Does it do any good at all to rank a school that doesn’t offer NM scholarships as your #1 choice? In other words, would a school even see that ranking and would it maybe sway them to offer more scholarship $ when they see you’re passing up other offers?
No. The First Choice is strictly an internal NMSC thing only shared in March or later with colleges who offer their own college-sponsored scholarships. For other colleges, the First Choice is only used in the fall so NMSC knows where to send the money for the $2500 NMSC scholarships or the corporate-sponsored scholarships. A school that does not participate in the NM program with their own college-sponsored scholarships will not see anything at all from NMSC until they get a request for confirmation of enrollment in the fall (for any $2500 scholarship or corporate-sponsored scholarship winners).
This so helpful…thank you!
Fully agree with @STEMFamily . To add some more detail, I found this summary of awards and timing helpful: http://blog.getintocollege.com/so-youre-a-national-merit-finalist-now-what-part-1/ .
^ That is a good link. However, to clarify
This ONLY applies to schools that participate in the NMSC program by offering their own college-sponsored scholarship. (The annual report lists such schools.) A school that does not participate will not see a first choice except in the fall when it gets a request for enrollment confirmation for any $2500 and corporate winners. It will not show “demonstrated interest” at any school that does not offer their own college-sponsored scholarship.