National Merit Semifinalist 2018

[Anonymous]

The NMSF's names to go with the school numbers are posted throughout the pages of this thread.

[Anonymous]

Do all semifinalists become finalists? I always hear about the semifinalists, but not the finalists. Is it just a formality?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do all semifinalists become finalists? I always hear about the semifinalists, but not the finalists. Is it just a formality?

IIRC, 90% of semifinalists become finalists. Essentially just a formality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do all semifinalists become finalists? I always hear about the semifinalists, but not the finalists. Is it just a formality?

IIRC, 90% of semifinalists become finalists. Essentially just a formality.

I'm pretty sure this is not true. It's a huge cut from semifinalists to become finalists! Way easier, relatively, to be a semifinalist (good PSAT score).

[Anonymous]

"Semifinalists must fulfill additional requirements and advance to the Finalist level of the competition to be considered for a scholarship. Approximately 15,000 of the 16,000 Semifinalists advance to Finalist standing by submitting SAT scores that confirm the earlier PSAT/NMSQT performance, having an outstanding academic record, and being endorsed and recommended by a high school official. They must also submit an application that includes high school courses and grades, extracurricular and volunteer activities, and a self-descriptive essay. The information that is collected about each Semifinalist is used later in the process to choose scholarship winners. All Finalists receive a Certificate of Merit in recognition of their outstanding performance in the competition."

wikipedia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Semifinalists must fulfill additional requirements and advance to the Finalist level of the competition to be considered for a scholarship. Approximately 15,000 of the 16,000 Semifinalists advance to Finalist standing by submitting SAT scores that confirm the earlier PSAT/NMSQT performance, having an outstanding academic record, and being endorsed and recommended by a high school official. They must also submit an application that includes high school courses and grades, extracurricular and volunteer activities, and a self-descriptive essay. The information that is collected about each Semifinalist is used later in the process to choose scholarship winners. All Finalists receive a Certificate of Merit in recognition of their outstanding performance in the competition."

wikipedia

Yes, but only 7,500 National Merit Finalists are awarded every year. Your quote from Wikipedia simply means that 15,000 out of 16,000 semifinalists chose to go through the trouble of submitting additional documentations to be consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Semifinalists must fulfill additional requirements and advance to the Finalist level of the competition to be considered for a scholarship. Approximately 15,000 of the 16,000 Semifinalists advance to Finalist standing by submitting SAT scores that confirm the earlier PSAT/NMSQT performance, having an outstanding academic record, and being endorsed and recommended by a high school official. They must also submit an application that includes high school courses and grades, extracurricular and volunteer activities, and a self-descriptive essay. The information that is collected about each Semifinalist is used later in the process to choose scholarship winners. All Finalists receive a Certificate of Merit in recognition of their outstanding performance in the competition."

wikipedia

Yes, but only 7,500 National Merit Finalists are awarded every year. Your quote from Wikipedia simply means that 15,000 out of 16,000 semifinalists chose to go through the trouble of submitting additional documentations to be consider.

NP here, but that's not correct. Around 15,000 of the 16,000 semifinalists become finalists. The thousand who don't typically include kids who had disqualifying grades, or whose schools weren't on the ball enough to let them know they needed to complete the application to move on in the process. Of those 15,000, a smaller amount ultimately receive the $2,500 award from National Merit, though other finalists receive corporate awards or awards that their college provides. The process is explained here: http://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=424

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Semifinalists must fulfill additional requirements and advance to the Finalist level of the competition to be considered for a scholarship. Approximately 15,000 of the 16,000 Semifinalists advance to Finalist standing by submitting SAT scores that confirm the earlier PSAT/NMSQT performance, having an outstanding academic record, and being endorsed and recommended by a high school official. They must also submit an application that includes high school courses and grades, extracurricular and volunteer activities, and a self-descriptive essay. The information that is collected about each Semifinalist is used later in the process to choose scholarship winners. All Finalists receive a Certificate of Merit in recognition of their outstanding performance in the competition."

wikipedia

Yes, but only 7,500 National Merit Finalists are awarded every year. Your quote from Wikipedia simply means that 15,000 out of 16,000 semifinalists chose to go through the trouble of submitting additional documentations to be consider.

NP here, but that's not correct. Around 15,000 of the 16,000 semifinalists become finalists. The thousand who don't typically include kids who had disqualifying grades, or whose schools weren't on the ball enough to let them know they needed to complete the application to move on in the process. Of those 15,000, a smaller amount ultimately receive the $2,500 award from National Merit, though other finalists receive corporate awards or awards that their college provides. The process is explained here: http://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=424

There is also a citizenship requirement. There are several in this year's group at my kid's school that will not receive further consideration for this reason. It is probably not uncommon, especially in the DC area, where so many foreign nationals make their homes -= think embassies, world bank, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do all semifinalists become finalists? I always hear about the semifinalists, but not the finalists. Is it just a formality?

IIRC, 90% of semifinalists become finalists. Essentially just a formality.

I'm pretty sure this is not true. It's a huge cut from semifinalists to become finalists! Way easier, relatively, to be a semifinalist (good PSAT score).

Most people become finalists. You have to jump through a bunch more hoops in terms of sending in forms and keep your grades up.

[Anonymous]

I had a kid who didn't become a finalist. At the time senior year grade were sent in (I think after 1st quarter) she had a D in a post-AP STEM class. She eventually got a B but we were told that D is why she didn't become a finalist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a kid who didn't become a finalist. At the time senior year grade were sent in (I think after 1st quarter) she had a D in a post-AP STEM class. She eventually got a B but we were told that D is why she didn't become a finalist.

Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many people care about NMSF? My DC knew a long time ago he wasn't going to any college where it would mean merit aid (Bama, Ole Miss, Arizona etc.). He chose to take the SATs the same week as PSATs and we told him not to worry about the PSAT. Scored 1550+ on the SATs and below DC's cut-off for NMSF. I'm pretty sure his higher SAT score trumps a lower scoring NMSF student's PSAT, but there are a lot of other factors that will determine who gets into which schools.

You should care because as a NMSF colleges actively recruit your child, for some colleges it's an automatic merit scholarship if he/she is accepted, it opens access to honors program in a school and much more. I wouldn't discredit the value being a NMSF shaved 50k off my daughter's 4 year tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many people care about NMSF? My DC knew a long time ago he wasn't going to any college where it would mean merit aid (Bama, Ole Miss, Arizona etc.). He chose to take the SATs the same week as PSATs and we told him not to worry about the PSAT. Scored 1550+ on the SATs and below DC's cut-off for NMSF. I'm pretty sure his higher SAT score trumps a lower scoring NMSF student's PSAT, but there are a lot of other factors that will determine who gets into which schools.

You should care because as a NMSF colleges actively recruit your child, for some colleges it's an automatic merit scholarship if he/she is accepted, it opens access to honors program in a school and much more. I wouldn't discredit the value being a NMSF shaved 50k off my daughter's 4 year tuition.

I think the previous poster was pointing out that many/most top students do not want to go to any of the colleges that recruit or offer merit to NMSF. For the right kind of student, these schools can be great. For example, this year's Pulitzer for nonfiction went to a MacArthur genius grantee who graduated from Arizona State. But, it can be hard to convince a really strong high schooler to go to a college where 75% of the class had lower scores in 12th grade than she/he had in 7th.

[Anonymous]

DC (attends a Big 3) was notified that they are one of the 2,500 students selected nationally this year as a National Merit Finalist. Finalist selection comes with a scholarship award from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a kid who didn't become a finalist. At the time senior year grade were sent in (I think after 1st quarter) she had a D in a post-AP STEM class. She eventually got a B but we were told that D is why she didn't become a finalist.

LOL that was me in the 1980s! Got a D in math. Didn't get finalist. Did get into a good college so didn't really care although parents were a little grumpy. Didn't take a math class EVER AGAIN. Didn't regret it.