<p>Ok. So, I am a National Merit Semifinalist, and we get to choose one top-choice school to be referred to. My top choice is MIT.</p>
<p>Since MIT obviously doesn't have scholarships for National Merit Scholars, should I use the referral on it? Or should I say that one of my more saftey-esque schools that gives money to NM Scholars is my first choice, so that I could possibly get money if I had to go there? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>A friend of mine and I were both semifinalists our senior year; he put MIT as his first choice and I put Ohio State as my first choice (because they give a great scholarship package to National Merit kids who put them first). </p>
<p>We both got into (and are attending) MIT... so I don't think MIT would look badly on you not putting them as your first choice -- to be honest, I don't think it's even something they look at.</p>
<p>If you are sure you are going to a school that doesn't have scholarships for NMS, put one of them down. If you aren't in a position to get one of the corporate scholarships, I believe this will put you in the running for one of the few scholarships given directly by NMSC; if you put one of your backups that does give NMS money, you'd get money from them if and only if you attend said backup. I made that mistake and my friends didn't; they got money and I didn't (we all go to schools that don't give awards).</p>
<p>You can always change it if you do decide to go to the backup.</p>