<p>I'm a NM semi-finalist, and I'm about to send in my application. But I'm having trouble deciding what to put as my first choice college. I've narrowed it down to 3 colleges I'm applying to:</p>
<p>NYU: I've heard that they're not great when it comes to merit aid, and they do have the Baird Scholars program for finalists, as well as the usual $1000-$2000 award.</p>
<p>UChicago: I'm very unclear on their merit scholarships, as their website only mentions them once and gives no descriptions. I think I'm least likely to get any merit aid here without the help of National Merit, which is also $1000-2000, but I don't want to waste the award by choosing Chicago and then not even being accepted.</p>
<p>USC (Cal.): I like their merit scholarships. This year they gave something like 140 full tuition and 350 half tuition. I would hope that I could be one of these people, but they also have a half-tuition scholarship reserved for NM finalists ($17,500). You can't combine though, so if I would have gotten the half-tuition anyway, it would be a waste.</p>
<p>I'm almost positive I'll get in to NYU and USC, and at least hopeful about Chicago. Does anyone have any experience with this dilemma? Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Don't put anything right now. You have until spring to send this in. If you make a choice now, it may lock you in to a college-sponsored NM scholarship to a college you may decide not to attend.</p>
<p>Ok, I see that now. But the application must be sent by October 12. It says they send the first group of names to colleges for people who have chosen a college by March 1. Does this mean you have to mail in your college choice if you don't choose one right now?</p>
<p>Most colleges will allow you to wait until April 2008 to list them as first choice school. That is why the best way is to just put down "undecided" for college choice at this time. Make sure your NMSF status is in all your applications. By early next year when you receive your acceptance notification and financial aid packages, then you can decide which school you want to attend and put that school down as your first choice.</p>
<p>You should know what you would receive in financial aid, including from NMS, before you accept a college's offer. If the information is not in the financial aid letter, you can contact the financial aid office and get information about how the aid offer will change if that institution is chosen as the first choice.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that a NMF might not be quarantee admissions to some of the highly selective schools that offers NM scholarship. So first thing is to apply for admission and scholarship/financial aid from the colleges you want to attend. You shall find out way before next April how you do in your application regarding both admission and financial aid. Your NM scholarship from those school will only matter if you decide to attend. You can make your final choice in March or April next year.</p>
<p>Since you can change your college choice for many months, or change from your original first choice to undecided, it doesn't really matter what you chose right now.</p>
<p>I'm trying to understand all the rules National Merit has about college choice...So if you indicated a first choice when you sent your application in you can still change it to undecided as momfromme said? Should this be done by a certain date because the rules seem to state that if the college you listed offers you a scholarship and you turn it down you CANNOT receive offers from other colleges? The rules seem to read that colleges will start offering scholarships before the college choice deadline of May 31??? which could be a problem. Any clarification would be helpful.</p>
<p>It doesn't matter which college you indicated on your application as your first choice, because NM corporation allows you to change it right up until May 31st. If the college you wish to receive the scholarship from has an earlier deadline (like February or March) then you must have mailed in the postcard telling NM that school is your first choice by the school's indicated deadline. The only reason you would indicate a specific school on the initial application is if you are fairly certain that you want to go there or if you want them to know that you are a semi-finalist. Don't worry if you aren't sure about the school you already indicated, you have plenty of time to make up/change your mind. Just make sure that you do send in that postcard if your choice changes from what it was on the application. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Why not change to undecided right now? Then you don't have to worry about whether you've changed it in time.</p>
<p>This works unless you are applying to a school that you really want to go to, that requires you designate them as your first choice much earlier than others do. Not many do. </p>
<p>DD listed a top choice, changed to undecided, and then sent in her choice after getting offers and checking on how NMF influenced the financial aid packages.</p>
<p>momfromme-so there is no connection between naming a school as your first choice and them offering you a scholarship. In other words, as "undecided" schools will offer you a financial aid package before they know whether they would be your first choice or not based on the fact that you are currently a semifinalist. Do they wait to make offers until after the date when finalists are announced?</p>
<p>Remember, nothing on the National Merit application is binding. If you indicate a school as your number one choice, you are merely expressing a strong interest. Most schools like to know this so that they can express an interest back. It doesn't matter which school you indicate, others will still try to entice you with whatever they have to offer. I indicated Arizona as my #1, but I have received scholarship offers in regards to National Merit from Texas A&M, Idaho, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and the University of Tulsa. Schools that want NMs will try to woo them regardless of which other school they indicate as their first choice. You just have to be sure to change the school of choice to the one you plan on attending by either May 31st (NM deadline) or whatever alternate deadline the school has in effect (some private schools have deadlines in February or March). Read through the paperwork that NM sends out; it explains it all (albeit in dense terminology).</p>
<p>UNLESS you are applying to a school that has an earlier deadline for you to name them as your first choice as NMF than does the NMF corporation, there is no downside to staying undecided until after you get admissions decisions.</p>
<p>If you want one of those schools quite a lot, then you may get forced into making a choice before getting all your admissions decisions. In dd's case, she did not apply to schools with an early deadline. There are just not very many of them.</p>
<p>One more thing: I believe dd sent a letter to the admissions offices when she learned that she went from semi-finalist to finalist.</p>
<p>However, I seem to remember that she still needed to inform the financial aid offices (of the schools that offered $ to NMF) after she got her initial financial aid offers and there were adjustments made in nearly every offer.</p>
<p>I have a question: One of the school's we're looking at, says that they have an increased national merit offer for those who put their school as their first choice. Are they referring to the first time you have an opportunity to name schools ... when you first take the PSAT? Or are they referring to when you name a school, after obtaining semi-finalist status? In which case, for this particular school, putting undecided down would not be a good idea, right?</p>