<p>Son got a letter from NM telling him to name his first choice school and to fax the form immediately.</p>
<p>Anyone else get this? Should he do this right away as it says? </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>The only mail my daughter received at home from National Merit was the notification that she made finalist. The letter referenced her first choice school and indicated what she needed to do if she wanted to change it. She will be attending that school and doesn’t need to change it. She has not received any additional mail from National Merit.</p>
<p>My son doesn’t have a first choice school yet. I was under the impression he had until May 1 to decide. I think he was going to wait until all his acceptances are in but they seem to want this ASAP. He got the letter in today’s mail.</p>
<p>On March 1st, the National Merit Corp. sends out it’s first list of NMF’s to the schools that those finalists have designated as their first choice. Even though finalists don’t have to designate their choice until May 1st, some schools require that students applying for their merit scholarships list them as their first choice by March 1st, so that they can award these scholarships in a timely manner. For example, Ohio State requires students that are seeking their National Merit Scholarship to name them as a first choice by March 1st, so that they receive this list of names from the NMC and can award the scholarships early in March. This is why it is important to look at the rules for each school, and to be aware of what different schools award NMF’s.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo,</p>
<p>My d received the same letter last year. She, too, was waiting for all her acceptances/choices to be available, but looked at her list and chose a school that participated in NM, and sent it in. In the end, she changed her decision (just send in the change card…which a kid can do as many times as he wants until deadline or until he is awarded a NM scholarship), and now attends a different school, and she did receive that school’s NM scholarship. You are correct that you’ve got until later (but check your dates, and especially the requirements of schools under serious consideration, carefully). As rcefn said, different schools do have different requirements.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo…Did your S send in a card to NMSC with “Undecided” as a choice, or has he not sent them anything at all? If it’s the latter, that may be why they sent out the letter. If he hasn’t selected anything they may just be giving him a friendly reminder. As the others have said, you have until May 1 (or earlier if the particular school requires it) to change your first choice if desired.</p>
<p>My daughter received the same letter and I called the NMSC folks to see if she really needed to do this. I was told that she was being considered for a “transferable” scholarship and that she would need to designate a college so that an official offer could be made. Was also told that she could change the first choice college at anytime before May 1. Sounds like our kids may be getting some good news!</p>
<p>OP–This happens every year. Yes, your child needs to do this right away to be considered for a NM $2500 scholarship or a NM corporate scholarship. Here is the explanation:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You might want to read this thread, which I wrote last year with the help of some others knowledgable about the process:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1103731-how-choose-your-first-choice-college-national-merit-purposes.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1103731-how-choose-your-first-choice-college-national-merit-purposes.html?</a></p>
<p>My daughter is not applying to any schools that give “official” NM scholarships, although one school gives impressive “free goodies” (full tuition scholarship for 4 years). I doubt she’ll end up with one of the NMF scholarships but of course you never know. Should she list that school, or doesn’t it matter?</p>
<p>Sudsie…did your daughter receive one of these letters? If she did, I think she should name some school (don’t think it matters which school) and then fax it back to NMSC. She may be in the running for a scholarship, but you won’t know unless you send in the letter.</p>
<p>Sent from my PC36100 using CC</p>
<p>No, she didn’t get a letter…and doubt her stats are high enough for the official NMF scholarship. But I think we’ll fax in a choice anyway just to be on the safe side!</p>
<p>Shok, thanks for the link. My S2 got a letter like this too. S1 didn’t (just listed undecided until April then chose his school) so I was a little concerned at what to do. From reading this, I think he might be under consideration for the 2500 scholarship. Although he has applied to MIT and that 2500 might come in handy if he goes there, we looked at chance at getting in at MIT against the odds of his going to another NMF school and decided to list that NMF university. S1 goes there and gets a $2000 p/year official NMF award, so S2 was possibly putting $5500 on the line. I hope I understood this thread correctly. It would have been great to have the honor of being a 2500 winner, but he’s a winner eaither way and I’d rather have the cash for school.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo - My son received the letter last Friday. I just called NMSC, the girl said we dont’ need to tell them the first choice schoo if non of the schools my son applied to are NMSC participant. We also told them my son is still under undecided, she said that is fine.</p>
<p>I’ve been out of town and am catching up. let me be direct and perhaps you could advise what my son should list. </p>
<p>We were just at UT Dallas for McDermott finalist. If he isn’t selected, that would be the school where he’d want to list as NM because they offer great aid for finalists.</p>
<p>However, Princeton is his top choice and he’s leaning towards that but certainly hasn’t made any final decision.</p>
<p>He’s still waiting for 5 schools, none of which offer NM $$.</p>
<p>He will be in the running for a 6K corporate scholarship because of his dad’s work.</p>
<p>With that info, should he list UTD or Princeton? I want to fax it today.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I would probably opt for UTD, as that is a NM school, whereas Princeton is not, at all. My son’s “first choice” has been the NM school, while that isn’t really. He may have to change, depending on acceptances, etc… but opting for the safe option of NM money on the NM forms.</p>
<p>Would I be wrong in saying it doesn’t matter what school you send in; you have until April “whatever” to change your first school? You just need to have some place designated so they can give you the award?</p>
<p>The exception would be the few schools that require you to have them listed first choice by March 1</p>
<p>sbjdorlo - I just wanted to clarify what I said earlier this morning. It was kind of confused for us too. We just got a voice-mail from NM this afternoon after we faxed the letter back as “undecided”. The girl said NM needs to have the name of a school on file in order for them to assign the award(to make a decision for the transferable award), it doesn’t matter if it is my son’s first choice yet since my son is still waiting for other non NM schools decision as well. I called the girl back, she said we could just give her the name of the school over the phone. So it is all done. We can make changes any time until summer time.</p>
<p>Great! I will call them now.</p>
<p>Update: My son called and they said he couldn’t tell them over the phone. Sigh.</p>
<p>I called and was also informed that I could not tell them over the phone, only fax or mail. My D did not get a letter or call from the organization, although she had not declared a first choice.</p>