<p>National Merit wants me to pick two colleges and my top choices. But do I pick ones I'm pretty sure I can get into or ones that are a crapshoot? Yale's my top choice but I'm not sure I want to waste one of my choices on a college that I don't have that good of a chance of getting into.</p>
<p>What should I do?!?</p>
<p>Don't bother sending it to colleges that don't give credit for NM (merit aid). You want to show the love to colleges that will love you back.</p>
<p>It's commonly believed that sending a National Merit letter to a school like Yale is fairly pointless, considering a huge percentage of their admitted students got National Merit, rendering it meaningless.</p>
<p>I chose Wesleyan and Vassar.</p>
<p>Trying to figure this out as well. Does it really mean anything if NM ends at commended?</p>
<p>Commended is nice to put on your resume, but you won't see direct merit aid from that. </p>
<p>My S, who became a NMF, didn't bother to send in the "name 2 colleges" form, but will be attending USC with a half-tuition scholarship + another small scholarship for a total of about $21,000 per year. Not bad for a day's testing!</p>
<p>If you're sending in the form, it probably makes the most sense to put the most selective schools you're interested in that offer merit aid based on finalist status.</p>
<p>Don't worry about it. You can choose your schools after you get in.</p>
<p>At least, that's what I did.</p>