We are in the same boat waiting for word from DS's assigned school. My understanding is the list of "five" is completely irrelevant once you are awarded the scholarship, and you can seek to transfer the scholarship to ANY school with NROTC -- if they still have room for her in the unit at the time of her transfer. My DS applied to other NROTC schools in addition to the "five." Immediately upon being awarded the NROTC scholarship, my DS reached out to the unit commanders for his assigned school and they indicated that they give admissions a list of those assigned to the unit and to let them know if he does not get accepted. Do that right away so they can add her to the list at Villanova. Whether it helps or not with admissions I think depends on the school and remains to be seen for my DS. My DS's assigned school is a reach school for him, and for everyone who applies frankly. So with this in mind, he applied to a broad range of reaches and safeties and reached out to the other NROTC schools to which he applied, both admissions and the NROTC units directly, and told them he received the scholarship, and inquired if there is still a space for him if he is not accepted to his assigned school. Admissions generally replied with something to the effect of "congrats, and your application has been updated," and the units were all great, and said there IS still room for him. Bottom line, she has received a scholarship that is merit based, so it's a great excuse to update admissions at the various schools to which she applied and important to inquire whether there are spaces left in other units as a backup plan. Fingers crossed for your DD, and congratulations!!