Very Confused about National Merit

Paying for College
1

<p>I was just notified that I am a finalist today, and I was very confused about what the letter said. I can only be awarded one out of the three types of scholarships, and I really want the college sponsored scholarship because I believe that will give me more. However, the letter says if I am offered any other scholarship, such as one of the $2500 ones, I won't be able to get the college sponsored one. </p>

<p>In what order do these offers come? Would I be able to choose if I am offered more than one? Should I pray that I don't get the $2500 scholarship so I can land the college sponsor one?</p>

2

<p>yeah im kinda confused about that too.
except i really want the $2500 one because my top choices arent on the list.</p>

3

<p>I got a thing from my principal, but nothing in the mail. He said I should have already gotten a letter. So I have absolutely no clue.</p>

<p>My guess though is that if you get a bigger offer from a school you can take it. It must have happened to plenty of people over the 50 years (or whatever) the program has been around, so I'm sure they are aware of that kind of situation and let you choose what is best for you.</p>

4

<p>Check with the school. Some will "award" you with their NM scholarship for years 2-4 in addition to the NM-sponsored scholarship.</p>

5

<p>chicago doesn't offer a national merit scholarship though right?</p>

6

<p>Yes, UChicago is a national merit sponsor, or else I wouldn't be asking.</p>

7

<p>Okay, well, the wording is very vague, but I think if you do get the $2,500 award, then Uchicago pays for it if you listed it as your first choice school.
<a href="http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/pdfs/0708fresh-FinAid.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/pdfs/0708fresh-FinAid.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>it says you'll have your scholarship "supported by the university"</p>

<p>I was looking at other schools and their policies and @ WashU if you are granted a $2,500 onetime award by NMSC, for your sophomore-senior year, WashU will give you $2,500 from their own pockets (but if you don't qualify for the 2500 $2,500 ones, WashU might give out a $2000 a year scholarship)</p>

<p>I think Chicago probably works like that as well and just follow up on the NMSC award</p>

<p>or I might be wrong, but I could only find that one paragraph about Chicago's school-sponsored stuff</p>

8

<p>The three types of scholarships listed are "or"s. You CANNOT be awarded more than one. Did you put down UChicago as your first choice? If so, you'll probably get the scholarship from them rather than the $2500. The $2500 scholarships are reserved for a small group of exemplary students who don't qualify for the corporation sponsored scholarships and who will be attending schools that don't offer scholarships through NMSC.</p>

9

<p>Not true abiste, as WashU's info clearly states they only go in to offer scholarships to kids who don't get the NMSC $2,500. (But it's not like you'd only get $2,500.. since the university continues paying that amount even after NMSC stops)</p>

10

<p>Yep, I had put down UChicago as my first choice college (of course).</p>

<p>Thank you kaseyditz, I overlooked that paragraph on the application. Hopefully, the "support" of my scholarship that it states means I can get more than the one-time $2500.</p>