Hello,
I am a National Merit Semifinalist (and probably a finalist). I know I have time until the deadline to name your first choice school, but I was wondering if putting a college as your first choice on the application is an indicator of demonstrated interest to that college. My situation is this - Northwestern is my true top choice university, and they give $2000 annually to NMF’s who have selected them as their first choice. I also know that Northwestern, like many non-HYPSM highly ranked colleges, value demonstrated interest in their admission decision. On the other hand, USC offers $26,000 to NMF’s who put it as their first choice. Although finances aren’t a huge concern for my family in paying for college, free money is free money. My question boils down to this - does putting a school as your top choice on the National Merit application have any influence on admissions to schools who value demonstrated interest? Any feedback would be much appreciated.