<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I put in a primary choice college when I filled out the application for the national merit scholarship. If I send in my postcard now to change it to undecided (since I've realized that opens up more options), will i get another one so that I can change it again if needed later?</p>
<p>And also, does filling out a primary college choice hurt chances of getting the "official" $2500 scholarship or are the two completely unrelated?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for your help!</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>You should call NMSC directly and ask them how to change your choice to “undecided” for now and then change to a specific college later. They know the procedures better than anyone else. You may or may not need another postcard.</p>
<p>I can tell you that the selection of a “first choice” college does NOT have any impact on your chances of getting one of the NMSC-sponsored scholarships.</p>
<p>Call NM corp…they often answer the phone and are very helpful. It’s usually very easy to change choices…even late into senior year.</p>
<p>Are you also looking for NM scholarship offers from colleges? Or, are you only interested in colleges that don’t offer any NM $$. If so, what about safeties? You can put down a safety as your first choice NM selection.</p>
<p>Having undecided has no effect on whether or not you get the NMSC-sponsored scholarship.</p>
<p>Actually, if you’re going to get a $2500 NMSC award, they’ll contact you (early-to-mid March) to choose a college if you have undecided as your choice, as they want to be able to notify the college of your award. Even with that choice, you’re still not commited to that college, but can take your award to wherever you choose.</p>
<p>Do you realize that if you want the NMF scholarship that a university offers that you can’t also get the NMSC-sponsored scholarship (which is often a smaller amount).</p>
<p>However, there can be a way to “kind of” collect 2 NM scholarships if the college has separated a small amt from their NMF package as being the NMF portion. In my son’s case, he was able to accept the NMF scholarship offered by my H’s company (2500/yr), AND accept the university NM scholarship MINUS the small NMF portion ($1,000)the uni had in the NMF package. So, DS got the tuition, housing, laptop & study abroad portion plus he got the company scholarship ($2500/yr)…all he had to give up was the $1k per year.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses; I will probably call NMSC tomorrow itself.
And I do realize that I can only get one type of NM scholarship. I just want to make sure my options are open in case I don’t receive the $2500 scholarship. Also, I am mostly looking at colleges that don’t offer NMS money, but again, want to keep options open for the few who do (as you said, safeties, etc). =] I find it interesting that your son was able to get extra money, though. Didn’t know that was possible.</p>
<p>Check another thread on here for a VIGOROUS disussion of how/when to name your college. I advised my D to list “undecided”. But, since that’s too late for you…one thing to know is that you can obtain another “change” form online (I know you got a card with your packet). So I’m ASSUMING you can change twice…but I do NOT know that. DON’T rush yourself to change NOW. There is very little reason to do that. I know nearly every college requires you “name” them as first choice. But most deadlines for that are WAY down the road. Yet, I believe there is a difference in the NM and company awards…versus the actual college awards. NONE of them are TONS of money. Obviously, you don’t want to throw it away. But, I’d be more concerned if your college choice was one that gave a “full ride” (MANY of those, but not “elite” schools, obviously). </p>
<p>Example of why not to rush: My D has an in-state flagship safety school. I asked them THEIR deadline to be listed as first choice and they didn’t really even “get it”. They directed me back to NM, saying they didn’t know THEIR deadline. I finally got someone else at that school who said “Oh, we just go by the NM deadline…May 31, I think”. So that’s NM’s FINAL deadline. </p>
<p>D also has a private OOS dream school. I contacted them and they said the same thing “We’re aligned with NM…we go with their date…I think it’s in May” (this was NYU, by the way). </p>
<p>So…MOST (but not all) schools allow a very late date for that. I think you’ll get your admittances before having to decide on MOST schools. But…do your research, obviously.</p>
<p>You can change your first choice several times. </p>
<p>If you can’t find the form, you can call NMCorp or find the form online at their website. The NMC people do answer the phone and are very easy to work with.</p>
<p>BTW…you can email various college scholarship offices (ones that you know give NMF schollies) and tell them that you’re a NMSF, give your stats, and ask what they offer. Son got tons more offers by doing this. Some schools to contact…Fordham, UAlabama, UOklahoma, UCentralFlorida, AzSt, UAz…</p>
<p>^^^^^</p>
<p>As noted above, any time you want to make a change, you can send in a new form. Here’s a link to the form from NMSC’s website:</p>
<p>[College</a> Choice Report or Change](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Col_Ch_Mer.pdf]College”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Col_Ch_Mer.pdf)</p>
<p>If you’re unsure of which college (if any) is your current listed choice, you can call them to ask what they have in their records. Really, though, there’s little reason to name a college until you’ve been accepted and are reasonably sure you’ll attend.</p>