NMSFs in DC 2026

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's even more telling is that none of the DC schools (public, private or charter) have produced more than a single USAMO qualifier in over five years. In a city that has a fairly large contingent of highly educated parents, one would think that the number should be higher by chance alone.

We don't have Regeneron Winners either. There does need to be some institutional initiative for things like USAMO or Regeneron to happen. Certainly a school like TJ has an administration and teachers that care about things like this and create the framework for this to happen.

I know Regeneron in particular needs the school to have a scientific facts committee, faculty sponsors, etc. A kid can't just have a great idea and enter the main competition that gets all the press every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB Woodlawn, a public school in Arlington that you don’t test into, only has 100 seniors and more NMSF than any school in DC, public or private. Interesting.

lol. cutoffs are different across the board. for example mechanically it is likely that TJ will have more than all DC combined.

They're not that different. This year DC is 225 and DC and MD are at 224. Yes, slightly easier with that 1 point, but does not explain why one school will have 2 NMSFs while another will have 13.

Obviously the reason is that DC-based schools like Sidwell, GDS, NCS and STA are sub-par institutions that have never and could never send even one student to a T20 college.

Or more likely that Sidwell, GDS, NCS and STA are full of rich kids who are legacies who have hooks to get into T20 colleges despite having poorer academic performance than many of their public school peers.

Nonsense. Not a secret that the main reason that so many DC students are admitted to T20 colleges (including the Ivy Plus subset) is that the city has unusually good private schools. Poorer academic performance doesn't explain why these kids may beat out public school peers. My own children went to one of the highest performing DCPS elementary schools EotP all the way up. They were somewhat challenged in math, but the ELA writing instruction on offer wasn't just weak, it was hopeless. By the upper grades, we were hiring writing tutors. We switched to parochial for middle school, and they were so far behind in writing that they struggled in English. A jurisdiction like DC without formal GT programs, or a law on GT education, can only do so much to prep students to compete with GDS, NCS, STA and others in college admission. BASIS certainly tries, but their crappy facilities, weak electives and largely inexperienced teachers drive out most of their student talent before HS. Walls has been hamstrung by affirmative action admissions in recent years. Latin doesn't aim high (but a few of its seniors do).

Uh, well Latin has more semifinalists per person than all of these private schools except the Cathedral School. Also, remind me, does Sidwell Friends have a bus it sends to Anacostia each day to pick up and drop off its students?

This year, Latin had 3 and Sidwell and GDS has 4.

2 years ago Latin had 0.

3 years ago Latin had 0.

I doubt that Latin has dramatically improved in 2 years. And it is laughable to say it is on par academically with the Big 3.

The Latin kids who are NMSF are just grinders who prepped a lot outside of school and would have tested well at any school. And, no, none of them lives in Anacostia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's even more telling is that none of the DC schools (public, private or charter) have produced more than a single USAMO qualifier in over five years. In a city that has a fairly large contingent of highly educated parents, one would think that the number should be higher by chance alone.

We don't have Regeneron Winners either. There does need to be some institutional initiative for things like USAMO or Regeneron to happen. Certainly a school like TJ has an administration and teachers that care about things like this and create the framework for this to happen.

I know Regeneron in particular needs the school to have a scientific facts committee, faculty sponsors, etc. A kid can't just have a great idea and enter the main competition that gets all the press every year.

Wrong. DC has Regeneron winners, at least from private schools. Just check the winner lists for the past few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB Woodlawn, a public school in Arlington that you don’t test into, only has 100 seniors and more NMSF than any school in DC, public or private. Interesting.

lol. cutoffs are different across the board. for example mechanically it is likely that TJ will have more than all DC combined.

They're not that different. This year DC is 225 and DC and MD are at 224. Yes, slightly easier with that 1 point, but does not explain why one school will have 2 NMSFs while another will have 13.

Obviously the reason is that DC-based schools like Sidwell, GDS, NCS and STA are sub-par institutions that have never and could never send even one student to a T20 college.

Or more likely that Sidwell, GDS, NCS and STA are full of rich kids who are legacies who have hooks to get into T20 colleges despite having poorer academic performance than many of their public school peers.

Nonsense. Not a secret that the main reason that so many DC students are admitted to T20 colleges (including the Ivy Plus subset) is that the city has unusually good private schools. Poorer academic performance doesn't explain why these kids may beat out public school peers. My own children went to one of the highest performing DCPS elementary schools EotP all the way up. They were somewhat challenged in math, but the ELA writing instruction on offer wasn't just weak, it was hopeless. By the upper grades, we were hiring writing tutors. We switched to parochial for middle school, and they were so far behind in writing that they struggled in English. A jurisdiction like DC without formal GT programs, or a law on GT education, can only do so much to prep students to compete with GDS, NCS, STA and others in college admission. BASIS certainly tries, but their crappy facilities, weak electives and largely inexperienced teachers drive out most of their student talent before HS. Walls has been hamstrung by affirmative action admissions in recent years. Latin doesn't aim high (but a few of its seniors do).

Uh, well Latin has more semifinalists per person than all of these private schools except the Cathedral School. Also, remind me, does Sidwell Friends have a bus it sends to Anacostia each day to pick up and drop off its students?

This year, Latin had 3 and Sidwell and GDS has 4.

2 years ago Latin had 0.

3 years ago Latin had 0.

I doubt that Latin has dramatically improved in 2 years. And it is laughable to say it is on par academically with the Big 3.

The Latin kids who are NMSF are just grinders who prepped a lot outside of school and would have tested well at any school. And, no, none of them lives in Anacostia.

So hard-working students get no respect from you. Got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's even more telling is that none of the DC schools (public, private or charter) have produced more than a single USAMO qualifier in over five years. In a city that has a fairly large contingent of highly educated parents, one would think that the number should be higher by chance alone.

We don't have Regeneron Winners either. There does need to be some institutional initiative for things like USAMO or Regeneron to happen. Certainly a school like TJ has an administration and teachers that care about things like this and create the framework for this to happen.

I know Regeneron in particular needs the school to have a scientific facts committee, faculty sponsors, etc. A kid can't just have a great idea and enter the main competition that gets all the press every year.

Wrong. DC has Regeneron winners, at least from private schools. Just check the winner lists for the past few years.

From DC privates? Please share the winner info. I haven't seen any and would love to learn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's even more telling is that none of the DC schools (public, private or charter) have produced more than a single USAMO qualifier in over five years. In a city that has a fairly large contingent of highly educated parents, one would think that the number should be higher by chance alone.

We don't have Regeneron Winners either. There does need to be some institutional initiative for things like USAMO or Regeneron to happen. Certainly a school like TJ has an administration and teachers that care about things like this and create the framework for this to happen.

I know Regeneron in particular needs the school to have a scientific facts committee, faculty sponsors, etc. A kid can't just have a great idea and enter the main competition that gets all the press every year.

Wrong. DC has Regeneron winners, at least from private schools. Just check the winner lists for the past few years.

And Georgetown Prep had two kids qualify for USAMO last year. There are several Asian (Americans) at DC private schools, so that can't be the sole reason for the lack of representation. In any case, USAMO doesn't require infrastructure (like Regeneron) -- there are ample resources online. But the larger point of lack of emphasis on math and institutional initiative is probably correct. Although the local Mathcounts competition is quite spirited, by the time these kids get to high school, something gets lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all of the people sniping how this proves [insert] (what school is great or not ) (how meaningless or meaningful it all is) (how much or little test prep is involved) (how DC is easier/harder advantaged/disadvantaged), can you hear yourselves? This thread is a genius parody of how generally insufferable DC area parents are.

Kids took tests. Some got really high scores and were recognized. Some of those kids will get scholarships and/or further recognition. Good for them. I bet you those kids behave better than the adults on DCUM.

I think all discussions of schools on DCUM are really just parents justifying the individual decisions they made about their kids' education.

I think extrapolating huge differences in schools based on the test taking skills of literally one or two real people is kind of crazy.

However, I do think the list is useful in the sense of identifying which public high schools have some really smart students, and which have zero year after year.

I would send my kid to any of the public high schools in the list, and would be hesitant to send them to the schools that never produce NMSFs (as a former NMSF).

I think that's fair. I honestly don't know which schools never produce NMSF. I do know that, in the past McKinley Tech and Banneker have both produced NMSF, but I don't know which other public schools not on this list have.

It does give me pause that Banneker and McKinley haven't produced one this year or last year. Or Ellington. This list does differ from th US News "Best DC high schools" list.

These schools have produced NMSF before though, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's even more telling is that none of the DC schools (public, private or charter) have produced more than a single USAMO qualifier in over five years. In a city that has a fairly large contingent of highly educated parents, one would think that the number should be higher by chance alone.

No. That's not really more telling. DC teams don't usually do that. Or know what it is.

+1 i never heard of USAMO until you mentioned it. There are plenty of other math competitions I have heard of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here it is on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1nilcp6/2026_national_merit_for_alaska_arizona_colorado/#lightbox

Rearranged the list to public/private and ordered:

Public, total 15:
Jackson-Reed (3)
School Without Walls (3)
Washington Latin Public Charter (3)
BASIS (2)
MacArthur HS (1)
DC International School (1)


private, total 24
National Cathedral School (5)
Sidwell Friends (4)
Georgetown Day School (4)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
St John's College HS (1)
Washington International (1)
Edmund Burke (1)
Maret (1)

There's a good DCPS number of winners on this list. I'm surprised they don't at least send out a press release.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's even more telling is that none of the DC schools (public, private or charter) have produced more than a single USAMO qualifier in over five years. In a city that has a fairly large contingent of highly educated parents, one would think that the number should be higher by chance alone.

We don't have Regeneron Winners either. There does need to be some institutional initiative for things like USAMO or Regeneron to happen. Certainly a school like TJ has an administration and teachers that care about things like this and create the framework for this to happen.

I know Regeneron in particular needs the school to have a scientific facts committee, faculty sponsors, etc. A kid can't just have a great idea and enter the main competition that gets all the press every year.

Wrong. DC has Regeneron winners, at least from private schools. Just check the winner lists for the past few years.

I am talking the main STS contest winners, not the random science fairs. DC hasn't had one I think ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all of the people sniping how this proves [insert] (what school is great or not ) (how meaningless or meaningful it all is) (how much or little test prep is involved) (how DC is easier/harder advantaged/disadvantaged), can you hear yourselves? This thread is a genius parody of how generally insufferable DC area parents are.

Kids took tests. Some got really high scores and were recognized. Some of those kids will get scholarships and/or further recognition. Good for them. I bet you those kids behave better than the adults on DCUM.

I think all discussions of schools on DCUM are really just parents justifying the individual decisions they made about their kids' education.

I think extrapolating huge differences in schools based on the test taking skills of literally one or two real people is kind of crazy.

However, I do think the list is useful in the sense of identifying which public high schools have some really smart students, and which have zero year after year.

I would send my kid to any of the public high schools in the list, and would be hesitant to send them to the schools that never produce NMSFs (as a former NMSF).

I think that's fair. I honestly don't know which schools never produce NMSF. I do know that, in the past McKinley Tech and Banneker have both produced NMSF, but I don't know which other public schools not on this list have.

It does give me pause that Banneker and McKinley haven't produced one this year or last year. Or Ellington. This list does differ from th US News "Best DC high schools" list.

These schools have produced NMSF before though, no?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's even more telling is that none of the DC schools (public, private or charter) have produced more than a single USAMO qualifier in over five years. In a city that has a fairly large contingent of highly educated parents, one would think that the number should be higher by chance alone.

We don't have Regeneron Winners either. There does need to be some institutional initiative for things like USAMO or Regeneron to happen. Certainly a school like TJ has an administration and teachers that care about things like this and create the framework for this to happen.

I know Regeneron in particular needs the school to have a scientific facts committee, faculty sponsors, etc. A kid can't just have a great idea and enter the main competition that gets all the press every year.

Wrong. DC has Regeneron winners, at least from private schools. Just check the winner lists for the past few years.

I am talking the main STS contest winners, not the random science fairs. DC hasn't had one I think ever.

PP you are probably correct. Regeneron requires a lot of available infrastructure. Looking at some of the projects, it is clear that none of them are possible without a well resourced laboratory and a pipeline for placing students within them (for example there was one about a gene knockout in fruit fly as a model of muscular disease which needs fly stocks, mutagenesis kits, screening facilities and imaging - i.e. a university lab). Of course DC has some good to decent universities but there seems to be a limited pipeline in area schools for placing interested kids within them. Certainly DCPS has nothing of that sort.

USAMO qualification on the other hand just needs pen and paper and a willingness to solve hard math problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here it is on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1nilcp6/2026_national_merit_for_alaska_arizona_colorado/#lightbox

Rearranged the list to public/private and ordered:

Public, total 15:
Jackson-Reed (3)
School Without Walls (3)
Washington Latin Public Charter (3)
BASIS (2)
MacArthur HS (1)
DC International School (1)


private, total 24
National Cathedral School (5)
Sidwell Friends (4)
Georgetown Day School (4)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
St John's College HS (1)
Washington International (1)
Edmund Burke (1)
Maret (1)

There's a good DCPS number of winners on this list. I'm surprised they don't at least send out a press release.

Their press releases all seem to related to Muriel Bowser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's even more telling is that none of the DC schools (public, private or charter) have produced more than a single USAMO qualifier in over five years. In a city that has a fairly large contingent of highly educated parents, one would think that the number should be higher by chance alone.

We don't have Regeneron Winners either. There does need to be some institutional initiative for things like USAMO or Regeneron to happen. Certainly a school like TJ has an administration and teachers that care about things like this and create the framework for this to happen.

I know Regeneron in particular needs the school to have a scientific facts committee, faculty sponsors, etc. A kid can't just have a great idea and enter the main competition that gets all the press every year.

Wrong. DC has Regeneron winners, at least from private schools. Just check the winner lists for the past few years.

I am talking the main STS contest winners, not the random science fairs. DC hasn't had one I think ever.

PP you are probably correct. Regeneron requires a lot of available infrastructure. Looking at some of the projects, it is clear that none of them are possible without a well resourced laboratory and a pipeline for placing students within them (for example there was one about a gene knockout in fruit fly as a model of muscular disease which needs fly stocks, mutagenesis kits, screening facilities and imaging - i.e. a university lab). Of course DC has some good to decent universities but there seems to be a limited pipeline in area schools for placing interested kids within them. Certainly DCPS has nothing of that sort.

USAMO qualification on the other hand just needs pen and paper and a willingness to solve hard math problems.

Yeah, but I doubt many kids enter purely on their own. I don't know anything about the Georgetown Prep USAMO kids, but I would imagine a teacher arranged all the logistics for them to take the tests.

For Regeneron, even if you are doing a project that doesn't require a lab...you still need your school to have a committee overseeing your work, you need to find an academic mentor, etc. A school like TJ already has the school committees in place and they will find you a mentor in the area you intend to submit for Regeneron.

My kid looked into it and was surprised about all the administration needed to enter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here it is on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1nilcp6/2026_national_merit_for_alaska_arizona_colorado/#lightbox

Rearranged the list to public/private and ordered:

Public, total 15:
Jackson-Reed (3)
School Without Walls (3)
Washington Latin Public Charter (3)
BASIS (2)
MacArthur HS (1)
DC International School (1)


private, total 24
National Cathedral School (5)
Sidwell Friends (4)
Georgetown Day School (4)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
St John's College HS (1)
Washington International (1)
Edmund Burke (1)
Maret (1)

There's a good DCPS number of winners on this list. I'm surprised they don't at least send out a press release.

Their press releases all seem to related to Muriel Bowser.

“Led, inspired, and funded by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser—currently serving her third consecutive term as DC mayor—13 DCPS students have been selected as National Merit Semifinalists.”