National Merit: Name a School or Wait?

Paying for College
1

<p>My son is a semi-finalist. Of the schools offering scholarships, he does have a favorite. However, finances will be a driving force in our final college decision, and there are several schools he would be happy to attend. Is it better to name a school right away, or does it cut down on any offers you may receive from other places?</p>

2

<p>Because you have plenty of time (until spring in fact) to name a place as your first choice, or change your first choice, I would say that there is no harm in waiting until he is absolutely sure. There isn’t any advantage in naming a school right away.</p>

3

<p>You shall just put down “undecided” as school choice for now. You are allowed to name your first choice until like next April.</p>

4

<p>There is absolutely NO advantage to naming a school now – and there are disadvantages. </p>

<p>Your son should just wait until the spring when he will have a better idea of where he might be going. Once a NM scholarship is officially offered by a school (which happens at certain specific times in the March - May time period), NMSC pulls that student’s name out of the “pool” and then he can’t be offered a NM scholarship from another school. </p>

<p>You want to keep as much flexibility as possible for as long as you can.</p>

5

<p>Thanks! That’s exactly what we needed to know.</p>

6

<p>If you already sent in the National Merit Semi-Finalist yellow postcard with a college name on it, how do you change it? </p>

<p>Do you get a chance to change it when you are named a finalist?</p>

7

<p>You can change it now or later - see p. 3 of <a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;