Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools actually select kids for admissions using similar tests and have years to weed out less impressive students. Given that, it's the private schools that are underperforming.

What kind of screening do you think private schools are doing when the applicants are 3 or 4 years old?

They screen for family wealth and educational background which, as people on this forum will tell you, will yield a class of rich kids with smart parents who have every advantage in life. They also get rid of students - oh, counsel out, sorry - who aren’t doing weel (unless their family is VERY rich). When privates’ numbers are up, parents crow about how wonderful their kids are. When their numbers are down, they say how unimportant the tests are.

Privates that charge $60k/yr should be doing better.

+1. Sour grapes. When shown their mediocre performance according to standardized metrics, private school parents argue that their coursework is “specialized” and that they do not emphasize standardized tests. Meanwhile most private school parents have hired a college admissions counselor and a private SAT tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, NCS stands out for DC result. JR underperforms given its overall class size. Washington Latin also punched above its weight. Maret was lackluster. St. Anselm's was very respectable. GDS and Sidwell were as expected.

JR has 35% of the kids not even attending college. JR and Macarthur are the only schools on the list where you can attend without applying or going through a lottery process.

How about SJC with only 1 kid and Gonzaga and Field with 0?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, NCS stands out for DC result. JR underperforms given its overall class size. Washington Latin also punched above its weight. Maret was lackluster. St. Anselm's was very respectable. GDS and Sidwell were as expected.

Is that 4% of NCS junior class? I would have thought higher for a Big 3 wealthy private. What about St Albans?

Looks like NCS and Holton girls did great this year. And the St Albans and Gonzaga lagged, especially Gonzaga since it’s a bigger school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our Big3 private did not emphasize the PSAT at all and our college counselor was actually super blaze about the SAT/ACT as well (which I thought was strange). He/she was fine with a 1450, 1500, 1550. It was all "yeah, that's great."
Our school did not administer the PSAT in 10th grade. My public school 10th grader in comparison took it in 10th grade and we have friends whose schools offered it in 9th and 10th grade.

It’s the same at Holton. No PSAT in 9th or 10th grade. Just the 11th grade one at school, as practice for the SAT.

And no private college counselors or tutors or SAT prep?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our Big3 private did not emphasize the PSAT at all and our college counselor was actually super blaze about the SAT/ACT as well (which I thought was strange). He/she was fine with a 1450, 1500, 1550. It was all "yeah, that's great."
Our school did not administer the PSAT in 10th grade. My public school 10th grader in comparison took it in 10th grade and we have friends whose schools offered it in 9th and 10th grade.

It’s the same at Holton. No PSAT in 9th or 10th grade. Just the 11th grade one at school, as practice for the SAT.

And no private college counselors or tutors or SAT prep?

Not for the kids I know…but on average, I don’t expect it to be any different than NCS, Sidwell, Maret, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools actually select kids for admissions using similar tests and have years to weed out less impressive students. Given that, it's the private schools that are underperforming.

What kind of screening do you think private schools are doing when the applicants are 3 or 4 years old?

There have been many posts on this board arguing that most private school kids don’t come in at ages 3 or 4 and that most kids are chosen in a meritocratic way and not based on who their parents are. Which is it?

Private schools insist they have superior outcomes to public schools, until they are shown data suggesting otherwise.

You realize that private schools have several entry years and that in some years it's more based on their parents and in other years it's largely meritocratic and in some years it's a little of both? But you have to paint private schools with a broad brush, because it suits your flawed narrative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools actually select kids for admissions using similar tests and have years to weed out less impressive students. Given that, it's the private schools that are underperforming.

What kind of screening do you think private schools are doing when the applicants are 3 or 4 years old?

There have been many posts on this board arguing that most private school kids don’t come in at ages 3 or 4 and that most kids are chosen in a meritocratic way and not based on who their parents are. Which is it?

Private schools insist they have superior outcomes to public schools, until they are shown data suggesting otherwise.

You realize that private schools have several entry years and that in some years it's more based on their parents and in other years it's largely meritocratic and in some years it's a little of both? But you have to paint private schools with a broad brush, because it suits your flawed narrative.

All that is true. They hand-pick the classes for 13 years, sometimes based on wealth or parent education. There are no exit years, they get rid of students all the time. They charge high tuition so the school is full of wealthy kids with all the advantages. Their numbers really should be higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our Big3 private did not emphasize the PSAT at all and our college counselor was actually super blaze about the SAT/ACT as well (which I thought was strange). He/she was fine with a 1450, 1500, 1550. It was all "yeah, that's great."
Our school did not administer the PSAT in 10th grade. My public school 10th grader in comparison took it in 10th grade and we have friends whose schools offered it in 9th and 10th grade.

It’s the same at Holton. No PSAT in 9th or 10th grade. Just the 11th grade one at school, as practice for the SAT.

And no private college counselors or tutors or SAT prep?

Not for the kids I know…but on average, I don’t expect it to be any different than NCS, Sidwell, Maret, etc.

Snort. You must not know many kids. Every private high school 11th grader I know has both of those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our Big3 private did not emphasize the PSAT at all and our college counselor was actually super blaze about the SAT/ACT as well (which I thought was strange). He/she was fine with a 1450, 1500, 1550. It was all "yeah, that's great."
Our school did not administer the PSAT in 10th grade. My public school 10th grader in comparison took it in 10th grade and we have friends whose schools offered it in 9th and 10th grade.

It’s the same at Holton. No PSAT in 9th or 10th grade. Just the 11th grade one at school, as practice for the SAT.

And no private college counselors or tutors or SAT prep?

Not for the kids I know…but on average, I don’t expect it to be any different than NCS, Sidwell, Maret, etc.

Snort. You must not know many kids. Every private high school 11th grader I know has both of those.

I know my daughter and her friend group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools actually select kids for admissions using similar tests and have years to weed out less impressive students. Given that, it's the private schools that are underperforming.

What kind of screening do you think private schools are doing when the applicants are 3 or 4 years old?

There have been many posts on this board arguing that most private school kids don’t come in at ages 3 or 4 and that most kids are chosen in a meritocratic way and not based on who their parents are. Which is it?

Private schools insist they have superior outcomes to public schools, until they are shown data suggesting otherwise.

You realize that private schools have several entry years and that in some years it's more based on their parents and in other years it's largely meritocratic and in some years it's a little of both? But you have to paint private schools with a broad brush, because it suits your flawed narrative.

All that is true. They hand-pick the classes for 13 years, sometimes based on wealth or parent education. There are no exit years, they get rid of students all the time. They charge high tuition so the school is full of wealthy kids with all the advantages. Their numbers really should be higher.

You can have all the financial advantages in the world, but money isn't going to turn mediocre students into top 1% test takers. Resources will absolutely help them become above average or even top 10% but NMSF is best of the best score-wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's MD and VA 2026 NMSF courtesy of reddit (if these lists are fakes, they're definitely elaborate ones.) No DC posted unfortunately. The number of public school magnet students (TJ, Blair etc.) on these lists is incredible.

https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1ndby41/lists_of_semifinalists_by_state_2026/

Maryland 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eH4WYg3mc8FIb9IhZGqvbIbcVIjXziJF/view
Virginia 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view

What is it in percentage of the entire class?

It's the top 1% of scorers per state. Except for DC which gets screwed where students have to earn the score of whatever the top scoring state is (225 in NJ and MA this year).

It's actually the top .5%