<p>I'm a senior who applied to a lot of the top colleges already (ivies and such), and though I'm a US resident and eligible to apply for citizenship, I opted not to do so because I wanted to retain my original citizenship. As a result, I wasn't eligible for the National Merit Competition though my PSAT score qualified in my state. Now I'm worried--will colleges understand that I'm not a NMF because of my citizenship status or will this count against me (there are Finalists applying to the same colleges from my high school)?</p>
<p>Top schools (Ivies and such) do not care much about NMF. Many students don’t even complete the application because there are no merit $ available for them.</p>
<p>Okay, that makes me feel a little better. I’m just worried that colleges will overlook the fact that I don’t meet the citizenship requirements for the program and think that I wasn’t good enough… The competition from my school is tough enough without this misperception. Thanks!</p>