National Merit application

[Debate Mom]

My son was named a semifinalist and we are working on the application for finalist.  Do we need to find an outside teacher as a recommender/ endorser or can I do that myself?  Would I send the final application in to the NMSC?

 

[TCB]

I'm just doing this myself and don't know what I'm doing lol! But I'm fairly sure that the Letter of Recommendation needs to come from an outside teacher.

[yvonne]

I'm in the same boat. LOL 

 

Is there a deadline?  I haven't even looked. Wasn't going to start it till I get the Common App stuff in.

 

 

[snowbeltmom]

My son was named a semifinalist and we are working on the application for finalist.  Do we need to find an outside teacher as a recommender/ endorser or can I do that myself?  Would I send the final application in to the NMSC?

 

Congratulations to your son! You can complete the online transcript yourself, but you need to find an outside teacher/mentor to endorse it.  So there are three parts to the application: your part, your son's part, and the endorser's part.

 

[TCB]

I'm in the same boat. LOL 

 

Is there a deadline?  I haven't even looked. Wasn't going to start it till I get the Common App stuff in.

 

I think the deadline is Oct 11th

[TCB]

Congratulations to your son! You can complete the online transcript yourself, but you need to find an outside teacher/mentor to endorse it.  So there are three parts to the application: your part, your son's part, and the endorser's part.

 

 

I'm having trouble filling out the online transcript. Are you supposed to be able to list every high school class your student took? It mentioned something about homeschool parents not having to fill out the build your curriculum section but instead entering the classes your student took elsewhere but I can't seem to find where the elsewhere is.

[GoodGrief]

I do believe you need an outside teacher. We used the man who taught my daughter's homeschool science class. If you have used any of the PAH classes, sometimes those teachers will serve as recommenders.

[Debate Mom]

He has outside teachers from dual enrollment but I am confused about where they need to submit the letter.  I have been working on the school profile and classes part but where do the teachers need to send the recommendation letter.  I may call national merit tomorrow to find out :-)  If I do, I will update here.

Edited September 15, 2017 by Nancy in NC

[snowbeltmom]

I'm having trouble filling out the online transcript. Are you supposed to be able to list every high school class your student took? It mentioned something about homeschool parents not having to fill out the build your curriculum section but instead entering the classes your student took elsewhere but I can't seem to find where the elsewhere is.

Yes, you should be able to list every high school class your student took.  I used the pull-down menu when creating mine.  I had some trouble at first with this piece because I thought I was supposed to upload the actual transcript rather than create a separate transcript from the menu.  I called the NM folks and they were very helpful and walked me through the process.

[snowbeltmom]

He has outside teachers from dual enrollment but I am confused about where they need to submit the letter.  I have been working on the school profile and classes part but where do the teachers need to send the recommendation letter.  I may call national merit tomorrow to find out :-)  If I do, I will update here.

 

Once you designate the teacher/mentor and supply his contact information, you are completely done with that piece. The teacher/mentor is given his own login and password and submits his recommendation directly to NM.  (You may want to monitor things to make sure the teacher meets the submission deadline, and then have your son prod the teacher multiple times when the submission deadline has come and gone :cursing: )  (Thankfully, the NM folks were very understanding)

 

[Debate Mom]

I called National Merit this morning.  The parent and student can work on their sections at the same time but submission works in series.  First the student will submit.  Then that information will be added to the parents account.  Once the parent is done, they will submit their portion along with an email address for the endorser.  The whole file goes to the endorser (who will be able to see but not change the whole thing) . The endorser will need to submit the entire thing by October 11.  Hope that helps someone else.  

[GoodGrief]

Once you designate the teacher/mentor and supply his contact information, you are completely done with that piece. The teacher/mentor is given his own login and password and submits his recommendation directly to NM.  (You may want to monitor things to make sure the teacher meets the submission deadline, and then have your son prod the teacher multiple times when the submission deadline has come and gone :cursing: )  (Thankfully, the NM folks were very understanding)

 

 

The "prod"ding bit is great advice. By far, the hardest part of the college apps was making sure the various letters of rec got done! My daughter had a particularly tech=phobic group of mentors in her life who loved her, but really struggled with computers!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Last year I called and they clarified that the outside endorser for a homeschooled is just writing a recommendation. They are not endorsing the transcript you create.

[yvonne]

Some more questions...

On the Grading Information page,

1) "What is the GPA scale?"   and "Will the applicant's GPA be weighted?

I assume unweighted GPA scale would be 0.0-4.0.

 

I'll calculate both an unweighted and a weighted GPA for my son's transcript, but do I go with the public school's weighting (+1.0 for honors or AP) or the private school's weighting (+0.5 for honors and AP)?  (Do most schools weight AP the same as honors?)

 

If I go with the private school's system, the GPA scale would be 0.0-4.5, right?

[snowbeltmom]

Some more questions...

On the Grading Information page,

1) "What is the GPA scale?"   and "Will the applicant's GPA be weighted?

I assume unweighted GPA scale would be 0.0-4.0.

 

I'll calculate both an unweighted and a weighted GPA for my son's transcript, but do I go with the public school's weighting (+1.0 for honors or AP) or the private school's weighting (+0.5 for honors and AP)?  (Do most schools weight AP the same as honors?)

 

If I go with the private school's system, the GPA scale would be 0.0-4.5, right?

 

I would use the same weighting system as you are using for the transcript your son is submitting to colleges.  Since you are using both a weighted an unweighted gpa on your son's official transcript, I, personally, would go with the unweighted GPA for the NM transcript only because I think the unweighted system would be less work for me entering in the info.

 

[yvonne]

Thanks, snowbelt!  Do you think NMSQT unweights the submitted GPA and recalculates every student's GPA in order to standardize them?

 

 

 

Would you use the public school or the private school weighting system on the transcript?

 

 

[snowbeltmom]

Thanks, snowbelt!  Do you think NMSQT unweights the submitted GPA and recalculates every student's GPA in order to standardize them?

 

 

 

Would you use the public school or the private school weighting system on the transcript?

I don't know what NM does internally.  I think they just want to make sure that they are comparing apples to apples as much as possible when looking at GPA.  For example, a 4.0 on an unweighted scale is very different from a 4.0 on a weighted scale.  From what I have read, as long as the student has mostly A's and no C's on the transcript, he should advance to the Finalist round.

 

I didn't use weighting system for either of my college kids.  I haven't ruled out using a weighted transcript for my D - that will depend on which colleges she ends up with on her list.  If I do decide to weight grades, I will have no idea how to do it and will be turning here for some btdt advice.

[QumaCote]

I am currently working on the NM application and have a few questions:

 

1.  Do you write anything in the school profile comments?  If so, can you give me some examples?

 

2.  Can you only enter the transcript after completing the school profile section?  

 

3.  Do you only list AP classes on the school profile section if the class is approved by the College Board?  (DS has a few courses that are AP compatible but not College Board approved, so I wasn't sure if I should mark it on the AP section or Highest Level Courses.)

 

4.  Do you list an AP course if your student didn't take the exam?  (DS took AP Calculus AB through Derek Owens but did not sit for the exam.)

 

Thank you for any help and words of wisdom.  

 

[StephanieZ]

My son was named a semifinalist and we are working on the application for finalist.  Do we need to find an outside teacher as a recommender/ endorser or can I do that myself?  Would I send the final application in to the NMSC?

Yes, you must have an outside recommender, not yourself. We used outside teachers/mentors. Choose someone who will be a strong positive AND who is reliable!