of their status at their home addresses

March 1 Finalists who have reported a sponsor college as ﬁ rst choice by this date will be included

in the ﬁ rst group referred to the institution for scholarship consideration

March 9

NMSC begins mailing corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship offers to winners at their

home addresses

March 24

NMSC mails offers of National Merit $2500 Scholarships

May 1 NMSC begins mailing offers of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards

(see NOTE on page 3)

May 31 Deadline for

NMSC to receive reports of college choice for identifying the ﬁ nal group of

candidates for college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards

Schedule and Deadlines for the 2016 Merit Scholarship

Competition

September 9 NMSC releases names of about 16,000 Semiﬁ nalists to news media

October 3

SAT administration date

October 7 Schools transmit completed National Merit Scholarship Applications to NMSC using the OSA

November 7 SAT administration date

Semiﬁ nalists who took an earlier authorized administration of the

SAT should have

requested the SAT Program to report scores to NMSC (code 0085)

December 5 Last date for Semiﬁ nalists to take the SAT

NMSC releases announcements of Merit Scholar designees to news media nationwide:

April 20 Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners

May 11 National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners

June 1 and July 18 College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners

2016

2015

If you have questions, contact: National Merit Scholarship Corporation, Attn: Scholarship Administration

1560 Sherman Avenue, Suite 200, Evanston, IL 60201-4897 • (847) 866-5161