Could someone please help me clear up this "First Choice School" issue?

mh3353
Tue, 20 Jan 2015 15:57:23 +0000

I am a National Merit Semifinalist anticipating finalist status, and I would like some clearance on how my “first choice” selection could affect my potential scholarship offerings. From what I understand, there are “official” and “unofficial” portions to scholarships offered to National Merit Finalists. The two schools I am looking at, in regard to National Merit Scholarships, are South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. At Minnesota, it is easy to discern what is official and what is unofficial. Their “unofficial” is 10k/year contingent on first-choice selection by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation deadline, which does not come until May 1. SDSMT does not discern between “official” and “unofficial” and requires a first-choice selection by February 1.

My Questions:

How can I be hurt in this situation? The only way I become ineligible for a scholarship is if I receive an offer, which can only happen on May 1 or later, correct?

Can SDSMT even know that I select them by February 1? National Merit says that they do not refer first choice selections to colleges until March 1.

Can I select SDSMT, change it to UMN by May 1, and not be penalized for it? This question is the most important one. I should be able to choose a school by the end of March.

Below I am including the policies of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and the two colleges. Feel free to read them. Also, will calling National Merit Corporation be helpful? Can they help me sort this out?

OFFICIAL NATIONAL MERIT POLICY:

Schedule specific to college-sponsored awards:

March 1 through May 31, 2015: A Finalist who has reported a sponsor college as first choice by
March 1 will be included in the first group referred to that institution for scholarship consideration.

Periodically NMSC will notify sponsors of additional Finalists who have reported (by May 31) the college
or university as their first choice.

May 1, 2015: NMSC will begin mailing college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offers.

NOTE: If NMSC receives notification of a change in college choice from a Finalist after
mailing a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offer to that student, the Finalist cannot be
offered another college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award. This applies even if the new
choice of college is one that also sponsors Merit Scholarship awards. Therefore, a Finalist
who has previously reported a sponsor college as first choice but is uncertain about it may
choose to notify NMSC that he or she is now “undecided” to prevent being made an offer
from a school he or she is uncertain about attending; such notification must be submitted
online at osa.nationalmerit.org before May 1. The Finalist can subsequently report a firm
college choice that NMSC receives by May 31.

May 31, 2015: Deadline date for NMSC to receive reports of a sponsor college as first choice. Because it
is necessary to end the competition in a timely manner, only college choice reports that NMSC receives by
May 31 will be used to identify the final group of candidates to a college or university that sponsors awards.

SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY

“The School of Mines offers a $3,000 scholarship renewable for three years to National Merit Finalists who notify the National Merit Corporation that SDSM&T is their first-choice college by the first business day in February. This scholarship would be in addition to other scholarship award(s) from SDSM&T.”

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TWIN CITIES POLICY

"Preference for the U of M Gold Scholar Award for National Merit Finalists–worth $40,000 over four years–is given to National Merit Finalists who declare the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as their first-choice college by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation deadline.

The University of Minnesota is a college-sponsor of the National Merit Scholarship Program. In addition to the Gold Scholar Award, Finalists may be eligible to receive the National Merit University of Minnesota Scholarship–worth $4,000-$8,000 over four years. Any amount over $4,000 is based on financial need as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

To receive this scholarship, students must become National Merit Finalists and declare the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as their first-choice college by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation deadline and students must not be eligible for a National Merit Scholarship Corporation corporate-sponsored scholarship or National Merit $2500 scholarship."

Thank you all for any advice you can give me. I really appreciate it.