National Merit Semifinalists 2024

[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.

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.

They do quite a bit better, in fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Yep. Several kids with extra time on the lists who don't use it in class but pulled it out for this and the SAT.
Their parents are masters at manipulating the system. Their classmates know who is legitimately smart and who worked the system---lots of chatter this week.
It ultimately won't be much of a bump for these kids as they are not near the top of the class so their grades do not match up with their inflated PSAT or SAT.

For every kid you think manipulated the test, there's also a kid like mine who happens to be a great test taker, so they took the PSAT/NMSQT to leverage that strength because their grades don't stand out. I don't feel sour grapes about other kids' "inflated" GPAs or ECs. All you can do is encourage each kid to shine in their best light and embrace holistic admissions.

No one is talking about YOUR kid. They are happy for him/her.
Their classmates know who has extra time that they only pull out for this test.

No one gets extra time without a diagnosed need. Kids don't have to use the accommodations they are entitled to by law. Stop picking on these kids.

The key is *diagnosed*. The current system is set up to reward kids with -- charitibly -- a diagnosis of marginal disabilities, whose scores go up slightly with the extra time allotted.

From what point does one's score need to be, to "go up slightly" and reach NMSF status? Hmmm.

You have to be quite smart to make it to NMSF, even with a predicted fairly slight score bump. Similarly, Ben Johnson was incredibly fast, Mark McGwire an exceptional baseball player, Tonya Harding was a magnificent figure skater, and Hans Niemann is great at chess.

[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.

It's what I was told. Maybe they hate our school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It's what I was told. Maybe they hate our school?

Bigger question...why would your school allow this to happen?

I can't imagine any DMV private with any respect agreeing to this demand.

[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.

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.

They do quite a bit better, in fact.

They do “quite a bit better” in what way? Elite college admissions? I think not (and that’s what really matters).

https://moco360.media/2023/09/13/where-montgomery-county-high-school-graduates-are-going-to-college/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

And what percentage of Sidwell's admissions is for 9th grade, like the "public programs that have an admissions process for top students"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SFS is not double SA or NCS or Holton ….

No, but Sidwell is around 120 students while these schools are around 75-90 students.

[Anonymous]

So much insecurity among some parents

[Anonymous]

Have any of the local DC publications posted NMSF from DC schools? I have seen the list on this forum, but not anywhere publicly. Mymcmedia.org has published MoCo students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have any of the local DC publications posted NMSF from DC schools? I have seen the list on this forum, but not anywhere publicly. Mymcmedia.org has published MoCo students.

i don't think there is a local DC publication anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have any of the local DC publications posted NMSF from DC schools? I have seen the list on this forum, but not anywhere publicly. Mymcmedia.org has published MoCo students.

https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fea0to/lists_of_semifinalists_by_state_2025/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much insecurity among some parents

the whitman insecure parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much insecurity among some parents

Seriously. Have you seen the college forum? It’s the same weird bickering over Harvard vs. MIT, or Duke vs Hopkins, or UVA vs William and Mary.

[Anonymous]

Except on the college forum, you'll have snide posters accusing you of sneaking in a comparison between two schools that, in their mind, aren't in the same league.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much insecurity among some parents

the whitman insecure parents

What does this topic have to do with Whitman?
Whitman lives rent-free in your head.