National Merit "First Choice" Dilemma

TheBigChef
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 15:14:08 +0000

My son got NMSF and expects to be named a finalist next year. He plans on applying ED to a reach school that does not award any money for NM finalists. However, one of his match schools (which he would be happy to attend if the reach doesn’t come through) does award money provided that you designate it as a “first choice” on the National Merit application.

Does anyone know if my son could get in trouble if he lists his match school as his first choice when the reality is, the reach school is his first choice as evidenced by the fact that he is applying ED to the reach? If he did this, he would be in line for money at the match school in the (more likely than not) event that he is rejected by the reach. On the other hand, I’m leery of him listing the match as his first choice when this is not really true.

One other thought, maybe we could avoid this whole issue by listing the reach as his first choice on the National Merit application and then changing his first choice to the match if he is rejected or deferred by the reach school.

Any advice on what we should do in this situation would be greatly appreciated.