National Merit school selection

College Search & Selection
1

I have a question regarding school selection for national merit scholars. I believe the deadline to select a school is March 1, which is before the notification date for many schools. How is the student supposed to select a school when he doesn’t know which schools he has been accepted to ?

2

March 1 is just the first time NMSC reports the selection choice to the school. You don’t have to designate by March 1 unless the school has their own separate deadline. Usually you just want to make sure you have a school listed by May 1.

3

Thanks very much vistajay, that’s good info

4

One other question, if you select a school by March 1 are you able to change it at a later date ?

5

I think you can change until May 1 but it’s been a while since I looked that up so you should check with NMSC. They are very nice about answering questions on the phone.

6

I am confused about this too.

7

Thanks, it’s definitely not a crystal clear process.

8

You can change it up to the 31 May final date.

https://nationalmerit.imodules.com/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/merit_r_i_leaflet.pdf?sessionid=3a9948aa-8e63-42d6-959a-f7f04313f368&cc=1

9

I called NMSC and they cleared it up.

Beginning March 1 schools begin to see preliminary rosters of students who selected them for NMSC purposes. Schools aren’t allowed to offer NMSC scholarships until May 1, so between March 1 and May 1 students can change their school selections. Once a school allocates its NMSC scholarship to a student (May 1 or later), the student can’t change his school selection and can only accept the NMSC scholarship for that school.

10

This question is for those who were accepted to Fordham and were notified you got the NMF full tuition gift, did you mark Fordham as your number one choice?