National Merit Semifinalists 2024

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t need the money what’s the point of this? Does it help with college if you already have a 35 on ACT???

One way that it does help: I know of at least one Ivy league school whose regional AD will only meet with NMSFs when they visit the high school. Other colleges usually talk to anyone who signs up for a meeting slot.

Sure, Jan. Name the school.

Yale.

Pretty sure a Yale AD doesn’t visit our school, which has 20+ NMSFs.

Not contradictory. Perhaps if the Yale AO did visit your school, they would only meet with those NMSFs.

You're full of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t need the money what’s the point of this? Does it help with college if you already have a 35 on ACT???

One way that it does help: I know of at least one Ivy league school whose regional AD will only meet with NMSFs when they visit the high school. Other colleges usually talk to anyone who signs up for a meeting slot.

Sure, Jan. Name the school.

Yale.

This is complete nonsense. Yale AD visits our school and meets with everyone which includes way more than NMSF kids. Yale only went back to requiring tests for the 2025 cycle.

It has always been true of Yale at our school. Maybe they have changed their policies recently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t need the money what’s the point of this? Does it help with college if you already have a 35 on ACT???

One way that it does help: I know of at least one Ivy league school whose regional AD will only meet with NMSFs when they visit the high school. Other colleges usually talk to anyone who signs up for a meeting slot.

Sure, Jan. Name the school.

Yale.

This is complete nonsense. Yale AD visits our school and meets with everyone which includes way more than NMSF kids. Yale only went back to requiring tests for the 2025 cycle.

It has always been true of Yale at our school. Maybe they have changed their policies recently?

Changed what policy? What kind of school do you attend that would let Yale restrict who could meet with Yale, yet Harvard et al don’t impose this restriction?

There is something seriously wrong here.

[Anonymous]

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.]

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.

Bullis’ high school tuition is over $57,000.

Yeah, because we are having to pay for the heads new building. He claims to want to focus on academics, but actions speak louder than words. We have lost amazing teachers because of him.

[Anonymous]

A friendly reminder that your kids are so much more than their test scores and their academic and athletic achievements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t need the money what’s the point of this? Does it help with college if you already have a 35 on ACT???

One way that it does help: I know of at least one Ivy league school whose regional AD will only meet with NMSFs when they visit the high school. Other colleges usually talk to anyone who signs up for a meeting slot.

Sure, Jan. Name the school.

Yale.

This is complete nonsense. Yale AD visits our school and meets with everyone which includes way more than NMSF kids. Yale only went back to requiring tests for the 2025 cycle.

It has always been true of Yale at our school. Maybe they have changed their policies recently?

Yale may restrict its meetings at your child’s school, but not others (Big 3, for example). Similarly, when I was in law school, Law firms couldn’t prescreen applicants during OCI because I attended a T10 law school. However, those same law firms could and did prescreen at lower ranked law schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t need the money what’s the point of this? Does it help with college if you already have a 35 on ACT???

One way that it does help: I know of at least one Ivy league school whose regional AD will only meet with NMSFs when they visit the high school. Other colleges usually talk to anyone who signs up for a meeting slot.

Sure, Jan. Name the school.

Yale.

This is complete nonsense. Yale AD visits our school and meets with everyone which includes way more than NMSF kids. Yale only went back to requiring tests for the 2025 cycle.

It has always been true of Yale at our school. Maybe they have changed their policies recently?

Yale may restrict its meetings at your child’s school, but not others (Big 3, for example). Similarly, when I was in law school, Law firms couldn’t prescreen applicants during OCI because I attended a T10 law school. However, those same law firms could and did prescreen at lower ranked law schools.

This all seems really strange. Yale is visiting all the local public schools and of course doesn’t restrict who attends an info session.

Why would they restrict attendance at some private school to only NMSFs?

It just doesn’t make any sense.

[Anonymous]

This Yale this is a bunch of crap that somebody posted to rile us all up.

(and it worked!).

I have kids at two different Big3 schools and there is no such policy (and one of mine IS a NMSF!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This Yale this is a bunch of crap that somebody posted to rile us all up.

(and it worked!).

I have kids at two different Big3 schools and there is no such policy (and one of mine IS a NMSF!)

OOPS!

Meant to post:

This Yale POST is a bunch of crap that somebody posted to rile us all up.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell leads every year. What are they doing to prep these kids?

Sidwell's class is twice as big as schools like STA, NCS, etc.

[Anonymous]

SFS is not double SA or NCS or Holton ….

[Anonymous]

That’s not true. It’s bigger, but not at all double. Please post accurate information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friendly reminder that your kids are so much more than their test scores and their academic and athletic achievements.

I'm with you, PP, but don't waste your time on this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This Yale this is a bunch of crap that somebody posted to rile us all up.

(and it worked!).

I have kids at two different Big3 schools and there is no such policy (and one of mine IS a NMSF!)

OOPS!

Meant to post:

This Yale POST is a bunch of crap that somebody posted to rile us all up.

And it worked, because so many of you are insecure, shallow nitwits. Your poor kids.

[Anonymous]

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.

No, it IS how it works. Sidwell has an admissions process and bills itself as an elite school. It is only fair to compare it to public programs that have an admissions process for top students. You just don't like that the elite public programs do as well or better than the richy rich "elite" schools.

-private school parent sick of elitist crap on here.