My application was submitted awhile ago for a national merit special scholarship. At the time, I am pretty sure I put undecided for the first choice college. I now know which college I would like to put there (UW Madison). Is there any way to add this college in now, or do I just have to wait until I receive the decision where I see whether I get a scholarship offer to change this. I am only concerned about this because the school I desire to add as my first choice says, “While students have until May 31 to report their “first choice” college, we recommend that you select UW-Madison before March 1”. If there is no way to add UW Madison as my first choice school by March 1, should I send them an email or just wait to see if I get an offer and change it then?
You should log into your osa National Merit account to change your first choice college. National Merit begins sending the lists of students to first choice colleges on March 1, then sends updated lists approximately every 2 weeks. Since UW-Madison says to select them as first choice by March 1, they will likely use the March 1 list to choose their scholarship recipients.
@StillLotsToLearn Thank you for the information. I logged onto my Osa National Merit account and don’t really see a place to change my first choice. I click on the pdf of my submitted application and it says “Undecided”. I see no place to change it. I think I will give national merit a call.
You don’t change it on your original application. When you log in, under 3), it says “Change College Choice.” Click on that, and change it there. National Merit will send you a confirmation after you change your college choice.
@kkendall I wrote to UW-Madison about their dates - here’s what they said: We recommend that students select UW Madison as their “first choice” school by March 1, 2019. We will continue selecting National Merit Finalists to receive scholarships until our funds are exhausted. While, it is true you have until May 31 to make your selection with National Merit, we cannot promise that we will still have funds available to award at that time.
Unfortunately, I’ve heard UW-Madison is stingy with merit aid. Let’s hope for good things!!