How to choose your first-choice college for National Merit purposes

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

<p>There seems to be a lot of confusion about notifying National Merit of your first choice college. As I’ve spent several hours researching this already, I decided to summarize what I’ve learned in case it will help others. I welcome comments, particularly (nice) corrections of any mistakes I’ve made! For readability, I’ve included sources at the end and designated them with lower-case letters in parentheses. If you have a correction, please provide your source.</p>

<p>Thank you to mazewanderer who explained the timing of the awards and the idea of NMSC and non-NMSC components (also called Extra Goodies) in this thread: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1086274-if-i-report-first-choice-school-3.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1086274-if-i-report-first-choice-school-3.html&lt;/a>. The whole thread is worth reading. My post here is an attempt to put all the factors in one place for easy reading and to include examples from specific colleges.</p>

<p>** If you have a true first choice:** </p>

<p>If you have a true first choice college, you should submit your first choice to NM as soon as possible if:</p>

<ol>
<li>Your first choice college places great importance on demonstrated interest and admission to that college is more important to you than maximizing your potential NM scholarship money,
OR</li>
<li>You already know which college you’ll be attending, for such reasons as having been admitted Early Decision, having committed to play your sport for a particular college, or having decided to accept a scholarship to one of the colleges offering generous scholarships to all NM Finalists, such as the University of Alabama.</li>
</ol>

<p>** If neither condition applies: **</p>

<p>If neither of these conditions applies to you, then you should consider the following factors:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>NM requires you to report your first choice college before you can receive any NM scholarship (even a NM $2500 scholarship or a corporate-sponsored scholarship) because NM scholarships can be used only for accredited colleges. (a) My experience is that the NMSC will send you a letter and/or call you if you are being considered for a $2500 NM scholarship or a corporate-sponsored NM scholarship but have not yet provided NM with a first choice college. I also found the NMSC representative to whom I spoke to be knowledgeable and friendly.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are offered a NM scholarship of any type, you cannot be offered another official NM scholarship. (a) </p></li>
<li><p>As a result, if you are offered a college-sponsored NM scholarship and choose to attend a different college, you cannot receive any official NM scholarship. (a)</p></li>
<li><p>You don’t need to worry that getting a $2500 NM scholarship or a corporate-sponsored NM scholarship will preclude you from receiving the half-tuition scholarship or full-ride your first choice college offers to NM Finalists. There is a difference between an official NM scholarship (offered through the NM Scholarship Corporation) and a college’s larger scholarship that is automatically available to all NM Finalists who are admitted and list the college as their first choice. One difference is that the official college-sponsored NM scholarship is limited to $2,000 per year. (b) Therefore, being offered a $2500 NM scholarship or a corporate-sponsored NM scholarship can preclude you from receiving at most $2,000/year, or $8,000, from a college-sponsored scholarship. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>For example, the University of Alabama offers NMFs a $1,000/year University NM Scholarship (the NMSC component), but in addition offers NMFs Extra Goodies (thanks, mazewanderer) such as the value of tuition, housing, a $2,000 summer allowance and other benefits. (c) While receiving a $2500 NM scholarship, for example, could preclude you from receiving that $1,000/year at Alabama, that is all it could preclude you from receiving. As a result, being offered an official NM scholarship does not preclude you from receiving other, separate, non-official-NMSC benefits that you qualified for by virtue of your NMF status, such as free tuition, housing or a laptop. Of course, with this much money at stake, you should confirm this yourself with your first-choice college.</p>

<ol>
<li> Different colleges treat your receipt of an official $2500 NM scholarship or corporate-sponsored NM scholarship differently. My research has turned up four options, described below. As with item 4, above, you should search the websites of the colleges to which you’ve applied or contact their financial aid offices to determine their policies.</li>
</ol>

<p>i) Being offered an official $2500 NM scholarship or corporate-sponsored NM scholarship precludes you from receiving a college-sponsored NM scholarship, but you could still receive a scholarship with a different title because of your NMF status. For example, at the University of Richmond, you wouldn’t be eligible for a NM Scholarship in these circumstances, but you may receive a UR Honors Scholarship ranging from $750 to $2,000 per year. (d)

[quote]
Students who are selected for a National Merit Scholarship from another sponsor may not receive a National Merit Scholarship from Richmond. However, such students may still receive a UR Honors Scholarship from Richmond. These scholarships range from $750 to $2,000 per year and are renewable for up to eight consecutive semesters of full-time undergraduate study.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>OR</p>

<p>ii) Being offered an official $2500 NM scholarship or corporate-sponsored NM scholarship precludes you from receiving any other college-sponsored scholarship based on your NMF status. For example, Harvey Mudd’s website (e) says:

[quote]
HMC National Merit Scholarships are awarded to National Merit finalists who name HMC as their first-choice school and who do not receive either a corporate-sponsored or a one-time National Merit Scholarship Corporation scholarship.

[/quote]
Similarly, Georgia Tech's website (f) says:
[quote]
The National Merit Scholarship Program supports four-year scholarships which are awarded to National Merit finalists who identify Georgia Tech as their first-choice college and who are not chosen for another National Merit/Achievement award.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>OR</p>

<p>iii) A combination of the two: You can receive a $2500 NM scholarship your first year instead of the $1000 the college would offer you that year; then the college will give you $1000 for the subsequent three years. However, receiving a corporate-sponsored NM scholarship would mean that you would not be eligible for any additional scholarships relating to your NM status. For example, UNC-Chapel Hill's website (g) says:

[quote]
College-Sponsored National Merit Awards are annual awards of $1,000 (or $2,000 in the case of substantial financial need) to National Merit finalists who have not been offered another type of National Merit award and have notified the National Merit Scholarship Corporation that UNC-Chapel Hill is their first college choice. Recipients of National Merit’s one-time $2,500 Merit Scholarship will be eligible to receive the annual $1,000 college-sponsored award after their freshman year.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>OR</p>

<p>iv) A college gives no awards based on National Merit status anyway, so receiving an official $2500 NM scholarship or corporate-sponsored NM scholarship has no effect on what you would receive from the college. Examples are Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, Yale and the University of Virginia. While it is hard to prove a negative, you can look for confirmation on the NM student guide, pages 18 and 19, where you will not see these colleges included on the list of colleges that sponsor NM Scholarships. (b)</p>

<ol>
<li><p>All National Merit $2500 Scholarships and almost all corporate-sponsored awards are transferable from one regionally accredited U.S. institution to another, but college-sponsored awards are not. (a)</p></li>
<li><p>NMSC mails corporate-sponsored NM scholarship offers before $2500 NM scholarship offers, which are in turn mailed before college-sponsored NM scholarship offers. (a) This year, corporate-sponsored NM scholarships offers were mailed beginning March 9, $2500 NM scholarship offers will be mailed beginning March 24, and college-sponsored NM scholarship offers will be mailed beginning April 27. (a) As I interpret this, it would be impossible to receive a college-sponsored offer that would preclude you from receiving a corporate-sponsored NM scholarship or a $2500 NM scholarship.</p></li>
<li><p>It is possible to register your college choice as “undecided.” (a) However, consider item 1 in this list if you choose to do so.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>** Conclusion and Application **:
You should consider the factors described above when determining which college to report as your first choice. I researched the NM policies of all my D’s potential colleges before she submitted her choice. Because she likes many of her potential colleges equally, has not heard from all the colleges to which she applied and wants to maximize the transferability of any scholarship she might receive, she chose a college that she’d love to attend if admitted and that gives no awards based on NM status anyway. As a result, it would not be possible for her to receive a college-sponsored NM scholarship offer that she could not use if she didn’t get admitted or if she ultimately chooses a different college when all the results are in.</p>

<p>I greatly appreciate the contributions of so many people on College Confidential, and hope this will be helpful to others!</p>

<hr>

<p>Sources: (a) <a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf&lt;/a>
(b) <a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/student_guide.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nationalmerit.org/student_guide.pdf&lt;/a> (2010; I couldn’t find the 2009 guide online; the date on the front relates to the year one takes the qualifying PSAT).
(c) Top</a> Scholars Program - The University of Alabama<a href="d">/url</a> <a href="http://financialaid.richmond.edu/prospective/1011ParentsGuide.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://financialaid.richmond.edu/prospective/1011ParentsGuide.pdf</a>
(e)HMC</a> Merit-Based Awards<a href="f">/url</a> [url=<a href="http://www.finaid.gatech.edu/scholarships/nmna.php%5DGeorgia">http://www.finaid.gatech.edu/scholarships/nmna.php]Georgia</a> Institute of Technology :: Financial Aid :: Scholarships :: National Merit<a href="g">/url</a> [url=<a href="http://studentaid.unc.edu/studentaid/type/ssa_scholarships.html%5DThe">http://studentaid.unc.edu/studentaid/type/ssa_scholarships.html]The</a> Office of Scholarships & Student Aid at UNC-Chapel Hill</p>

1 Like
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<p>Schokolade: Thank you. Last evening I was trying to come up with a heuristic just like yours and it was getting long and complicated, and so I gave up. Thanks for doing this and I hope the moderators make sure that is always visible rather the thread dying out. This should be one of those threads that always stay on top.</p>

<p>One thing everyone should note is some colleges have limited number of NMSC scholarships. U of Alabama or U of Arizona gives it to every NMF, other colleges may have only a few scholarships. If one of your choices is those with a few scholarships or if the college expects you to inform them in advance. U of Southern California for example has an earlier deadline. So keep in mind what the deadline for the individual colleges are.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>My S did the same thing a Schokolade’s child did. He choose his dream school which did not give NM Scholarships rather than the ones that did.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the additions, mazewanderer. Even with hours of research, I was unaware of those details.</p>

<p>Sadly, I’ve already discovered an error myself. I had edited a sentence but hadn’t made all the necessary changes. The second to last sentence should read:</p>

<p>As a result, it would not be possible for her to receive a college-sponsored NM scholarship offer that she could not use if she ultimately chooses a different college when all the results are in.</p>

4

<p>Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!</p>

5

<p>Excellent thread.</p>

6

<p>Thank You for all of this wonderful information.</p>

7

<p>To recap and summarize what has been said in this thread and other threads</p>

<p>[ol]
[li] National Merit scholarships come in many flavors: Corporate, NMSC and College. Each college or corporation has their own rules, so you need to know the rules of scholarship donor. Remember each donor has their own deadlines, requirements, selection process and may have limitations on the number of scholarships. So make sure you understand the rules well. Some corporations for example require application through their HR office. Some Schools have early deadlines to nominate them as first choice.</p>[/li]
<p>[<em>] Amounts vary from sponsor to sponsor. NMSC defines the minimum and maximum for the official NMSC Scholarships for corporate and college scholarships. Their own scholarships are worth $2500 one time.
[</em>]Colleges can give extra goodies to National Merit Finalists, which are the unofficial component. Tuition waiver or room and board are not official NMSC scholarships, they are given to students who meet a set of criteria than includes being NM Finalist. The official portion of college scholarships can range from $500 to $2000 a year. The unofficial potion can be much larger. Not all colleges have the unofficial portion and many colleges, especially the top ones, do not have any scholarship for NMF’s. So if you are National Merit winner at Harvard, you got the scholarship from a corporation or NMSC, not from Harvard.</p>

<p>[li]There are few things you can do to maximize your chances of both the official and non official, but not a whole lot. For example, if your parents do not work for a corporation that gives NMSC scholarships, there is very little you can do about it. But if they do, you need to know the rules ahead of time and make sure you follow it. Similarly, best profiles get the NMSC own scholarships but you have to remember they are on a state proportionate basis. A person in MA not get the scholarship but someone with a similar profile in WY may get it. Again colleges differ, so you need to shortlist the colleges and find out the rules for that college.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Schokolade has mentioned a process that can be followed on how to designate your first school to maximize your chance of admission or getting a good collage scholarship. Read it carefully but remember your situation may be different. So make sure you understand the implications of any decision. In other words, YMMV and so do your reserach.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]It is OK to be undecided till you have some clarity or till NMSC forces you to make a decision. If they do force you to do it, read the first post in this thread.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]If you have questions call NMSC. They are helpful. You may also want to call the school or the corporate sponsor’s HR office, if applicable.</p>[/li]
<p>[/ol]</p>

<p>In my opinion, every NMF is winner even if you do not get a scholarship. A student was not eligible for NMSC’s own scholarship (due to the state proportionate basis) or corporate scholarship should or went to a school that does not give scholarships should not fell bad. The board was tilted against him/her.</p>

8

<p>One note about choosing your first choice school–you can change that first choice as often as you want. So if your first choice after you receive all your acceptances and financial offers is different than it was originally, you’re not out of luck. You do, however, have to change your “first choice” with NM before college offers go out on April 27 because once you’ve been given an offer, that’s it.</p>

9

<p>^^^ You can change it as many times as you want. However there are two caveats:</p>

<p>[ol]
[<em>]You will not be considered for for any NMSC or Corporate Scholarship without a choice. So if you make a choice in March, you can change it before April 27 for the reasons given above.
[</em>]There is a deadline of May 31 and you need to make your final decision before that. So there is no open ended limit.
[/ol]</p>

10

<p>excellent thread.</p>

<p>bump.</p>

11

<p>bumping it again as these questions are still being asked</p>

12

<p>My daughter is still officially “undecided.” May she stay “undecided” until she actually decides on a college (probably next Saturday!) and then notify the NMSC of her choice and still be eligible for the college’s NMF scholarship?</p>

13

<p>It depends upon the college. Some colleges have a limited number of scholarships and they may have allocated them already or have deadlines to be notified as first choice (e.g. USC). Others may give all NMF’s who name them as first choice, so timing does not matter and so being undecided is OK. Call the college/s you have in mind and ask them for the policies on awarding national merit scholarships. A college could say if you choose us "we will give X amount of $'s as long as you do it before the NMSC deadline) or they could tell you something different.</p>

14

<p>My daughter, a finalist, decided on an Ivy - Cornell. (She had listed her college choice as “undecided” with the NMSC.) Cornell does not sponsor the NMS, and we have no connections for a corporate sponsored scholarship. I THINK our only possibility for a NMS is if my daughter gets one of the $2,500 scholarships from the NMSC. In that case, I believe we should go ahead and put Cornell as our first choice, right? </p>

<p>I appreciate any thoughts on the matter.</p>

15

<p>At this stage, as I understand the letters for the $2500 have already been mailed and acceptances were due by April 7th. Hence the probability of getting the $2500 scholarship is very low (if some decline NMSC may award those to someone else as they give 2500 scholarships but the chances are slim)</p>

<p>Putting Cornell as the first choice in essence helps Cornell with some bragging rights (we have so many NMF’s), and if I were you, I would do it. However, at this stage, I would not hold any hopes of NM scholarships if Cornell is her choice. Sorry to be a little pessimistic. </p>

<p>I always maintain than any NMF is winner even if they do not get a scholarship (only about 55% get scholarships). Your daughter is perfect example: She has got into a ivy that does not give NM scholarships, you have no corporate donor affiliations and hence two legs of stool have been taken away from you. NMSC’s own are on a state proportionate basis, hence every state gets some of the scholarships. A student in MA may not get it but a student in ND with a similar profile may get it. Hence the board is tilted against you. So do not allow your daughter to take it personally or think it is because of her not working hard enough. Getting in Cornell in itself is a great achievement.</p>

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<p>Thanks Mazewanderer - I had a feeling that was the case. Up till this weekend she was deciding between Cornell and 2 schools that did sponsor NMS, Lehigh and U of Maryland. But, she picked Cornell. They do award need-based $$, so we did OK. We faxed in our “first choice” to NMSC. Still, she will always be able to put “Finalist” on her resume!</p>

17

<p>Yes she can, good luck to your daughter</p>

18

<p>My S is also listed as Undecided because we were waiting for financial aid info from top choice school (Pepperdine). Since ASU AND UofA have large NMS scholarships we didn’t want to NOT get those in case Pepperdine came up with a good fin aid pkg. In his award package from them(P) they have him listed as having a $1000 ‘outside’ scholarship. When I spoke to their office, they said it was for NMS. I said that we still need to turn in ‘Top choice’ decision. She said at that time, this amount could be raised to 2500, but it depends on what NMS awards him. I’m confused. Pepperdine seems to state that they don’t give any NMS awards, just whatever NMS tells them THEY have awarded. From what I’ve read here, it seems that he has not been awarded the 2500? We have not rec’d any notice from NMS. His HS counselor said that he was not notified because he was still undecided and that once he lists Top Choice he COULD get $2500. Could this 1K be a SEMI FINALIST award from NMS?</p>

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<p>azmom–The information you’ve been given is indeed confusing. Here’s what I do know:

  1. If your son had been in the running for a Corporate or a $2500 NM Scholarship but was listed as undecided, he would have received a letter (and then probably a phone call if you didn’t respond) from NM. From the information you provided, your son is apparently not going to receive either. (Most corporate scholarships go to children of employees, and only about 2000 or so finalists are offered $2500, if I recall correctly).
  2. The large scholarships that AU and UofA offer are due to your son’s being a NM semifinalist or finalist (depending on the individual school’s criteria), but are not in jeopardy as a result of your son being listed as undecided. This is because the maximum amount of an official NM college-sponsored scholarship is $1,000/year ($2,000/year if need is demonstrated). The large AU and UofA scholarships are therefore “Extra Goodies” as described in the first post of this thread, and as MazeWanderer has labelled them. The example I gave in the OP was of Alabama, but the Arizona colleges’ generous scholarships fall in the same category. You should still notify NM once your S has decided on a college.
  3. Pepperdine’s response is very confusing. I would recommend calling back and talking to someone with more familiarity with the process. A $1000 NM college-sponsored scholarship is administered by NM, but the money must first come from the college. Essentially, a sponsoring college sends the money to NM, which turns around and sends the money back to the college with the student’s name on it. A college can choose to give every finalist a NM scholarship, or can choose to select only some as recipients, but either way, the college provides the $1000 (or $2000 in the case of need) for “college-sponsored” NM scholarships.<br>
  4. I also believe that both the Pepperdine representative and the HS GC are mistaken in believing that if you send in a first choice now, your S could now be awarded $2500. Recipients of those scholarships have already been notified. Those letters were sent beginning March 24.
  5. There are no semi-finalist awards from NM. NM offers awards only to finalists. A semifinalist who does not make finalist cannot receive an award from NM, but can receive a totally separate, non-NM-administered award for which a college chooses to use NM semi-finalist status as a criterion. </p>

<p>If you still have questions, I would recommend calling NM, which is helpful, friendly and authoritative.</p>

20

<p>Thank you Shokolade. I did call NM just now and here’s what I was told:</p>

<p>1) Although many of the $2500 scholarships have been sent they are STILL awarding them. She confirmed that these are competitive and that 1/6 finalists get them. I specifically asked if my S was out of the running and she said no.
2) The college sponsored scholarship is usually anywhere from $500 - $2000 and is awarded by the school. I told her that the fin aid person said it’s whatever NM ‘tells’ them, and she then gave me the name of the NM contact in the admissions office. I will call her today to follow up.
3) We turned in our top choice today, but did not have to. The 4/27 deadline is for students that HAD a top choice of a college sponsored school and are SWITCHING to another college sponsored school. We could have remained undecided until the end of May (technically) but since the school’s all want their decisions by May 1, I wouldn’t see the purpose in waiting.
4) Since we turned in the top choice today, my S will be on the May 2nd roster that will get sent out to Pepperdine. She then said that ALL finalists will get SOME notification during the first week of May as to whether or not they were awarded anything.</p>