Please help! So confused in college searching.

Paying for College National Merit Aid
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<p>I hate to just barge in on my first day on the forum and start asking questions, but I really need some help. Agh...</p>

<p>I qualified for NMSF and I just finished the paperwork for that. I get A's and the odd B every semester or so, my SAT's were great and my ACT was goodish, and I don't get in trouble, so I'm pretty sure I'll make NMF, right?</p>

<p>I heard that some colleges offer full ride scholarships to NMFs, but so far, I've only seen that if you list them as your "first choice."</p>

<p>How do you know what your first choice is going to be, even? Aheh...</p>

<p>I've been spreading my net pretty wide and taking college tests online to see who fulfills what I want while still offering scholarship money. I'm not planning to go anywhere in my state (Illinois) and am actually hoping for somewhere around Colorado.</p>

<p>Are there any medium/small schools that offer full rides to NMFs in that area?</p>

<p>How do I narrow down my choices? How do I know what merit scholarships I'll be able to get? Will I be able to go to a dream school or (if I want a full ride) will I have to settle for some huge, impersonal school in the Midwest?</p>

<p>And finally, are there any good schools with lots of scholarships that have a good Psychology department?</p>

<p>I feel so boggled. D: Can you guys help? Thank you...</p>

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<p>With regard to selecting your first-chioce college, my son was told to put down “undecided” on his NMSF application. He then has until sometime in April (or May?) to inform NMSC where he plans to attend and name that his first choice school. It appears that most schools will offer you their National Merit scholarship contingent upon you selecting them by that deadline. But that may not be true for all schools, so you will want to check how it works for the schools you are applying to.</p>

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<p>*I heard that some colleges offer full ride scholarships to NMFs, but so far, I’ve only seen that if you list them as your “first choice.”</p>

<p>How do you know what your first choice is going to be, even? Aheh…
*</p>

<p>Unless the school requires being named by an early date, then you don’t have to name a first choice til spring. You can be undecided til then. But, check your schools…some only give out a few NMF awards so they want you to declare early. </p>

<p>Colorado area for NMF scholarships? hmmmm…</p>

<p>How much scholarship money do you need? full tuition? Tuition and dorm? more?</p>

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<p>I /think/ I put down undecided. I did on the online forms. I wish I had an idea of which schools to apply to in the first place.</p>

<p>I’m aiming for full tuition, but… honestly, I’ll take anything I can get, eheh… I don’t want to be in debt forever.</p>

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<p>Perhaps you should look at this thread:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/136920-full-rides-national-merit-finalists-scholars.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/136920-full-rides-national-merit-finalists-scholars.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>That thread is old…it may have outdated info. Some schools have reduced their NMF scholarships.</p>

<p>There is a newer thread that highlights the various scholarships for NMFs by Keilexandra (sp??)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I’d seen the old thread but saw that some of them were outdated or something… I’ll look at the new one. Thank you. :D</p>