Admitted National Merit Semifinalists with a 3.5 GPA are automatically eligible for the National Merit Semifinalist Scholarship at OU. To qualify, students should apply to the University of Oklahoma by the priority scholarship deadline of December 15.
The Non-Resident National Merit Semifinalist Scholarship at OU for incoming freshmen is a $68,000 ($17,000 x 4 years) tuition waiver award.
The Resident National Merit Semifinalist Scholarship at OU for incoming freshmen is a $16,000 ($4,000 x 4 years) tuition waiver award.
To be eligible for the non-resident and resident scholarships listed above, students must be named a National Merit Semifinalist and have a 3.5 GPA. Students should apply to OU by the priority scholarship deadline of December 15. Students who advance to Finalist standing and name OU as their college choice by April 30 are eligible to be upgraded to the National Merit Finalist package.
The first step in the process is to take the PSAT/NMSQT your junior year in high school. NMSC will look at your Selection Index Score on the PSAT/ NMSQT to determine if you are a Semifinalist. Semifinalist scores vary by state. There is more detailed information about this process at the NMSC website, www.nationalmerit.org.
You will learn of your Semifinalist standing in early to mid September of your senior year in high school. NMSC will then notify your high school and provide them with application materials for the next stage in the process - becoming a National Merit Finalist.
Here are a few things NMSC requires you to do in order to advance to Finalist standing (for a complete list, visit www.nationalmerit.org):
You will be notified in early February at your home address if you have advanced to Finalist standing.
College choice is the school that you designate with NMSC as the school that you plan to attend. It is important because the school that you have designated by the deadline is the only school that can give you the College-sponsored Award.
You can change your college choice with NMSC as many times as you would like between when you send your Merit Scholarship Application in to NMSC and OU's April 30 deadline to name a college choice. You may change your college choice to OU by submitting it online. Visit www.nationalmerit.org for details.
Our deadline is the same as the NMSC deadline, April 30. Since NMSC begins making College-sponsored awards on May 1, OU's priority deadline for finalists to receive our National Merit scholarship is April 30. If you have "undecided" listed as your college choice prior to our April 30 priority deadline, or if you received a corporate or national-sponsored award, name OU as your college choice to receive our scholarship. For a complete list of competition rules, visit www.nationalmerit.org.
Scholars receive one of the three types of awards which are centrally coordinated by NMSC.
The first type of award is the National Award – a $2,500 scholarship, which is funded directly by NMSC. This award is portable, meaning that you can take it to any institution of your choice.
The second type of award is the Corporate-sponsored Award, which is generally awarded to students who are sons/daughters of parents who work for a corporation that sponsors. This award is also portable. (Refer to your original information packet from NMSC for a list of corporations which sponsor.)
The final type of award is the College-sponsored Award, which comes from the college that you designate as your college choice, provided that the college sponsors National Merit Finalists.
Note: You will only be offered one of these awards, even if you qualify for all. You should accept the one award that is offered to you.
Students are not guaranteed they will receive a scholarship coordinated by NMSC. If a student chooses to attend a university that does not sponsor or selectively sponsors (and the student is not among those selected), and the student does not receive the National Award or Corporate-sponsored Award, he/ she would remain a Finalist.
Yes. There is a floor or two set aside for National Merit Scholars. In addition, Scholars may choose to live in the Honors College residence halls as part of the Academic Arts Community or on a Scholastic floor in Adams, Couch or Walker Center. A student may live any other place on campus where he/she would like to live. Applying for admission and housing to OU, completing the online housing application and submitting your enrollment deposit early will help ensure you receive your first choice in housing.
If you have scored a three or higher on most AP tests, you will receive credit at OU. If you would like to see a breakdown of those scores and the credit you can receive from them, please visit the following website: AP Credit Breakdown
In order to see the type of credit you can receive at OU, please visit the following website for CLEP tests: CLEP Credit Breakdown, and IB Credit Breakdown for IB courses.
