<p>I got 227 on the PSAT in Ohio and 2340 on the SAT, so there's at least some chance I could become a National Merit Finalist and I wanted to ask about this. </p>
<p>I've been looking at colleges that give merit scholarships for National Merit Finalists. The ones I've looked at say they only give you the scholarship if you select them as your first-choice school. </p>
<p>Basically, my question is...when I pick my first-choice school, should I pick the school I like the most or the school that would give me the biggest scholarship?</p>
<p>The question is really how big of a scholarship do you need to afford college? Accepting a lesser scholarship is fine if you can afford the more desired school.</p>
<p>look on the board some more but u have time to pick ur first choice and it’s best to wait. i believe there is an undecided option. You should have no trouble making semi finalist status. congrats. by waiting, you give urself a little more time to pick the school that is best for u. and pick a school that gives generous national merit scholarships as ur first choice. there is no point naming Harvard as ur first choice as they don’t give out national merit awards. sorry, this is a bit rambly and I’m sure others will jump in with more clear advice. be aware of the deadlines to select schools u are interested in that offer national merit awards too but the earliest of those I think is Feb of next year and most allow a much later date. there is also an overall may 1st deadline to be aware of. but in response to ur questions, wait for now, and when u make ur first choice, i would recommend it be your top choice of the schools that offer good awards to national merit scholars that you have been admitted to.</p>
<p>you don’t have to pick a #1 school at this point. You can apply to several schools that award NMF scholarships, and then next spring decide which one is #1 choice.</p>
<p>halcyonheather,
most National Merit Finalists wait until they know which college they are going to attend before making their first choice decision. The absolute deadline to notify the National Merit Foundation[ which forwards the notification to the college] of your first choice college is mid May of your senior year.</p>
<p>Okay–so if someone’s top choice is a school that does not give any merit aid (an ivy), is there any point in naming it as the top-choice school? Would it make more sense to name one’s state flagship/safety as top-choice simply for strategic scholarship purposes?</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s basically what I’m asking. There’s one school on my list that appears to give a significantly better scholarship than all the others.</p>
<p>If you are named a NMSC $2500 scholarship winner, that can be used at any school, so there’s a reason you might list a school as first choice even if they don’t give NMF scholarships.</p>
<p>It’s not very complicated - On May 1st you list the college you are going to attend. </p>
<p>The only “game” you might need to play is listing a school with an unofficial NMF-based scholarship as your first choice at an earlier deadline that they set, and then switching later if you decide to attend another school.</p>
<p>“Okay–so if someone’s top choice is a school that does not give any merit aid (an ivy), is there any point in naming it as the top-choice school?”
Not really , as Ivy’s receive literally tens of thousands of applications from tip-top students around the world, [including most NMF’s], all of whom are hoping for an “edge”. Those same colleges know they dont need to offer merit $$ to get students to apply or even accept offers of admittance to them.
So cast a wide net if you need scholarship $$, [ i.e. not just all the Ivy’s or top 20 colleges].
The more you NEED merit $$, the further down the merit scholarship “food chain” you need to apply.</p>