<p>Sorry if this has been asked before, but I can't figure out what the best strategy is for designating 1st choice for NMF.</p>
<p>My company sponsors a NMS scholarship ($1k-$4k/year), but S has a safety school that gives free R&B plus an additional $4K/year if you designate them as #1. I called and they said that while it is not guaranteed they have given it to every person who designated them as #1 the last few years. He is seriously considering this school - and will probably go there if he does not get into his Ivy reaches (or get big scholarships from his other safety - which does not appear to give any scholarships for NMS).</p>
<p>So, the question is, should we designate the safety school as #1 and get that scholarship in the bag, then if he gets into one of his reaches, change the designation - and will he still be able to get the corporate award to use for the reach school? or does he get the corporate award regardless of the school he designates as #1 and then has to turn it down if he takes the school scholarship.</p>
<p>I am a little confused about the timing of all this.</p>
<p>In general, only a very small portion of those big scholarships given out to NMF is designated as NM scholarship. The rest of the big portion of the scholarship is actually given by the school to the NMF student. Take U of Alabama as an example, only a $1000 of their big scholarship is designated as NM scholarship. So if your son gets the corporate scholarship of 1K-4K, U of Alabama will just subtract the 1K from their big scholarship. Your son still gets the rest plus the 1K-4K from the corporation. However, you still need to designated U of Alabama as the first choice school in order to get that big scholarship. Your strategy sounds very reasonable. Designate the safety school for now. Just make sure to remember to change it if your son decides to go to a different school.</p>
<p>Call NMCorp and talk to them about this issue… They helped us when we didn’t know how to proceed with the #1 choice. They may be able to find out who is getting the NMF scholarships from the safety school and tell you how to proceed. NMCorp advised us which was the best way to go to get the max money.</p>
<p>Nat’l Merit Corp 847-866-5100 </p>
<p>You’re in a more difficult situation than the UAlabama situation described above, since Bama gives the big scholarship to all NMFs, not just those who name #1 and not to just a chosen few.</p>
<p>The problem you have is that the college says that it doesn’t award to each student (which school is this?)</p>
<p>I would also call the school up and ask to speak to the director of scholarships (forget about talking to the person who answers the phone). Tell the situation and try to find out the likelihood that your child would get their scholarship if named #1. Perhaps the director will spill some info.</p>
<p>Are you also concerned that if your son gets into the ivy, that then you’ll want the corporate money for that?</p>
<p>M2C - Yes, that’s exactly right.<br>
If he gets into the Ivy we would want the corporate award. If he doesn’t, then we would want the college award. The safety is Michigan State.
I will call Nat’l Merit Corp this morning and see what they say.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Just wanted to post an update. I called Nat’l Merit Corp and they said the Corp scholarships will be sent out March 10th on a rolling basis. My corp guarantees all children of employees $1K-4K/year, regardless of school choice.
He also said that colleges can only give up to $2K form Nat’l Merit, so any additional $$ based on NMF is not thru the Nat’ Merit Corp, but thru the school. So depending on what he gets from the Corp, he may decline the Nat’l Merit part of the safety school NMF scholarship.
Bottom line is we did it right. He will get the corporate scholarship and can use it for the reach if he gets admitted (by changing the #1 choice), and still get in the running for the free R&B +$4K at the safety school by designating them as #1 now.</p>
<p>kttmom, your son will definitely get the Corp scholarship since it is guaranteed. So you only need to indicate the school choice base on where your son decides to go.</p>
<p>M2C, how do you reconcile your statement that “… Bama gives the big scholarship to all NMFs, not just those who name #1 and not to just a chosen few …” with UA’s statement “For National Merit Finalists, if you list The University of Alabama as your college of choice with the National Merit Corporation by their designated deadline and register for any Bama Bound orientation session by June 1, you will receive a free laptop computer when you enroll?” ([Top</a> Scholars Program - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/topscholars/faq.html]Top”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/topscholars/faq.html)) Are you certain that the college of choice listing applies only to the laptop (as it appears to read) and not the entire scholarship? Thanks.</p>
<p>I should have been more careful with my words. I accidentally left out the word “early”. Bama doesn’t require being named #1 early like schools that have competitive scholarships. Some of those schools require being named quite early so that they can do their selection process. </p>
<p>Bama also lets you accept a corporate award and also receive their scholarship (minus the $1k a year stipend.)</p>
<p>That wording about the laptop is a bit odd. I know that NMFs are required to register for Bama Bound by June 1, but I think that’s so they know how many laptops to order. The laptops are professional quality.</p>