DC NMSFs 2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

Yes. But it gets you a lot of scholarship offers.

NMSF is a semi-big deal until the day you take the SATs. After that, no one gives a shit how you did on the PSAT. Signed, a NMSF from a long time ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

Yes. But it gets you a lot of scholarship offers.

NMSF is a semi-big deal until the day you take the SATs. After that, no one gives a shit how you did on the PSAT. Signed, a NMSF from a long time ago.

If you get a scholarship that makes college more affordable, you will care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

Yes. But it gets you a lot of scholarship offers.

NMSF is a semi-big deal until the day you take the SATs. After that, no one gives a shit how you did on the PSAT. Signed, a NMSF from a long time ago.

If you get a scholarship that makes college more affordable, you will care.

It's only $2K. Which isn't nothing but isn't much when many college are $90K+.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

Yes. But it gets you a lot of scholarship offers.

NMSF is a semi-big deal until the day you take the SATs. After that, no one gives a shit how you did on the PSAT. Signed, a NMSF from a long time ago.

If you get a scholarship that makes college more affordable, you will care.

It's only $2K. Which isn't nothing but isn't much when many college are $90K+.

But there are colleges that offer a lot more. I was a NMSF back in the day and i think that's why I got a
half tuition offer from Boston University (though I didn't go there.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

Yes. But it gets you a lot of scholarship offers.

NMSF is a semi-big deal until the day you take the SATs. After that, no one gives a shit how you did on the PSAT. Signed, a NMSF from a long time ago.

If you get a scholarship that makes college more affordable, you will care.

It's only $2K. Which isn't nothing but isn't much when many college are $90K+.

Several schools give breaks on tuition. And not everyone applies to 90k schools you know.

[Anonymous]

Here is a list of the colleges that give awards for being a NMSF (some full tuition).

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/national-merit-scholarships

It's a huge honor and could be very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

Yes. But it gets you a lot of scholarship offers.

NMSF is a semi-big deal until the day you take the SATs. After that, no one gives a shit how you did on the PSAT. Signed, a NMSF from a long time ago.

Colleges care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

Yes. But it gets you a lot of scholarship offers.

NMSF is a semi-big deal until the day you take the SATs. After that, no one gives a shit how you did on the PSAT. Signed, a NMSF from a long time ago.

Colleges care.

+1. NMF and HYP grad

[Anonymous]

I wonder if more schools will start offering summer PSAT prep programs. Seems like Banneker, McKinley Tech, BASIS, Latin, DCI, Truth, etc. would have a group of students who, with more prep, could have a shot at NMSF. It would be a good investment for the schools in that it could get them more publicity and applicants...a virtuous cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if more schools will start offering summer PSAT prep programs. Seems like Banneker, McKinley Tech, BASIS, Latin, DCI, Truth, etc. would have a group of students who, with more prep, could have a shot at NMSF. It would be a good investment for the schools in that it could get them more publicity and applicants...a virtuous cycle.

Getting NMSF in DC (with the highest cut-off in the nation) means performing at the level of a 1590-1600 SAT.

If you can get a bunch of kids at these DC schools to that level with "more prep" then you will accomplish what educators in America have never been able to do and you will make the national news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if more schools will start offering summer PSAT prep programs. Seems like Banneker, McKinley Tech, BASIS, Latin, DCI, Truth, etc. would have a group of students who, with more prep, could have a shot at NMSF. It would be a good investment for the schools in that it could get them more publicity and applicants...a virtuous cycle.

Getting NMSF in DC (with the highest cut-off in the nation) means performing at the level of a 1590-1600 SAT.

If you can get a bunch of kids at these DC schools to that level with "more prep" then you will accomplish what educators in America have never been able to do and you will make the national news.

Exactly.

And this whole JR conversation is crazy. At minimum, it is the perspective of a couple of people who clearly are still burned up about covid policies AND have a very narrow view of the population of successful students at JR.

First, the idea that the 15 or whatever kids in the eighth grade Algebra 2 class are all of the “academic superstars” is ridiculous, for a million reasons, not least of which is that many kids who could go the hyper-accelerated math route choose not to. Many parents (me, I’m one of these parents) don’t think it’s the best way to do math instruction and that Calc BC in 11th grade is plenty accelerated.

Second, the fact that only one JR kid happened to score an essentially perfect PSAT score on a single test given on a single day is not an indictment of the rest of the class. Get a grip, people. If it had been three kids (which is what I think it was last year), would that have mattered materially? If a bunch of kids missed the cut off by one point, does that matter?

This is like yelling into the wind, but it’s crazy that a couple of people with tired, old bones to pick and very narrow perspectives are taken as authorities on the quality of JR’s student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a list of the colleges that give awards for being a NMSF (some full tuition).

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/national-merit-scholarships

It's a huge honor and could be very helpful.

It's actually far fewer than I expected for NMSF vs a finalist (which requires a ton of effort to be a finalist). Fordham is interesting that they offer a full tuition scholarship for NMSF.

Alabama, Arizona, ASU and some others give merit aid to lots of OOS kids that have high SAT scores and grades, so the NMSF is indicative, but not super relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if more schools will start offering summer PSAT prep programs. Seems like Banneker, McKinley Tech, BASIS, Latin, DCI, Truth, etc. would have a group of students who, with more prep, could have a shot at NMSF. It would be a good investment for the schools in that it could get them more publicity and applicants...a virtuous cycle.

Getting NMSF in DC (with the highest cut-off in the nation) means performing at the level of a 1590-1600 SAT.

If you can get a bunch of kids at these DC schools to that level with "more prep" then you will accomplish what educators in America have never been able to do and you will make the national news.

If they miss the goal, they can still get uncf and other scholarships. And they will improve their sat scores. I am just surprised more schools don't make the investment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if more schools will start offering summer PSAT prep programs. Seems like Banneker, McKinley Tech, BASIS, Latin, DCI, Truth, etc. would have a group of students who, with more prep, could have a shot at NMSF. It would be a good investment for the schools in that it could get them more publicity and applicants...a virtuous cycle.

Getting NMSF in DC (with the highest cut-off in the nation) means performing at the level of a 1590-1600 SAT.

If you can get a bunch of kids at these DC schools to that level with "more prep" then you will accomplish what educators in America have never been able to do and you will make the national news.

If they miss the goal, they can still get uncf and other scholarships. And they will improve their sat scores. I am just surprised more schools don't make the investment.

I agree. My urban magnet high school integrated SAT prep into the curriculum and within a couple of years had the most NMSF ever in our state. The record has still not been broken. I got one of those scholarships and while it only amounted to 2K, that's not nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if more schools will start offering summer PSAT prep programs. Seems like Banneker, McKinley Tech, BASIS, Latin, DCI, Truth, etc. would have a group of students who, with more prep, could have a shot at NMSF. It would be a good investment for the schools in that it could get them more publicity and applicants...a virtuous cycle.

Getting NMSF in DC (with the highest cut-off in the nation) means performing at the level of a 1590-1600 SAT.

If you can get a bunch of kids at these DC schools to that level with "more prep" then you will accomplish what educators in America have never been able to do and you will make the national news.

Exactly.

And this whole JR conversation is crazy. At minimum, it is the perspective of a couple of people who clearly are still burned up about covid policies AND have a very narrow view of the population of successful students at JR.

First, the idea that the 15 or whatever kids in the eighth grade Algebra 2 class are all of the “academic superstars” is ridiculous, for a million reasons, not least of which is that many kids who could go the hyper-accelerated math route choose not to. Many parents (me, I’m one of these parents) don’t think it’s the best way to do math instruction and that Calc BC in 11th grade is plenty accelerated.

Second, the fact that only one JR kid happened to score an essentially perfect PSAT score on a single test given on a single day is not an indictment of the rest of the class. Get a grip, people. If it had been three kids (which is what I think it was last year), would that have mattered materially? If a bunch of kids missed the cut off by one point, does that matter?

This is like yelling into the wind, but it’s crazy that a couple of people with tired, old bones to pick and very narrow perspectives are taken as authorities on the quality of JR’s student body.

The truth is the quality of JR’s body has absolutely gone down hill if you are talking about high performing kids. The trend has been lots more of these families are not tracking to JR with the advent of honors for all and dumbing down even more the curriculum.

Common knowledge and you seem to be in complete denial of it.