<p>Hey guys,
I realized I have to send my NM postcard really soon of which school I want to choose. However, I'm applying to 10 schools and 8 of them offer NM scholarships. I'm not exactly sure which one I want to go to---I have my top choices, but I'm not sure I'll get into them! So I don't want to put down a school that I'm rejected from, then I'll lose the scholarship! But I don't want to select one of my safety schools because I don't really want to go to them as much. Also I haven't visited my schools yet (doing in in April) so I'm still not 100% sure about my favorite schools anyway.</p>
<p>Sorry that was so long---but how did you guys decide which school to write down??? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>You don't have to choose until AFTER you're accepted by the schools. My son is a NM as well & he's not going to mail in his notification to NM until he's SURE which school he's attended. My friend's son who was a NMF 2 years ago did the same thing. Re-read the letter you got from NM. It states the deadlines by which you need to notify them & you don't have to notify them before those deadlines.</p>
<p>If you have questions about NM, ask your GC -- s/he should be able to reassure you. The bad thing about listing a school if you're not SURE you're going to is you may get a NM scholarship from them & then decide you don't want to go & you'd be ineligible for a NM scholarship from another college.</p>
<p>Anyway, we're advising our son to wait until he's fully evaluated the schools which accept him & KNOWS for SURE which school he's choosing & then notify NM.</p>
<p>Hard to believe you made NM Finalist with your challenge in reading the details in the letter! :)</p>
<p>Seriously, the LAST thing you do on pretty much the LAST DAY you can do it, is write down the choice. And, you should ensure all the details of your chosen offer are already IN WRITING from your final choice school, such that turning in the NM paperwork is merely a formality.</p>
<p>Most of my schools say that I must notify NM of selecting them before acceptance, some by early March. Only one requires notification by May 1st. But for the others, I would have to tell them before I am accepted (I asked at my interviews for some of them so I'm pretty sure it's accurate). And although I guess my reading skills are funny, haha, I did spend a lot of time reading about all the financial aid information from all my schools and that's what it said. </p>
<p>I think I will go ask my GC, thanks for the idea HImom!!</p>
<p>Never heard of selecting some school as your one and only irrevocable choice prior to acceptance. I would suggest that if a school is not willing to provide you with a written personal confirmation of the offer details prior to your pulling the trigger, they should be crossed off your candidate list. The other way around would put you at a serious disadvantage in any negotiations on some of the less tangible benefits. In a sense, you are applying for a paid job (you are being paid the value of your NM Scholarship and fringes to attend the school that wants you), and it only makes sense to "accept the job offer" based on a written "employment offer".</p>
<p>As one example, many schools charge anymore for on-campus car parking, and many schools further disallow freshman students from having cars entirely. We are getting commitments to waive the payments and the freshman exclusion rule, and have not found an objection yet.</p>
<p>I went in and talked to the career counselour at my school. She actually got angry with me for asking, and just made me read the National Merit information, which I had obviously ALREADY read that said that school notifications sent before March 1st receive first consideration. She told me "it's a betting game" and I should just send in the school that was my top choice and hope for the best. She was completely unhelpful, so I still don't know what to do because I'm not that sure she knows what she's talking about, especially after what you guys said above, even though I'd never heard that before.</p>
<p>I can't see how you are expected to choose a school before you're even ACCEPTED. That just doesn't sound fair at all. I have read of the concept of "exploding acceptances" where if you don't accept within a period of time (like 10 days or something) that your acceptance will vanish. Don't believe it's common tho.</p>
<p>My son hasn't been pressured by any of his schools to choose a school to list as his 1st choice for NMF--none have even given him a "likely letter" or anything. None have given him any deadlines for notifying NM of anything. In fact, I just told him to write to all the schools he applied to about his status as NMF.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a> has the same info everyone got in their letters. It does sound like you have the best chance of getting a scholarship if you name your 1st choice school by March 1, BUT if they give you a scholarship you will be ineligible to select receive a NM scholarship from another school, even if you ultimately decide to attend another college. Acceptances aren't due until 4/1 either, so I guess your counselor is right if you hae a clear top choice & finances aren't an issue.</p>
<p>Two of the OOS large Us my son is applying for will give NM scholarships to ALL NMFs who apply by the deadline & chose to go there, at least that's what they say on their websites. He isn't sure which school is his top choice or what money any of them will offer, so he's going to wait & not name any school until he finds out more from each of them.</p>
<p>You can call the National Merit people directly (phone number is on the materials you received) and they will answer your questions. They are very nice and patient with questions. They are familiar with the requirements of each college that participates in the NM program. Don't be hesitant to call them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info!
We're going out of town tonight but I'll take my long distance card and call them about all this. I just would really like to get a scholarship from somewhere if I can!!</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. We may call too & get clarification so we aren't misinterpreting the info. I too would love for my son to get some substantial merit aid--huge college loans are a tough way to start living on one's own.</p>
<p>This thread series may be pointing to a misconception which I have. Allow me to expound on what I've observed regarding NM Finalist scholarships (or lack thereof, depending on the particular school). All the schools which are on our "radar screen" for offers of full 100% rides have not even hinted at any pressure of a deadline ahead of the final NM deadline (May 1st?) to formally submit the first choice school designation. The impression we've gotten in discussions with ALL the schools that offer NM 100% rides is that they're striving for the most NM Finalists they can get. In other words, every single one which might designate them as "first choice" is going to be offered the 100% ride. Their whole point in doing this is to brag on the statistical relevance of having xx NM Finalists in the fall 2006 class. They're trying to raise their prestige and are willing to pay the value of full-ride scholarships to do that. The idea that they would cut off admittance (full-rides) for NM Finalists at some pre-set count has not been apparent to us. </p>
<p>Is this wrong? Does someone have information which says that once a school which offers these scholarships gets, for example, 100 NM Finalists in an incoming class, they pull the rug out from under any later commitments? I don't see any middle ground -- either the school doesn't give NM full rides, or they do, and they want to give ALL THEY CAN.</p>
<p>If this is wrong, please NAME SCHOOLS or give specific information which contradicts this thinking. THANKS!</p>
<p>OH_DAD--
The schools I'm applying to are different, no full-rides, but they have (most of them) $1000 or $2000 scholarships, so maybe the deadlines are different. All the schools I'm applying to are really competitive so they have a tons of NM scholars so they don't seem to care as much.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, two of the six schools that my daughter applied offer NM scholarships - both require that they be named first choice. School #1 offers five $2,000 X 4 year NMF scholarships and any NMF who does not get selected as one of the five gets a one time only award of $1,000. School #2 also requires that you name them as first choice to qualify, but they do not limit the number of NM scholarships they award. So it seems that not all schools that are named as NM sponsors actually give the same awards to all NMF applicants. I think that the earlier you name your first choice school, the better chance you have at a larger award, at least in our case. I'm sure this varies with the school.</p>
<p>I actually had to call NMC for clarification about the 'first choice, first list' thing. </p>
<p>And it is true, certain schools offering full rides (ex: U of Florida) require that you not only list their school as first choice, but that they receive their designation by you on the 'first' list. (There are five lists mailed by NMC from March 1 through May 31.) To get on the first list, you have to notify NMC by March 1. </p>
<p>If you are uncertain about your 'first choice/first list' school, you can change your designation until April 19th. On April 19th, school sponsored scholarship offers leave the NMC building. Once a school sponsored offer has been mailed from NMC, another offer will not be extended. Note: This only works if your new designation doesn't also require 'first choice/first list'.</p>
<p>For example.... Assume an applicant is very interested in the UF-Honors full ride, but hasn't received an admissions decision from UT-Austin yet. UF requires 'first choice/first list', therefore designation must be rec'd by NMC by March 1. UT-Austin doesn't care what list they are on, just that they are listed as first choice. Therefore, the UT-Austin does not require 'first choice/first list'. So.....Applicant can list UF as first choice by March 1. Then if he is accepted to UT-Austin and decides he would rather go there, he can change that designation anytime before April 19th and still be eligible to receive a school sponsored NM scholarship from UT-Austin. But, if after acceptance from UT-Austin, he still prefers UF, he does nothing and an offer will be mailed by NMC on behalf of UF on April 19th.</p>
<p>It's a bit of a manipulation, but it allows the student to keep all options open and not make NM choices before he has even heard admissions decisions from all schools. Again, this would not have worked if both example schools (UF and UT) required 'first choice/first list'.</p>
<p>Wow, they don't want to make it too easy for everyone to understand, do they? Oh well! Nice that there are some great full-ride NM scholarships out there, as well as others for non-NMFs.</p>
<p>How do we find out which schools require first choice/ first list? Son has been excepted at USC, which offers 1/2 tuition scholarships for NM finalists, which he is. But he has not heard from other colleges he applied to yet. Don't want to lose that $$ if he is not accepted at other colleges higher up on his list.</p>
<p>You can always call the financial aid office at the school(s) your child is interested in & get the best & most accurate info. I'd certainly do that if you want to be sure not to lose any scholarship he's hoping for/counting on. My son hasn't yet gotten any reply from USC other than being told he didn't get one of the full-tuition scholarships & that they got all his ap stuff.</p>
<p>lol HImom! And I felt like such a fool calling for clarification! :-) A grown 47 year old CPA and I couldn't figure it out.</p>
<p>menloparkpmom - At the USC website, it should state somewhere what their deadline for notification of first choice status to the NMSC is....most likely in the Financial Aid/Scholarships section. If you see March 1 as the USC deadline, you can assume it's a first choice/first list. Usually, it is the more aggressive schools who really insist that they be on the first list....they are usually trying to make a move up in the rankings. [I know UT-Austin's deadline is May 31....they give the kids until the very last minute to figure out what they want to do. And UT was second only to Harvard last year in the number of NMF enrolled, so apparently they don't need to put the pressure on. Of course, UT isn't giving full rides either, but it's nice that they don't add to the college app stress.] If I were you, I'd take a look at each of your son's college's websites and jot down on your calendar each deadline.</p>
<p>FYI...just checked out two of the other big NMF recruiters...OU and Arizona State. Neither are first choice/first list. They state at their websites that a student can change his designation until April 19 or remain undecided until May 31. </p>
<p>The April 19th date is crucial. If your child has designated a college, on April 19th his award will be mailed. Once it's mailed, no 'do overs'. If you have any uncertainty at all or think you need more time, you can change the designation to 'undecided' before April 19th and have until May 31. </p>
<p>And if you are designating early to meet a first choice/first list requirement or any other requirement, make a big note in your calendar on the date April 18...just in case you want to change that early designation.</p>
<p>Hey, when it's BIG $$$$ on the line, I don't mind asking & being SURE we're not shutting the door on money for our kid's education. The schools don't make it easy to find the info we need about whether they are 1st list schools for NMC. Heck, my kid hasn't heard back from the schools except for one (oh & those who have said they got/didn't get parts of his ap).
I am glad many of the schools don't seem to be forcing the kids to choose them by 3/1 for NM $, but haven't called any of the schools for clarification yet. I figure if they're not even going to let him know they accept him, why should he tell them they're 1st on his list--oh yea, money. <sigh></sigh></p>
<p>Will read websites between now & tomorrow. ARGH! Maybe I'll wimp out & just call each Financial Aid Office--hey I have no pride! If they make their sites tough to figure out, it's THEIR problem we inundate them with calls.</p>