I’m looking for some advice on designating the first choice college. My daughter immediately designated her first choice. She said she would just change it before May 1 if necessary. I assumed that was the best thing to do considering you can only receive one of either the actual national merit scholarships, corporate sponsored or college sponsored. She is most likely hoping to utilize a college sponsored award. I just read on another thread not to do that, because if that college chooses to award the scholarship early (before May 1) then you cannot designate a different first choice. I’m nervous about this given that finalists will probably be named soon…
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Yes, I am confused about this, too. It looks like they send initial lists of names to schools on March 1 — so that suggests you should name the school you plan to attend by then. But all the acceptances won’t be known by March 1!
My D22 still has “undecided” marked.
I can’t decide whether to have her put her most likely school down before March 1 or wait until we know for sure.
And I thought I read if you name a school on March 1, you cannot change it afterward and receive a scholarship from another school — is that true? That they send your name to one school only? Anyone know?
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What I’m gathering from other threads is that the general consensus is you may not be able to make a change if the student has named a school as first choice and is named finalist and the notification is sent to that school even if it’s before May 1. I am going to tell my daughter to change to undecided, because it seems there is no harm in waiting to name the school as long as you do so before the designated deadline. Again I am not totally clear on all of this information (hence my original post) and would love for anyone else to weigh in.
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I guess my concern is if a student is undecided on March 1 and her name is not on an initial list sent to a school, then the student names the school on April 20 — is there a risk the school will say “ too late — we gave all the money away to others” ?
Assuming the school doesn’t specify an earlier deadline?
Definitely a valid concern and one that would need to be evaluated for each one of the student’s specific final schools of consideration. The schools where my daughter may potentially utilize the scholarship all guarantee for finalists and give a specific date by which they must be named the first choice school. I know the school sponsored national merit scholarships are not guaranteed at all schools. I believe when UCF finally put their NMF package out it said they are only going to award to 40 finalists.
On the NMSC pdf: Scroll down to the box titled “SCHEDULE SPECIFIC TO COLLEGE-SPONSORED AWARDS”
IMPORTANT: If NMSC receives notification of a change in college choice from a Finalist after posting a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offer to that student’s OSA dashboard, the change in college choice will not be processed and the Finalist cannot be offered another college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award. This applies even if the new choice of college is one that also sponsors Merit Scholarship awards. Therefore, a Finalist who has previously reported a sponsor college as first choice but is uncertain about it may change their college choice to “undecided” to prevent being made an offer from a school the Finalist is uncertain about attending; such notification must be submitted online at osa.nationalmerit.org before May 2. The Finalist can subsequently report a firm college choice that NMSC receives by May 31.
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Boston University - In order to be considered for their Presidential scholarship, one must designate their first choice by March 1. National Merit Scholarship | Admissions
USC asks students to designate their first choice by May 31. What types of scholarships are National Merit Finalists eligible for at USC?
I realize I will probably have to call specific schools to confirm, but has anyone heard of someone who was previously undecided naming a school after March 1 but before May 1, but who then did NOT receive the scholarship because all funds had been distributed to those who named the school earlier?
That’s the scenario I am worried about.
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I’m not aware of the small print at the different schools. How many state that they offer a limited number of NM Scholarships? How many want you to designate them as your first choice before you SIR?
Here is a link to last year’s thread. I don’t remember anyone running into the problem that you mentioned. @amsunshine knows quite a bit about NM but she hasn’t posted since her youngest graduated high school.
My child who was a finalist in 2020 is at USC. I have first hand experience with USC and am happy to answer questions about the USC NM program.
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Thanks to @lkg4answers for tagging me. Each school has their own specific policy regarding NM scholarships, so it’s highly advisable you do your due diligence to dig into the details of the scholarship availability at each school - call them to speak to someone in person if the written policies appear vague. I have not personally heard of the situation you are proposing here, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen. Also, I have not kept up on the latest NM scholarship news since my youngest started her freshman year this year. Schools change their policies each year and all I can do is advise you to keep up to date with the scholarship policies at the particular schools your child applies to. I have two daughters who are both NM Scholars and it was a headache to keep up with these details which always seemed to be moving targets, but worth the effort. Best of luck!
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The Financial Aid Director for UNM just confirmed for me that my daughter could select UNM as first choice, receive an offer, but change her choice to another school after that point and nothing would be binding or stop her ability to proceed with the National Merit package elsewhere. He said May 1st is the deadline for final selection, which was also my understanding. Hopefully that’s the case broadly, it might be school by school, and I can’t make sense of the NMSC fine print.
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I’m wondering if UNM doesn’t notify NMSC until May 1 where other schools notify earlier.
Here is an example of a student trying to change first choice schools and running into problems. If you scroll down, you will read of a student who was working with two different schools and didn’t have a problem.
The people at NMSC are usually very helpful. You should probably call them and verify to make sure.
I spoke to NMSC recently about this. What matters is when the college offers the small $500 a year college sponsored NM scholarship, not scholarships like the USC half tuition or BU Presidential.
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We were very confused about this last year and almost didn’t try for one of the schools that offers a limited number of NM scholarships. The section at the bottom of page 4 states that awards are given by NMSC at the beginning of May. In our case, we had to select a first choice school in February in order to see if she would receive a competitive NM scholarship offered by that school. The school let her know that she would receive it. But, NMSC does not process that offer until May. From what NMSC told me, as long as she changed her choice before May, she would be able to receive the NM scholarship from a different school. On May 1, they look at a students account and only process offers at that time if a school offer matches with a students first choice. They do not process offers as they are received.
Her final choice school did not offer a NM scholarship, so we have no personal experience with this. But I do know that the NM scholarship offer she received from a school she had marked as first choice never appeared in her OSA dashboard. She had that school marked as first choice from approximately Jan- early April (and received the scholarship offer in March) before changing her choice to her final decision. Personally, I’d try to make a final decision by early April and not leave it until the last minute, especially if changing from one school to another. I’d also recommend calling NMSC and make sure that you are told the same thing we were as processes could have changed.
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Usually these offers have a small NM component so that was our concern. But, see my earlier post where NMSC said they do not process those offers until May, so changing first choice schools should be okay.
Thanks. I wish they had told me that when I called them. My main concern is the Boston U NMF scholarship. If NMSC does not process the smaller $500 component of the Boston U package until May 1, that would alleviate my concern.
I’d definitely call NMSC and ask again, but that was what they told me. It does seem to line up with what is said in the NMSC packet, even though it is not clearly stated. We were still nervous, and I checked the OSA dashboard often to make sure there was nothing there.
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