<p>Hi. With the National Merit Scholarship, they ask for your first choice college. Is there a stratagey associated with this? For instance, I know that some colleges offer a scholarship to NMS who list their college as first choice. But others don't. </p>
<p>How can one go about finding out which colleges do? </p>
<p>If your first (and second) choice colleges don't offer a scholarship - do you still get money from NM even if you go to one of those colleges? Should you put your third choice college as "first choice" if that college offers a scholarship?</p>
<p>You can use the NM money for any college you wish.</p>
<p>Really, the only option that matters is your choice for #1. I've only seen scholarships for schools listed as #1, not #2 or #3. To find out which ones do offer scholarships, you have to do a little grunt work yourself. Look at schools' websites and see if they have a listing for university scholarships (this is how I found out my uni offered them). The pamphlets you've been getting from schools also contain this information. You could also contact the financial aid office. </p>
<p>The best way to approach this if you're unsure is to mark undecided. Wait until April when you get all your decisions in and you'll know for sure your "first-choice." Then all you have to do is notify the PSAT people and change from "undecided" to the college you chose. The deadline for changing is May 31st I believe.</p>
<p>I THINK this is the way it works based on digging through CC, but I can't speak from experience since I'm only a rising senior. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to screw myself over ;)</p>
<p>You can do a search and find dozens of threads on CC about this, but here’s a quick summary:</p>
<p>There are 3 types of National Merit scholarships. (1) NM scholarships given out by NMSC itself. This is a one-time $2500 payment that can be used at any college. (2) NM scholarships sponsored by corporations. These are almost always restricted to children of the company’s employees, to residents of a certain geographic area (where the company has major operations, for example), and occasionally to certain college majors that the corporation is interested in promoting. Each company sets its own rules and decides how much to give out – some involve a one-time payment but some are renewable; some are need-based and others are non-need-based. These can also be used at any college. (3) NM scholarships given out by colleges, which obviously can only be used if you attend that particular school.</p>
<p>So the selection of your “first choice” school only has an impact on your eligibility for scholarships in the third category, and even then -- only if that school actually offers NM scholarships. Once you have been offered a NM scholarship by your “first choice” school, you can’t get one from another school because your name is taken off the list of eligible candidates for other scholarship sponsors to choose from. That’s why it’s best to wait as long as possible to designate the first choice school – usually in late April or May.
Here’s a link to the summary report for the 2006 program:</p>
<p>This report includes a list of all scholarship sponsors for that year so you can see what colleges offered NM scholarships. If you are interested in any of them, be sure to check the school’s website (or contact the Financial Aid office directly) to see if they are still participating in the program and how they administer their scholarships (how much is given and to whom).</p>
<p>I agree with the above info--but there are a few important things to keep in mind when designating a first choice college to the College Board. In your finalist packet, you will receive a post card asking for your first choice that must be received by the College Board by May 31. However, individual colleges have their own cut off dates for being designated as first choice, and you must be aware of those dates. It doesn't make sense to list a college as first choice that does not give merit awards for being a NMF. Some colleges offer a very generous scholarship, some offer minimal aid, and some are very open about what will be given, while others are secretive. As an example, The Ohio State University offers full-tuition and half room and board for being a NMF. but it MUST be designated as first choice by March 1st. This date is well before many private colleges have mailed acceptances, so if there is a possibility that you will be attending OSU, make sure that you return the card, or notify, the College Board before March 1st. Once you have been offered the scholarship from OSU, you cannot be offered another college-sponsored scholarship. We felt that the offer from OSU was so large that it was important to list it as our first choice, even if it meant not being able to take advantage of a smaller scholarship that another, more expensive college might offeri f she decided to go someplace else. We sent in our reply card by certified mail in mid February, called the College Board ten days later to make sure that OSU was listed properly, and called OSU on March 1st to make sure that they had received the correct information. So, in short, make sure that you pay close attention to all of the dates listed not only by the College Board, but also by any schools that you may be considering. Good Luck!!</p>
<p>So when you list a school as your first choice, this is already after you've applied to colleges, and about 2-3 weeks before you find about whether or not you were accepted at the schools you applied to, correct?</p>
<p>in some cases yes, you may have already been accepted, in other cases, no, you have not found out yet.If you apply early decision, or if your school lets you know in January or February, you will know when you send your card in. Call the schools that you apply to and ask them if they have a deadline for naming them as your first choice. If they don't, you can wait until late May to let College Board know--you should have received all of your notifications by then (except if you are on a waiting list--which poses another problem) My D already knew that she had been accepted to OSU when she sent her card in. As I said before, some colleges are secretive about how much they give and how many NMF's get awards--so it may be difficult to figure out which one to put as your first choice. Some offer awards to every NMF who applies, some have a limit. Only about 200 colleges accross the country offer NMF college-sponsored awards--it is only if you are applying to those particular schools that you have to worry about all of this. In any case, every NMF, no matter what schools they apply to, are eligible for corporate-sponsored awards and the $2500.00 single payment National Merit Scholarship. A little over half of all NMF's receive an award, and no student can receive more than one schloarship. I'm sure that all of this sounds confusing, but you will get a packet in September explaining everything.</p>