Choosing first choice for National Merit Scholarship?

Paying for College National Merit Aid
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<p>I know that USC gives half tuition to National Merit Scholarship Finalists. I have also heard that they give full scholarships, based off of numerous factors including how apparent your desire to go to USC is. However, I also know that the University of Arizona gives full ride to NMSFs. Could I have USC as my top choice when I submit my college applications to show USC that I would love to go there, but change it to Arizona after I receive an acceptance/rejection from USC in the spring? Or would that not work? I heard that you could change your top choice until May 1st.</p>

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<p>You can’t declare a first choice until you are notified of being a National Merit Finalist, sometime around the second week in February. </p>

<p>You can change your first choice selection with NMSC anytime, even multiple times, before May 31st. However, you also need to meet the deadline for the school you change to. So if Arizona states that May 1st is the deadline for their National Scholars package, you have until that date to declare UA as your first choice. </p>

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<p>STEM…I believe you can actually name your first-choice university (if you wish to do so) as part of your Semi-Finalist to Finalist package that you submit in September/early October.</p>

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<p>^oh could be. I didn’t remember that.</p>

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<p>Does a university know when you have named them your first choice school? Might other schools see that you’ve selected a different school as your first choice?</p>

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<p>@SpaceCoastMom…According to the timeline provided by NMSC for the recently graduated crop of NMFs, they start notifying sponsor universities on March 1st of students who have named them as a first-choice school.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I think the sponsor schools only get a list of Finalists who have named them as a first-choice, so I don’t think they’d know if a student selected a different school.</p>

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<p>I don’t think that is true. They give a bit more than full tuition…but it isn’t a full ride at all…not close to a full ride at all.</p>

<p>Award Amount</p>

<p>Arizona Scholars: $15,000 per academic year + one-time $1,500 Study Abroad Award
Non-Arizona Scholars: $30,000 per academic year + one-time $1,500 Study Abroad Award</p>

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<p>$30,000/year at Arizona approximately covers tuition. Room & board are pretty reasonable - estimated $9,700/year.</p>