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

STEMFamily
Wed, 21 Jan 2015 02:19:42 +0000

I can’t explain how SD School of Mines would know by February 1st either since NMSC clearly states that March 1st is the earliest date for the first pool of names to be sent to colleges.

However, to be safe just put them down now and you are good for that scholarship. If later you decide you would rather go for the Minnesota scholarship, you have until May 31st to designate them because that is the final NMSC deadline. HOWEVER, in the case of changing to Minnesota, you MUST NOT still have SD School of Mines designated as first choice anytime in May because then NMSC would award you that scholarship (they start mailing the college-sponsored scholarship awards on May 1st) and you would then be ineligible for the Minnesota scholarship. To avoid this situation, you should either designate Minnesota or change to undecided by the end of April and then you would have until May 31 to change to Minnesota.

The catch in this is that even though Minnesota says that the NMSC date is the ultimate deadline, it may in effect be earlier because it isn’t clear that the scholarship is guaranteed for ALL finalists. Words like "preference given and “may be eligible” would not indicate a guarantee in my opinion and I think there have been posts indicating that UMN does NOT give this scholarship to all Finalists. If not guaranteed, Minnesota could decide to give all their scholarship money to Finalists in the very first pool and have nothing left for names in subsequent pools. Or they could choose to wait until May and evaluate candidates on a competitive basis. If the package isn’t guaranteed to all Finalists, they can deside the winners on any timeline they choose. I would call the UMN scholarship office and ask how these are awarded.