<p>Hi I'm a National Merit Finalist this year, I've gotten some of my admission decisions already and will have the rest by the end of the month, and I'm trying to decide which college to list as my first choice school on my National Merit account thingy. It seems like choosing a college earlier gives me a better chance at getting money - however, I am aware that I should wait until I'm sure which school I'll be going to. But for my information, and for other NMFs, which of the top schools (Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Chicago, Duke, etc.) offer college-sponsored awards, and does it matter when I declare the school as my college as long as its before may 1? Thanks a ton.</p>
<p>As long as it’s before May 1, and as long as May 1 is the school’s National Merit deadline (some schools have them earlier, but not many), May 1 is completely fine.</p>
<p>-U Chicago: 2k/yr if you qualify for financial aid, 1k/yr if you don’t qualify for need-based aid
-Duke, Ivies, Stanford, MIT don’t offer
-Other top schools
-Vanderbilt 5k/yr if you don’t get a Vanderbilt merit scholarship, 2k/yr if you get another Vanderbilt merit
-Carleton College, Bowdoin, WUSTL, Northwestern 2k/yr
(I think these are all the top-10 LAC and top 20 national universities, but I could be missing a couple)</p>
<p>May 31st is the deadline for naming a first choice college, not May 1st.</p>
<p>Every dollar counts, but the financial awards at many elite schools for NMF are rather tiny compared to the cost. If you want better money you need to be willing to go to a less prestigious university. The honors programs in those schools rival the top colleges and you graduate with little or no debt. Schools like Alabama, Kentucky and Oklahoma offer nearly full rides and may even take late applications for an NMF. Definitely worth checking into.</p>
<p>BobWallace is indeed correct but remember that NMSC begins mailing college sponsored notifications to students on May 1st. NMSC provides this warning of sorts to be heeded:</p>
<p>“If NMSC receives notification of a change in college choice from a Finalist after mailing a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offer to that student, 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 first choice but is uncertain about it may choose to notify NMSC that he/she is now “undecided”; such notification must be submitted online at osa.nationalmerit.org before May 1. The Finalist can subsequently report a firm college choice that NMSC receives by May 31.”</p>