<p>When my dd designated her first choice college for National Merit, she went with the school that had the most money tied to the finalist designation. (they have also done a superior job recruiting her, so much so she is really hopeful she will get the award so she can go there. In her case her first choice is really her first choice!)
Her other three choices have minimal National Merit awards, so it seemed the reasonable thing to do to try and secure the best merit package available. She is a finalist for full ride merit packages at her 2nd and 3rd choices and has interviews every weekend for the next three weeks. Certainly, she will consider them if she is awarded a full package, but none of those are dependant on the NMF designation.
I have found it so odd that our state flagship U, which supposedly participates in the NMF program, have offered her VERY little, yet the more prestigious privates have all been very generous. So, at this juncture, even if she gets nothing more than what has already been offered by her top three, she will fare better at the privates financially …</p>