<p>My junior son received his NM commended letter last week. Does it matter at all what schools you put down for those 2 spots? Is there any strategy to it at all? Is it all meaningless at this point or would it help to draw attention to yourself and get schools to notice you? Please comment. Thanks.</p>
<p>Wis3over…The general consensus is that it’s not particularly important which schools get listed at this point. It will probably lead to an increase in mail from those particular schools, but usually won’t have any impact on scholarships offers down the road. There was at least one poster previously who thought that the “interest notification” led to their child being invited to an NM/Honors type weekend (over the summer maybe) so I guess it’s possible there may be something tangible that comes from it, depending on the school. Congrats to your S!!</p>
<p>Thank you!! I would think it is different for everyone . thanks for the congrats! I am very proud of him and also shocked that so few people truly know how awesome this can be!!</p>
<p>If you are hoping he will be awarded acceptance AND a large merit scholarship, then use the card to notify those colleges that offers NMF’s merit $ of your son’s status. Listing one of the Ivys or other colleges that dont sponsor NMF’s or offer merit scholarships and have thousands more NMF’s apply than they have openings is a waste of time.</p>
<p>^menloparkmom is right, I spoke to the the Admissions Officer at Penn and she said, it did not make a difference. Infact, initially, she did not even know what I was talking about. So, I had to explain.</p>
<p>Rice did waive application fee for listing them. Didn’t realize it at the time but Rice does track interest. If your Son has couple of schools he’s interested in, go to college web-site and search for Comman Data Set. If you scroll through it you can see if they track interest. Tippy top schools typically don’t. </p>
<p>If you son doesn’t know, don’t worry about it and enjoy his accomplishment!</p>
<p>^Thanks TexasCollegeMom, I did not know this about Rice.</p>
<p>It looks like it may depend on which school you are wanting to go to. U of Arkansas offers a $10,000 to National Merit Scholars who list U of A as their first choice. Check with your school to see if they may offer the same.</p>
<p>[New</a> Freshman Academic Scholarships | Academic Scholarship Office | University of Arkansas](<a href=“http://www.uark.edu/rd_vcaa/schl/1239.php]New”>http://www.uark.edu/rd_vcaa/schl/1239.php)</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>That is a different issue. Listing the Number One choice for scholarships occurs during senior year…not now. </p>
<p>a student could name Harvard and Yale as their “two schools” at this point, and then next year name Arkansas as Number One.</p>
<p>At this point, it makes no difference except for maybe a free app is sent your way or maybe Rice which tracks interest.</p>
<p>Thank you for the clarification! I have a sophomore that will take the test in October 2012. You are saying that he will not need to put his final choice school for scholarships in until maybe March of his senior year? </p>
<p>This is still new to me! I was going to ask anyway, what if he has a reach school (that has no merit aid) and a safety school (that looks like it has good merit scholarships, like U of A above)? When he first takes the test, can he list the reach school to get on their maillist. Then if he qualifies, he will list the school that he really has decided to go to?</p>
<p>Thank you for your information on this topic and the many others that I have seen you respond on!</p>
<p>Thank you for the clarification! I have a sophomore that will take the test in October 2012. You are saying that he will not need to put his final choice school for scholarships in until maybe March of his senior year? </p>
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<p>…Generally, you don’t have to name number one choice until May of senior year. However, there are a few schools that want to be named by around Feb of senior (those are usually schools with competitive NMF awards). </p>
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<p>This is still new to me! I was going to ask anyway, what if he has a reach school (that has no merit aid) and a safety school (that looks like it has good merit scholarships, like U of A above)? When he first takes the test, can he list the reach school to get on their maillist. Then if he qualifies, he will list the school that he really has decided to go to?</p>
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<p>…yes…he can name his top schools. Then when he chooses, he then names his choice. If he ultimately goes to a big NMF scholarship school like Alabama, Arkansas, or Oklahoma, then he just names his first choice by May of senior year. </p>
<p>The system assumes that kids really don’t know where they want to go until spring of senior year. </p>
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<p>Thank you for your information on this topic and the many others that I have seen you respond on!</p>
<p>…No problem, it is a confusing process. </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>beadymom, he can certainly get on their mailing lists without listing them as one of his two choices if he does succeed in getting into the top 50,000 scorers (that is who gets that option to list two schools). Just go to the website and sign up for mailings. 
Obviously without an actual junior year PSAT score to look at, you have no way of knowing whether he will get to make this choice, or eventually become a National Merit Finalist (and thus also make a choice in spring of senior year). But it certainly is confusing, and this forum will definitely provide help if needed.</p>
<p>D2 used her 2 choices this month for a reach school that considers student interest (per the Common Data Set) and a match that offers merit aid that considers student interest “Very Important”. She is sure she will at least apply to those two schools, but no telling at the point what her top choice will be next year.</p>