Can Self-Identifying as a NMF hurt your chances?

ssmart6
Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:30:36 +0000

My son is applying to several high quality schools and has identified one of them as his top choice with the National Merit program. One or two other schools have sent him a card asking him to notify them if he becomes a NMF (which he has). Could returning the card hurt his chances? I ask because they could easily check his name on the card against the students who’ve identified that particular school as their top choice (National Merit sends each school a list of the students who’ve named that school as their top choice, right?). So if they know that he is not their top choice, are they more likely to turn him down, or are they more likely to offer admission to a NMF even if that student clearly has picked another school as his top choice?