Nothing stealth about it, these were simply facts to tell the story. I guess everyone who kindly contributed their stories of being National Merit Scholars, in order to provide helpful insights, was also stealth bragging?
Anyway, if you think it’s a appropriate, maybe I could figure out a way to brag about holding this new record on the Dope that you’ve identified. 
Wait, wouldn’t they just assume he was a Commended Scholar and didn’t bother to mention that fact on the assumption that his SAT and SAT subject tests speak for themselves?
To elaborate - According to the NMS site (ITD you probably know this but other readers of the thread might not), 1.5 million kids a year are “entrants” to the NM scholarship. (I think that’s a tiny bit disingenuous, since the vast majority of kids who take the PSATs aren’t saying “hey, I’m entering a scholarship competition!” but rather, “hey, a chance to take a practice test for the SATs!”) Of those 1.5 million, 50,000 (about 3.3%) qualify as either a “Commended Scholar” (2/3 of the group) or a “Semifinalist” (the remaining 1/3). To quote the website, “Semi-finalists are designated on a state-representational basis.” In other words, your status as a Commended Scholar or a Semifinalist depends at least in part on details beyond one’s control like being a resident of California versus Idaho. That being the case, mightn’t an Idaho kid with combined SATs of 2370 just decide to stay mum about his or her Commended Scholar status?
This is another aspect that’s worth considering which is that, regardless of how much parents might be willing to financially support their child through college, there’s a certain psychological difference between money that was earned unambiguously as your own.
I would say, encourage your son to apply and, if he wins, put the cash into an account he controls which you have no visibility into. What seems like small potatoes to you still seems like a big deal to a new college student and it’s a good feeling to know you earned a non-trivial sum of money.
It depends on how you fill out the application and what he chooses to list among his honors. They won’t see his PSAT scores, but even if you list a lower honor level, it may be assumed he applied for and didn’t achieve the higher level.
At the top schools, I have trouble imagining anyone not choosing to apply for finalist status, so I suspect that would be the default assumption. I’m not your college advisor, so YMMV. To be honest I’m having trouble grokking your POV. If he’s really reaching for superlative schools and he’s as talented as you describe, why you’d leave any notable recognition on the table is a mystery to me.
Nope, they would not make an assumption. You yourself mention how the NMS is based on geography (and year the test was taken). So the admissions part is not going to go over too fine a comb and check “Hey, based on geography and year, he would’ve qualified for the NMS program, perhaps he just forgot”. They would go with the easier assumption “it’s not there because he didn’t get it.”
OTOH, the SAT scores are nation (or international) wide, and the competition is amongst a larger pool. Also, you’re counting (ok, you perhaps know the score already), that the SAT scores will be outstanding to make up for not including the NMS commendation.
In my case, my SAT scores were good but not outstanding compared to some other Dopers here. But I had my PSAT (and NHMS) locked by that time. It is also a track record (maybe a track record in acing standarized tests, but still a trend).
I remember a long list of company funded scholarships, none of which had anything to do with me.
I don’t remember submitting my PSAT scores to colleges, and they can vary compared to SAT scores, so I doubt that colleges will assume anything. I’d guess that the SAT scores are going to count far more for admission with NM status being secondary, but if I were a college admissions officer I’d assume that not mentioning semifinalist or Commended status would mean the applicant did not score high enough for either.
I’ve already proven that Dopers are smarter than the average bear - and I suspect Doper kids are too.
Some people love ETS and some people hate ETS. I loved them, which was good since I used to work down Carter Road from their HQ.
It depends. I was a National Merit finalist and could have had one of the university-awarded scholarships just by selecting that university (which I planned to attend anyway) as my top choice. But all that would have meant was that they would have reduced the amount of the other grants they had already awarded me by the amount of the National Merit scholarship.
The NMS would have only been valid for one year; the other grants were valid for the entire 4 years of my undergrad degree and were guaranteed at the same level provided my financial need remained the same (which it did). So by accepting the NMS for freshman year, I would have lost out on 4x the amount in other grants. It didn’t make sense for me, so I didn’t bother.
If your son is interested in USC, I think they give a half tuition scholarship to National Merit Finalists. I haven’t seen the application, but I don’t think it’s anything too time consuming. The colleges that give full ride for finalists aren’t top schools. Off the top of my head I remember U. Alabama, U. Kentucky, U. Houston, Texas Tech, NJ Institute of Technology, U. New Mexico, UNLV. I believe Drexel gives full tuition. Not top or second tier schools, but can be a great opportunity for a student with limited funds.
This was me too, except my SAT scores were mediocre and my PSAT was good. I’m an inconsistent test taker. Being able to show I was a National Achievment finalist kind of made up for this, I think.
The effort is similar to filling out a a college application. Even if you don’t need it there’s potentially a lot of money on the table when you look at school specific programs. TO add to your thread stealth brag count 
I got offers of full rides (a couple included room and board, and book stipends) at small schools just from the semi-finalist recognition back in the 80s. On top of the formal award of $10k there’s a lot of other money at schools he might not even know he’s interested in yet. He won’t be able to go back and fill out that scholarship lottery ticket later. The effort is pretty minor compared to the possible rewards.
Maybe you don’t think $2,500 is worth applying for. I see I’m not the only person who feels otherwise.
I’m in an organization that gives scholarships as small as $100, and you might be surprised at how many people apply even for that. Every little bit helps.
Things may have very well changed in the economic depression, but of the people who have mentioned universities here and that the NMS (and minority branches) helped them, two mentioned MIT, one went to GATech (if not mistaken), and I mentioned UF.
Certainly MIT is top school, GATech is top or second tier, and UF is likely second tier. Still I got a full ride, and in my field, UF outdoes GATech and MIT (those schools don’t even have my program!). 
To those who said that the scholarship decreased the amount of other aid, it also depends on the school and type of award. Yes, having that award meant that, on-campus, I could only work as a volunteer because I didn’t qualify for work-study (the award took care of what would be my need-based award). And it was for the duration of my degree. I still liked the non-financial “perks” (dibs on registration, dibs on honor classes, dibs on undergraduate research, if I had wanted, dibs on campus housing and full honors program).
I was just mentioning ones with automatic full ride scholarships. I didn’t mean to imply being a NMF couldn’t be a big boost at first/second tier schools.
They gave full-ride scholarships. It may be that now, in these years, the amount has decreased, but these schools (first/second tier) gave full rides at some point (in the not so faraway past in some cases).
Thank you for your continuing input! BTW, I am sure I haven’t made myself at all clear, but barring some unexpected information (such as a resounding “hell no NMS is a waste of time!” response from Dopers, which has not happened), I certainly anticipate he will complete the application process.
Good. 
Many years ago I was a National Merit Scholar, and I was offered a full 4 year scholarship.
Please look into this program before you think it is too much bother to apply.
No, as I said earlier, CairoSon will apply (if he’s eligible … it seems they don’t know yet, just that he is either a Commended Scholar or a semi-finalist).
Incidentally since this thread is active again I would like to apologize for being tone deaf to what evidently came across as sneak bragging. It didn’t sound that way to me - heck, anybody can apply to MIT and it says nothing about you other than that, well, you just applied to MIT, so what? Most people, including probably my son, don’t actually get admitted. If CairoSon does get in, and I start a thread that goes, “darn it, MIT is so far away, any ideas on cheap airfares for my son who just got accepted there?” - now THAT will be sneak bragging.
But enough with the defensiveness. I’m sorry if I came across as arrogant.