D was informed that she was a finalist last week. She did not pick a school as her first choice back when she submitted the application but only three schools that she applied to are on the list of College Sponsors and one offers more money than the others so am I correct that it makes sense to list that school as her first choice and then if she is not admitted to that school but is admitted to one of the others, she can switch before May 1st? (None of them has an early deadline.)
@txstella What school has a deadline of Feb 20? I didn’t know ANY were that soon!
Is there a comprehensive list somewhere of all the schools deadlines for “naming them first choice” ?
uesmomof2
“so am I correct that it makes sense to list that school as her first choice and then if she is not admitted to that school but is admitted to one of the others, she can switch before May 1st?”
She can wait until AFTER May 1, when she has actually decided which college she will enroll in, to notify NMSF.
It does not have to happen BEFORE May 1.
^What @menloparkmom says is correct that the final NMSC deadline for declaring first choice is May 31st.
Perhaps this wouldn’t be a danger here in the case that she wasn’t accepted to the first school, but in general you would want to be declared as “undecided” between May 1st and the time you declare your final first choice because NMSC starts mailing college-sponsored scholarship offers on May 1st. If you have the wrong college listed anytime in May and NMSC mails you their offer, you will not be able to change to a different sponsoring college and get their award.
Also, some schools specify a deadline of May 1st to declare them First Choice.