Nat Merit Finalist "First Choice"

Paying for College National Merit Scholarship
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Kid has a 222 selection score in a state where that will qualify for Semi/Finalist. 1490 SAT thus far. GPA 3.92/4.25 at a US News top 100 school (rigorous). Recruitable athlete but injured. His sport does not typically offer more than 25% athletic scholarships. So the schools offering Nat Merit finalists generous packages is likely worth much more.

Can someone explain the “first choice” a bit for me? Is it binding like Early decision? If he takes a gap year for rehab, can he defer the admission? What happens if he chooses “undecided” and doesn’t apply to a college at all until his gap year? Will they honor his status from before?

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May be school specific. I’d call. Here’s Alabama’s scholarship phone #. Not sure what school you are interested in but I’d call each.

Ask about applying next year or this year and deferral, etc.

Here’s info on saying they’re the top choice - in the link below . Seems a good explanation - to me.

As all schools are different I’d ask one by one.

205-348-6756

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Do you want a list of some of the great NMSF schools? If so, University of Tulsa is worth checking.

Does your student have a geographic preference? Do they want to do a club sport?

I do agree…some of the timing of this is college specific.

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thank you both.

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The president of Tulsa university is on College Confidential, and he is very approachable, so you could ask him directly

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In fact, he recently posted.

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Of course happy to weigh in!

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Where is a list of the great NBSF schools?

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NMSF!

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I don’t know of an official list…but folks here are giving you some good ideas.

University of Tulsa
University of Alabama
University of Southern CA (1/2 tuition guaranteed for finalists, I believe)
University of New Mexico @WayOutWestMom is that still the case?
Arizona State and University of Arizona

Plus if you are a NMSF,you likely have the stats to be eligible for great merit aid at places like:

Pitt (apply as soon as the application comes out)
Miami of Ohio

And the some of the competitve scholarships as well…

Washington and Lee Johnson Scholarship
University of South Carolina McNair
University of Charleston Charleston Scholars

And many others…some which have already been listed above.

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This is 3rd party - so you want to check each for accuracy - and I don’t see U of Tulsa on here. Or U of Houston.

Here’s another document that’s older. But may give you some ideas.

Most think Bama, Tulsa, UTD, Maine used to be good - but definitely there are others. Fordham, USC and more - btw, being NMF doesn’t ensure admissions - so schools like USC or Northeastern aren’t gimmes.

25 Full-Ride Scholarships for National Merit Finalists - The Scholarship System

Selective Colleges Offering National Merit Scholarships (■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■)

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Most National Merit Scholarships are NOT something you can defer for a year, unfortunately, but you could contact individual schools to be sure.

If your student does not yet have a First Choice school for National Merit, leave it as Undecided for now. We had worried that schools might take the listed “First Choice” school into consideration when making acceptance and merit decisions, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Here is a thread dedicated to the NMF/NMSF Big Merit schools and their vibes/strengths: Big merit NMF/NMSF schools and their specialties

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UNM’s NMF full ride scholarship is only available for New Mexico residents.

However, UNM offers full tuition scholarships for National Indigenous Scholars, National African American Scholars, and National Hispanic Scholars regardless of their home state.

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It sounds like your child wants to play his sport (taking a year to rehab?) but go to a school with NMF scholarship. You’ll have to carefully thread that needle as he may not be able to play at a school with the NMS scholarship. Football at Alabama? Most likely not happening (but I know it isn’t football as that would be a full scholarship). Soccer at some schools? Really tough unless he’s been recruited to play at that school.

He may have to take the NMF schl., start school, and give up a year of eligibility (although he has 5 years to play 4, and honestly there are a million ways to get that year back) and try to be walk on.

Draw a Venn diagram: schools with NMF scholarship, schools where he can play his sport. See if there is any overlap.

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