National merit 2026?
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Anonymous
NMSF is always the top 1% scorers in the state. So the threshold score to be a semifinalist can go up if kids are scoring better, but the % of semifinalists stay the same. The MD list shouldn't look smaller to you, because supposedly this year's cohort of kids is smaller (demographically speaking) than prior years. |
Anonymous
This year, MD has about 350 NMsF. Last year, the number was 298. |
Anonymous
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Interesting that DC has the highest threshold in the country (along with Massachusetts), slightly higher than VA and MD.
Alabama 214 Alaska 215 Arizona 218 Arkansas 215 California 224 Colorado 219 Connecticut 223 Delaware 220 Florida 219 Georgia 220 Hawaii 219 Idaho 215 Illinois 222 Indiana 218 Iowa 214 Kansas 216 Kentucky 214 Louisiana 216 Maine 217 Maryland 224 Massachusetts 225 Michigan 220 Minnesota 219 Mississippi 213 Missouri 217 Montana 213 Nebraska 214 Nevada 214 New Hampshire 219 New Jersey 225 New Mexico 210 New York 223 North Carolina 220 North Dakota 210 Ohio 219 Oklahoma 212 Oregon 219 Pennsylvania 221 Rhode Island 219 South Carolina 215 South Dakota 211 Tennessee 219 Texas 222 Utah 213 Vermont 216 Virginia 224 Washington 224 West Virginia 210 Wisconsin 215 Wyoming 210 District of Columbia 225 U.S. Territories 210 U.S. Students Abroad 225 |
Anonymous
DC's number is always set to the highest state's threshold and not based on scores for its students.
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
| Has anyone come across the DC list? |
Anonymous
I believe last year out of almost 50 DC semifinalists, one was from Jackson Reed, the rest from private schools. Agree the system is not kind to DCPS students.
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Anonymous
Yeah, there's a link in the article that lists the names. |
Anonymous
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Everyone in VA and MD will be very sad if there was a nationwide cut off…because then all of the kids up in MA and NJ will get most of the awards.
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Anonymous
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so many 225s feels new to me.
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Anonymous
DC gets screwed in so many ways. Why not just have its cutoff threshold be where the top 1% of its students are? |
Anonymous
The 1% in VA and MD (224) are only a point below the 1% in NJ and MA (225). The ones who will be screwed are the rest of the country in the south and out west (minus California) who's 1% is 210+ |
Anonymous
FCPS and MCPS - Same Cut-Off (MCPS in Bold) TJ 113 Richard Montgomery 37 Blair 36 Oakton 25 Langley 23 McLean 20 Chantilly 17 Poolesville 17 Marshall 15 Churchill 12 B-CC 11 Whitman 10 Madison 8 Woodson 8 Centreville 7 Walter Johnson 7 Wootton 7 Westfield 6 Fairfax 5 Lake Braddock 5 Springbrook 3 Wheaton 3 Edison 2 Einstein 2 Herndon 2 Northwest 2 West Springfield 2 Falls Church 1 Justice 1 Sherwood 1 South Lakes 1 West Potomac 1 Annandale 0 Blake 0 Clarksburg 0 Damascus 0 Gaithersburg 0 Hayfield 0 Kennedy 0 Lewis 0 Magruder 0 Northwood 0 Mount Vernon 0 Quince Orchard 0 Paint Branch 0 Robinson 0 Rockville 0 Seneca Valley 0 South County 0 Watkins Mill 0 |
Anonymous
For those who don't know TJ is a magnet, and Richard Montgomery, Blair and Poolesville are host magnet programs within their broader HS setting.
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Anonymous
Completely untrue. There were a bunch from School Without Walls, BASIS, Latin and DCI, all public schools (thought JR is the only neighborhood public schools -- the others are an application school and charters). |