My problem is I have applied to couple of universities. I have recently received an offer from a very prestigious university with a very good supervisor but failed to get a scholarship from there. I thought about it until the deadline and accepted their offer.
About a week later one of the other universities contacted me (months after my application) and said one of the professors wants to interview me but I should not consider this as an offer yet. Within this second school there is one scholarship left and if I get it, it would be very very helpful. On the other hand if I do not get the scholarship, the prestigious one seems like a better fit. Should I still talk with that professor and make amendments? They already informed me there is only one scholarship left and I chose to go through with my application. Would it be really rude if they accept me (without a scholarship) after all these correspondence and then I choose another university? Their rankings are not that different, one of them is 6th and the other is the 17th..
Is it normal to talk to the school and a potential supervisor as if you are coming and drop it the moment you don't get the scholarship/get another offer?

Hi Sollinatri. I think it depends on what your priority is. My main priority was funding; and the universities I applied at were in similar ranks. I was completely open with my potential supervisors from all my applications (they knew that I had applied at other places and they also knew I would go where the funding was) - and they were still happy to support my applications. In the end I was offered funding at one before I had heard from the others. And I accepted it - without even waiting to hear back from the others. When I emailed the others to tell them I had already accepted an offer because it had funding attached, I received a very gracious response saying they were disappointed that I would not be coming to their university, but congratulating me on my success. I think that they understand the climate and how difficult it can be to obtain funding these days. So from personal experience, I think that being honest, open and polite is best. Good luck.