<p>I declared "undecided" to NMSC. I understood that I had until the end of the business day on April 26th to report my first choice college.</p>
<p>On Friday, February 25th, I received a letter from NMSC telling me to designate a choice. They stated (in bold):
"Please mail this form to NMSC at the address above or FAX it to (847) 866-5113. We request an immediate response to this memorandum."
They did not indicate that "undecided" was a choice that they wanted.</p>
<p>I have been snowed in since then and can maybe get out in an hour or two to a fax machine. But, I really would prefer to stay undecided until mid-April.</p>
<p>I know that they will be mailing out their first group for college sponorships, but the letter I received made it seem that my choice was more urgently needed.</p>
<p>Did all "undecided" recipients get this letter?
Why do they want me to make a choice now? </p>
<p>Perhaps you are a recipient of one of the $2,500 scholarships. Notification of those goes out first and they won’t award anything without a first choice listed.</p>
<p>I am thinking the same thing --maybe you will receive the $2500. I would go ahead and fax them a #1 choice for now. Do you still have your yellow change card? Make sure you send that in before April 27 with the actual college you will be attending. Right now it doesn’t really matter what you put down on the school choice for the fax. They have likely already mailed school choice letters to colleges for students that had the choice made by before the Mar. 1 notification letters went out.</p>
<p>*Perhaps you are a recipient of one of the $2,500 scholarships. Notification of those goes out first and they won’t award anything without a first choice listed. *</p>
<p>That is exactly right. If you read their letter carefully it tells you that you are being considered for an award. You can change your mind later.</p>
<p>For my S last year, I told him to put his first choice school even though it was reach and not his safety. He did get into that but I was told clearly that if he did not get to that school he could mention the school he wanted to attend. I in fact called up NMSC about that.</p>
<p>My D also received the letter the OP described. She hasn’t done anything about it yet because several of her potential colleges would give her $1,000 a year and we didn’t want to jeopardize that.</p>
<p>lutherjw–I’m am sorry to say, but yes, I think that is what it means.</p>
<p>I encourage anyone with questions to call the National Merit Foundation directly and to search the websites of the colleges to which you applied to see exactly what their policies are. After doing so, I’ve decided that my D needs to list a first-choice college so she will be eligible for an award. At most of her colleges, that won’t reduce the amount of merit aid for which she’d otherwise be eligible.</p>