National Merit Semifinalists 2024

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's me, your local testaholic!

The local lists are starting to come out.

https://www.mymcmedia.org/158-county-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists/

Congrats to the following MoCo non-publics whose students made the list:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)


Congrats especially to Living Grace Christian School (tuition $5,750) and Yeshiva of Greater Washington ($19,950), which I have never seen on this board, for tying perpetual DCUM topics Landon ($52,360) and SSFS ($43,200), and defeating Bullis ($53,405 tuition, zero NMSF).

[Yes, I know the school doesn't necessarily have that much to do students' success on the SAT -- intentionally so, via test design -- but I enjoy being snarky.]

Thank you for sharing this! My DC is a Freshman but it is interesting to see the results.

For the sheer volume of bashing that MCPS and all public schools in general get by parents on this sub-forum, it was eye-opening to see the results of our MCPS HS compared to the most expensive Privates around here. I teach my kids to be gracious and I will do the same.

Congratulations to every student- homeschooled or public schooled or private schooled, who made it to the list!! I am sure your hard work paid off!

8.8% of Sidwell’s seniors are NMSFs this year. Which MoCo public has a higher percentage? I’m not trying to argue…just genuinely curious.

The comparables would be the magnet programs, where kids have access to a stronger curriculum. 42/100 Blair magnet seniors and 24/100 Richard Montgomery magnet students earned NMSF.

Nope, that’s not how this works. That’s like Sidwell saying it only wants to count the students in the top 10-15% of the grade, based on GPA.
So, how many seniors TOTAL are in Blair and RM’s grades? This calculation requires the denominator.

Sidwell is an application based program. Kids are selected from a large pool to attend. Blair and RM magnets are application based programs. Kids are selected from an even larger pool to attend. I think the fair denominator is the size of the magnets.

A considerable percentage of Sidwell’s graduating classes are lifers (or students who enrolled before 4th grade). That means that Sidwell had very little quantitative data to rely on besides an IQ score, which is not very stable at such a young age. Many of those early admits end up being average or below average performers (both grades and test scores). So, I think the fair denominator is the size of the entire public school grade. That’s the only denominator I will use or accept.

DP: You can both stop crediting the schools for these kids' test results. The kids did it, not the school, and some of them studied hard and had tutors for this one test. It's not about the school. And btw, the kids sitting next to them in class who didn't get the award are not less intelligent, and you both know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fehvjy/2025_nmsf_delaware_and_washington_dc/#lightbox

For DC it looks like less than 50 kids?

SFS 11
GDS 7
STA 6
Walls 6
NCS 3
Basis 3
WIS 2
St John’s 2
Latin 2
Maret 1
Field 1
JR 1
Gonzaga 1

Interesting. At the top end in Texas you have private schools with 20-30% of their graduating class earning NMSF.

I’m guessing the discrepancy has to do with distribution of student bodies among public/private schools among other things.

Compare the score cut cutoff for Texas and DC. That’s your answer.

Cutoffs this year
Texas 219
Virginia 222
Maryland 222
DC 223 (as a poster notes they get stuck with MA/NJ’s cutoff)

PP as asking why so many more in TX and the answer is because TX has more students, thus is given a larger number of semifinalist spots. It's a proportional allotment.

That is not what I am asking: The allocations are proportional to students in each state/district and the cutoffs are proportional to top 1% of each jurisdiction. What I am asking is why do the top private schools in Texas get larger CLUSTERS of NMSF than their comparable schools in DC area.

In Dallas, St. Mark's School of Texas had 29 this year out of a class of about 100 (30% of class). Hockaday 13 out of 125 (10% of class).

I don't think the cutoffs explain all of it. Basically you need around a 1486 PSAT in DC/VA and 1460 in Texas to make the corresponding cutoffs, and both of those scores are still 99th percentile nationally. So that can't explain all of the different distribution nor does the allocation of spots because those are proportional.

My guess reading through the thread is that TJ is taking up 99th percentile kids that would probably otherwise cluster in the top privates whereas Dallas doesn't have anything public quite as comparable as TJ. Dallas Academy for Talented and Gifted (closest public to TJ) had 16 out of a lower hundreds class size.

No. TJ is in VA, it doesn’t take from the top private schools in the area. It has nothing to do with that.

It does actually. Every year, at each private, usually 1-2 or more turn down the private after TJ admissions are out. I can name more than a few in older DC's TJ class that we saw at the admissions events for top privates. That's not even counting the ones that decide not to go because of Moco programs which release invites before the private school deadlines.

Most likely, those students turn down the private school because they can’t afford the tuition. Let’s not pretend that money isn’t a factor.

I think most families that couldn't afford it wouldn't bother applying in the first place. Money was not a factor for our child who got in. The other child did not get in so they went to a private school.

I know many people who applied/will apply to private schools without the means to afford the tuition. Their stated hope was/is that they would receive enough financial aid so their children can attend the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's me, your local testaholic!

The local lists are starting to come out.

https://www.mymcmedia.org/158-county-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists/

Congrats to the following MoCo non-publics whose students made the list:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)


Congrats especially to Living Grace Christian School (tuition $5,750) and Yeshiva of Greater Washington ($19,950), which I have never seen on this board, for tying perpetual DCUM topics Landon ($52,360) and SSFS ($43,200), and defeating Bullis ($53,405 tuition, zero NMSF).

[Yes, I know the school doesn't necessarily have that much to do students' success on the SAT -- intentionally so, via test design -- but I enjoy being snarky.]

Thank you for sharing this! My DC is a Freshman but it is interesting to see the results.

For the sheer volume of bashing that MCPS and all public schools in general get by parents on this sub-forum, it was eye-opening to see the results of our MCPS HS compared to the most expensive Privates around here. I teach my kids to be gracious and I will do the same.

Congratulations to every student- homeschooled or public schooled or private schooled, who made it to the list!! I am sure your hard work paid off!

8.8% of Sidwell’s seniors are NMSFs this year. Which MoCo public has a higher percentage? I’m not trying to argue…just genuinely curious.

When posters are comparing MCPS to privates they are usually talking about the magnets. They are comparing special programs that are 100-125 at places like Poolesville, RMIB, and Blair magnet kids v the larger competitive privates that have classes of about the same size. In MCPS magnets, 20-40% are NMSFs depending on the program.

No, that’s not what this poster means. I’m comparing the entire student population, public vs. private. Every NMSF at MoCo publics aren’t in magnets, so why should I only consider that tiny subset of students, for the sake of comparison.

The argument is that your comparison is not fair.
If you're comparing the top private schools which admit students selectively you should compare them to the top magnet schools which also admit students selectively. You're acting like Sidwell and Landon are open to everyone. There are some kids at MCPS that are not going to college. They don't even take the test.

The only way I will agree with you is if every non-magnet NMSF student is not included in the comparison. In other words, if 10 of Blair’s NMSF are not in the magnet, you cannot include them in the count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fehvjy/2025_nmsf_delaware_and_washington_dc/#lightbox

For DC it looks like less than 50 kids?

SFS 11
GDS 7
STA 6
Walls 6
NCS 3
Basis 3
WIS 2
St John’s 2
Latin 2
Maret 1
Field 1
JR 1
Gonzaga 1

Interesting. At the top end in Texas you have private schools with 20-30% of their graduating class earning NMSF.

I’m guessing the discrepancy has to do with distribution of student bodies among public/private schools among other things.

Compare the score cut cutoff for Texas and DC. That’s your answer.

Cutoffs this year
Texas 219
Virginia 222
Maryland 222
DC 223 (as a poster notes they get stuck with MA/NJ’s cutoff)

PP as asking why so many more in TX and the answer is because TX has more students, thus is given a larger number of semifinalist spots. It's a proportional allotment.

That is not what I am asking: The allocations are proportional to students in each state/district and the cutoffs are proportional to top 1% of each jurisdiction. What I am asking is why do the top private schools in Texas get larger CLUSTERS of NMSF than their comparable schools in DC area.

In Dallas, St. Mark's School of Texas had 29 this year out of a class of about 100 (30% of class). Hockaday 13 out of 125 (10% of class).

I don't think the cutoffs explain all of it. Basically you need around a 1486 PSAT in DC/VA and 1460 in Texas to make the corresponding cutoffs, and both of those scores are still 99th percentile nationally. So that can't explain all of the different distribution nor does the allocation of spots because those are proportional.

My guess reading through the thread is that TJ is taking up 99th percentile kids that would probably otherwise cluster in the top privates whereas Dallas doesn't have anything public quite as comparable as TJ. Dallas Academy for Talented and Gifted (closest public to TJ) had 16 out of a lower hundreds class size.

So you are wondering why DC's 30-50 allotted spots are spread out more among the few high schools in the area instead of all those kids going to the same school? Some are really expensive, some are single gender, some are religious, some are not conveniently located or some people, etc. etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More added:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)
SSSA (4)
Bishop Ireton (1)
Immanuel Christian (2)

And now:
Oakcrest (1)
New School of Northern Virginia (1)
Pinnacle Academy (1)
Trinity Christian (1)
Trinity School at Mountain View (1)
Dominion Christian School (1)
Basis Independent McLean (4)
Madeir
Potomac School (9)
Flint Hill (2)
Ideaventions Academy of Math and Science (2)

Zero from PVI? Or does this list not include Loudoun County privates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More added:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)
SSSA (4)
Bishop Ireton (1)
Immanuel Christian (2)

And now:
Oakcrest (1)
New School of Northern Virginia (1)
Pinnacle Academy (1)
Trinity Christian (1)
Trinity School at Mountain View (1)
Dominion Christian School (1)
Basis Independent McLean (4)
Madeir
Potomac School (9)
Flint Hill (2)
Ideaventions Academy of Math and Science (2)

Zero from PVI? Or does this list not include Loudoun County privates?

Replying to my own self in case anyone else looks for this: PVi had two: https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fekyi6/2025_nmsf_virginia/#lightbox

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is an application based program. Kids are selected from a large pool to attend. Blair and RM magnets are application based programs. Kids are selected from an even larger pool to attend. I think the fair denominator is the size of the magnets.

The Blair/RM magnets admit all their students in 9th, the vast majority of whom have shown that they excel at academic standardized tests.

Over half of Sidwell's students are admitted in 4th grade and earlier, and a huge chunk when they are only 3 or 4 years old.

Sure sounds like apples to apples!

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, the Blair kids and the Sidwell kids are all getting a fine education and will be well positioned do something productive with their lives should they choose to do so. Even the ones who are not NMSF. Relax.

Whatever point each of you is trying to prove is immature and beyond ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I work in a school. Many, many kids with diagnoses and school-based accommodations do NOT get extra time on the test. Even when they appeal. Many kids who don’t score high on the PSAT go on to score high on the SAT. Many kids who do get NMSF honor are disappointed to discover it’s not the golden ticket to a top college they had hoped it would be. In fact, they will find out that some of their lower-performing classmates will get in over them for a range of different reasons, some of which might feel unfair. After, some of the kids who got into their preferred college will be deliriously happy, and some will be unhappy. That’s true for the kids who go to their “safety” as well. If only a test could guarantee success and happiness for our children! Just help them keep it in perspective. It’s one test on one day, it predicts very little about their future, and it won’t make or break their lives.

[Anonymous]

Who is portraying NMSF status as a golden ticket to college? For me, it was always about access to certain corporate scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in a school. Many, many kids with diagnoses and school-based accommodations do NOT get extra time on the test. Even when they appeal. Many kids who don’t score high on the PSAT go on to score high on the SAT. Many kids who do get NMSF honor are disappointed to discover it’s not the golden ticket to a top college they had hoped it would be. In fact, they will find out that some of their lower-performing classmates will get in over them for a range of different reasons, some of which might feel unfair. After, some of the kids who got into their preferred college will be deliriously happy, and some will be unhappy. That’s true for the kids who go to their “safety” as well. If only a test could guarantee success and happiness for our children! Just help them keep it in perspective. It’s one test on one day, it predicts very little about their future, and it won’t make or break their lives.

Why are you and other PPs raining on their parade? These kids did good. Let them enjoy it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's me, your local testaholic!

The local lists are starting to come out.

https://www.mymcmedia.org/158-county-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists/

Congrats to the following MoCo non-publics whose students made the list:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)


Congrats especially to Living Grace Christian School (tuition $5,750) and Yeshiva of Greater Washington ($19,950), which I have never seen on this board, for tying perpetual DCUM topics Landon ($52,360) and SSFS ($43,200), and defeating Bullis ($53,405 tuition, zero NMSF).

[Yes, I know the school doesn't necessarily have that much to do students' success on the SAT -- intentionally so, via test design -- but I enjoy being snarky.]

Thank you for sharing this! My DC is a Freshman but it is interesting to see the results.

For the sheer volume of bashing that MCPS and all public schools in general get by parents on this sub-forum, it was eye-opening to see the results of our MCPS HS compared to the most expensive Privates around here. I teach my kids to be gracious and I will do the same.

Congratulations to every student- homeschooled or public schooled or private schooled, who made it to the list!! I am sure your hard work paid off!

8.8% of Sidwell’s seniors are NMSFs this year. Which MoCo public has a higher percentage? I’m not trying to argue…just genuinely curious.

When my kid was at TJ, it was about 150 nmsfs out of about 420 kids.

When I was at TJ it was about 120, but yeah. It's only 81 there this year!

81 is incredible. Isn't that more than all the privates listed so far?

It’s a great number if your kid can get in. But as noted, due to the racial parity admissions rules, somewhere between 40 and 50 would-be NMS semifinalists were denied entry. So they stayed at their zoned school or went private. Langley and McLean HS biggest winners but others went up as well.

Not by enough to cover the drop from last year or 2022 though. It strongly implies the educational quality at TJ really made a difference in how many kids made NMSF. Principals complained back in the 1990s that they would have so many more NMSF and other award winners if only TJ didn't exist, but it doesn't look like that's true.

A countywide total would be nice but I can’t find it. But just comparing McLean plus Langley; in 2022 those schools had 21 combined and yesterday they had 35.

There's one for many publics in the area posted on several threads. But I don't think it covers PWCPS, so you miss if those schools are all going up (did their TJ enrollment standards even change though? Or any of the other feeder counties?)

Here: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/75/1223230.page#28327421

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who is portraying NMSF status as a golden ticket to college? For me, it was always about access to certain corporate scholarships.

The corporate scholarships are nice but I felt like most kids got the college ones, which are piddling compared to the amount you need to go to the sponsoring school. Nice to have, I guess?
-TJ grad and National Merit Scholar who was friends with lots of other scholars because TJ

[Anonymous]

Spoken like someone in a position of privilege. For many families, every dollar counts, no matter the source of aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's me, your local testaholic!

The local lists are starting to come out.

https://www.mymcmedia.org/158-county-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists/

Congrats to the following MoCo non-publics whose students made the list:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)


Congrats especially to Living Grace Christian School (tuition $5,750) and Yeshiva of Greater Washington ($19,950), which I have never seen on this board, for tying perpetual DCUM topics Landon ($52,360) and SSFS ($43,200), and defeating Bullis ($53,405 tuition, zero NMSF).

[Yes, I know the school doesn't necessarily have that much to do students' success on the SAT -- intentionally so, via test design -- but I enjoy being snarky.]

And that's it in a nutshell for Bullis. They just aren't a strong school - never has been. And the majority of the faculty have no respect for the Head. Think twice before you invest those dollars when there are so many other great choices in the DMV.