Can a National Merit Finalist Change His First Choice?

[lkg4answers]

I’m not sure which hypothetical schools your are looking at.

There are often two types of scholarships awarded to National Merit students - one might be for NMSF or NMF and another (generally a smaller amount) is awarded when a student becomes a NMS.

Very few schools ask to be indicated as the first choice before May 1. BU is one of them and has a March 1 deadline. This post from last year might help answer your question.

Class of 2023 National Merit discussion

We went through the whole BU early NMF first choice selection date issue in 2022. S22 was also applying to USC, and wanted the opportunity to switch his NMF first choice selection to USC even if he received the BU NMF scholarship offer, as he was undecided. I spoke to BU admissions, which were not helpful. I spoke to NMSC, which were very helpful. They confirmed that the BU half tuition offer does not trigger the first choice lock. It was the awarding of the $500 NMF college sponsored scholarship that triggers the lock. NMSC does not process that offer until May. From what NMSC told me, as long as he changed his choice before May, he would be able to receive the NM scholarship from a different school. On May 1, they look at a student’s account and only process offers at that time if a school offer matches with a student’s first choice. They do not process offers as they are received. Based on that info, S22 put down BU as first choice in Feb. Then, when he was admitted to BU but not …