<p>Thanks for your responses. I guess all is not lost. Just a little disappointing to wait 9 months for an unlikely reject. In essence, I don’t want the same thing to happen to my safeties now that I no longer have an automatic full ride. </p>
<p>Do my prospects of getting large merit-based scholarships at places like Rice or USC (higher prestige, highly competitive) take a big hit because I didn’t get National Merit?</p>