Since National Merit Finalists have to choose a first-choice school (whether or not they even give merit scholarships), does it help your admissions chances (even by a very small amount) if you put a certain school? The corporation notifies schools around March 1st; will this help any chances by demonstrating interest?
No it does not. You can change your first choice selection based on the college you choose for your matriculation.
I believe I have seen colleges that only give NMF scholarships if they were designated first choice. (Not that putting them as first choice automatically gets you the scholarship, but if you don’t list them as first choice, you have zero chance of getting an NMF scholarship from that college)
But you can change the college to first choice after you’ve decided on your college.