<p>I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here I go. I got the national merit scholar commending thing in mail, and it's due on the may 28, next wednesday. I really want to go to university of michigan, and kinda want to washu as well (i live in wisconsin by the way), so i'm thinking i should pick UMAA and WashU as my 2 schools.</p>
<p>My parents agree that i should choose UMAA, since that's my first choice, but for my 2nd choice, they said I should choose UW madison, rather than WashU. Their reasoning is that Madison has been becoming harder to get into, even/especially for in state students, and tells me couple sad stories about some outstanding students that got rejected.</p>
<p>well, my problem is, I can kinda see the reasoning behind their choice, since it's in state, less tuition, yatta yatta. However, i kinda think that i should stick to washU, because it's so expensive, and any help i can get in cutting the tuition would be helpful (assuming i dont make michigan D:). I kinda want to keep madison as a backup, but my parents said madison isnt as easy as i think, and it all comes down to something like that. What do you guys think I should pick/you would pick in my place?</p>
<p>Yeah... I forgot where. But there's an article where UMich kinda scorns the competition and says that their standards are higher. I'm applying to UMich Ann Arbor too, and I don't think I'm sending my letter there.</p>
<p>But i'm wondering, although their standards are higher, would it not tell them that i've reached a certain threashold already or something similar, and perhaps give me a better shot at michigan?</p>
<p>They specifically say that they don't really look at it. And it I think you can just list it on your application anyway.. I don't think that as such a big university they care about "demonstrated interest" too much.</p>
<p>The card that you send in to colleges as a NM Commended gives you a chance to let the school know you are interested in them. This can be good for schools that sponsor NM scholarships or schools that track interest. UM and UW do not do either of these things. I don't know if Wash U is a NM sponsor school or not. Sending the card or not sending the card will not affect your chance at admissions to any of these schools one bit. </p>
<p>When you fill out your application you can indicate that you are NM Commended or a NM semi-finalist if you qualify for that. You don't need the yellow card to do that.</p>
<p>is there a place that tells you if the school tracks the interest? I guess i know michigan doesn't, but is there a list anywhere that tells me which schools i should pick?</p>
<p>Brown does NOT track interest nor does it offer scholarships for NM finalists. I think that Stanford is the same as Brown, but I don't know for sure.</p>
<p>WashU tracks interest. If you name them one of your top two schools at this point, they will send you a letter acknowledging this (or at least they did a couple of years ago when my older son named Wash U one of his top two choices).</p>