First Choice College Question! Please help quick!

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

<p>I am in the process of finishing up my National Merit finalist application and have a couple questions about choosing a first choice college. </p>

<p>Is there any disadvantage to declaring a college first-choice at this time? I know I can make as many changes as I want, so will it hurt me in any way to select a college now? I ask this because one the schools that I am looking at, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, has the following policy:</p>

<p>"The School of Mines offers a $3,000 scholarship renewable for three years to National Merit Finalists who notify the National Merit Corporation that SDSM&T is their first-choice college at the time they first fill out their finalist application."</p>

<p>There is a chance that I will go to Mines, but I don't want to rule out the possibility of receiving a National Merit scholarship package at another school. I just want confirmation that selecting Mines won't hurt me in the future if I decide to change my mind, which could very easily happen. I have yet to visit any colleges and am just starting to apply right now, so obviously I haven't made any serious decisions yet. At all other colleges I've looked at, I haven't seen a deadline for "first-choice selection" that was set any earlier than sometime in the spring.</p>

2

<p>NMSC does not start sending names of Finalists to their first choice institution until early March so you certainly don’t need to designate anything before then. Perhaps what they mean is they want your name to appear in that first batch. If that is the case then designate them by the end of February. You can change your first choice designation anytime.</p>

3

<p>STEMFamily, so I am correct in assuming that there is no harm in putting SDSMT down as my first choice college now?</p>

4

<p>No. It wouldn’t hurt to do it now.</p>

5

<p>Ok, thanks! I just wanted to get confirmation.</p>

6

<p>@mh3353‌ </p>

<p>Just make sure that if you choose to go elsewhere that will give you a NMF award that you change your first choice designation. Go to NMCorp website, download the form, and fax it in.</p>

7

<p>Actually you can just log back into your NMSC account and change your first choice.</p>