National Merit Scholarships

shennie
Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:08:09 +0000

There is a deadline for changing the first choice school - sometime in late April. Son sent in his first choice school with his NM application in the fall. We figured naming the particular school might make him more viable for a larger merit award. Acceptances came out. Son was accepted to first choice school. However, when I talk to him about sending in the paper work, he is having a lot of doubts. To make a long story short, he decides on the DEADLINE DAY to change his first choice school. I call NM. They tell me to fax his first choice change to them and it needs to be there by the time the office closes. (His high school guidance office helped him do this and faxed the change for us.) A few days later we get a letter from the original first choice college telling us that he has been awarded a NM scholarship from them. We thought all was lost. However, in June he gets a letter from the second first choice school telling us he has been awarded a NM scholarship. We were very pleased.

We also ended up having to do a change for our older son as well. My advice is to wait, if you can, for acceptances to come out and then make a first choice. If you have to pick one before that, keep all the paperwork handy so that you can make a change if necessary. I definitely ended up with a few gray hairs over that one!