Why is being a National Merit Finalist a big deal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:agree op

They should do a study and see where National Merit Finalists are at in their career and life 10, 25, 25+ years

I doubt they are at the top 1% of the society because they tested at the top 1%

If you can google, you will see some famous NMF folks.

If you google, you should find even more non-NMF folks with even more fame and fortune than NMF folks. I doubt President Trump made the cut.

You seem rather dumb.

[Anonymous]

I was a National Merit Scholar and got a full-ride scholarship at my state's flagship school, including room and board. Where I'm from, we didn't do test prep. My parents didn't have college savings for me (we were working class).

So it was a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:National Merit Finalists only get a one time award of $2500. Big whoop. Am I missing something here?

Don't worry. What you are missing, you will never gain in your life. What you are missing is intelligence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:National Merit Finalists only get a one time award of $2500. Big whoop. Am I missing something here?

What is your annual salary? Big whoop. A street corner, small time drug dealer makes more than you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get larger awards from some colleges and some corporations for being a NMF, so there is the possibility of more scholarship money.

Being a NMF used to be a big deal, my sense is less so today because of the prevalence of prepping. I was an NMF and so were my kids, so that’s the basis of my thought that it seems different today. It’s still a nice award to put on a college application.

Ha ha! And you and your kids never prepped!! Righhhttt!

I never prepped. . . this was a very, very long time ago. I was pretty oblivious about it all but my mom made sure I was signed up for tests. I think I had only a dim awareness these tests were any different than tests we'd done my entire school career--like Iowa Basics in the early grades. Basically, if someone told me to take a test I took it, if they told me to apply for a scholarship I applied. I took the SAT once. I had strep throat and it was January and below zero and my hair was wet and it was a 50 mile drive to where I took the test (Hibbing, Minnesota, in Bob Dylan's old high school).

I do appreciate the reality that the whole college thing is vastly different than it was when I finished high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if places like Alabama, that give lots to NMFs, care if the student's SAT score is much lower?

-asking for a friend...

I think, if the Selection Index of SAT score is 212 or above (which equals to SAT score of 1400 or above) your friend's DC will advance to be a National Merit Finalist (assuming a fairly rigorous course work, good essay, and good recommendation from school - all are very possible). Then your friend's DC will certainly qualify for scholarship from Alabama or other universities that offer.

[Anonymous]

I was a National Merit Finalist a long, loooong time ago. I got so many offers of merit aid! It was literally over a million dollars, just in merit aid. It's not the scholarship money from the National Merit people, it's the merit aid from schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get larger awards from some colleges and some corporations for being a NMF, so there is the possibility of more scholarship money.

Being a NMF used to be a big deal, my sense is less so today because of the prevalence of prepping. I was an NMF and so were my kids, so that’s the basis of my thought that it seems different today. It’s still a nice award to put on a college application.

Ha ha! And you and your kids never prepped!! Righhhttt!

I'm not the PP you were replying to.

It sounds like it would surprise you that the majority of high school kids in most of the country don't do test prep -- not for PSATs, SATs, ACTs. I'm the PP who got a full-ride to a flagship state school. I walked in cold to every standardized test I ever took (well, I got test prep books for the GRE in my late 20s).

Some people here in DCUM would look down on a Big 10 school, but where I'm from (a Midwestern state capital) people I knew didn't leave the state to go to school. There just wasn't that mentality or the disposable income when state schools (and community colleges) were perfectly acceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get larger awards from some colleges and some corporations for being a NMF, so there is the possibility of more scholarship money.

Being a NMF used to be a big deal, my sense is less so today because of the prevalence of prepping. I was an NMF and so were my kids, so that’s the basis of my thought that it seems different today. It’s still a nice award to put on a college application.

Ha ha! And you and your kids never prepped!! Righhhttt!

I'm not the PP you were replying to.

It sounds like it would surprise you that the majority of high school kids in most of the country don't do test prep -- not for PSATs, SATs, ACTs. I'm the PP who got a full-ride to a flagship state school. I walked in cold to every standardized test I ever took (well, I got test prep books for the GRE in my late 20s).

Some people here in DCUM would look down on a Big 10 school, but where I'm from (a Midwestern state capital) people I knew didn't leave the state to go to school. There just wasn't that mentality or the disposable income when state schools (and community colleges) were perfectly acceptable.

That's not quite true, depending on what you consider "prep". This paper examines preparation rates between black and white students: https://people.socsci.tau.ac.il/mu/salon/files/2011/11/Racial_differences_SFJ_89_2_Alon-final.pdf

68% of whites and 84% of blacks had used some sort of test prep, but that counted books and videos or a HS course. For actual private prep classes (which I think is what most people on here think of as prep), only 14% of whites and 24% of blacks had used them.

So, probably ~20% of the kids applying to college have done private prep classes.

[Anonymous]

There are plenty of kids who took the PSAT without prepping -- other than taking the school issued PSAT in 10th. My kid is one of them. She's a NMSF this year and we'll see if she makes NMF. I think there are fewer benefits than when we were kids. I don't believe the scholarship amount from the organization has changed but tuitions sure have. I wish we had a corporation that would give her a scholarship based on this but we do not. And, unfortunately, she isn't interested in Central Florida or Alabama or the other schools that give NMS a full ride.

[Anonymous]

Most NMSF make NMF

[Anonymous]

The whole testing is a mess. You have different cut off scores by state - what is NMF in a mid west state won’t qualify in the NE states. Then you have those with extra time.

[Anonymous]

And extra money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if places like Alabama, that give lots to NMFs, care if the student's SAT score is much lower?

-asking for a friend...

There's a strange misconception on this thread that you can become a NMF with a great PSAT score and SAT doesn't matter. That's incorrect. You can become a "Commended" student or Semifinalist based on the PSAT, but you need to score equally well on the SAT to advance to a Finalist or Scholar.

It didn’t use to be that way is prob why there is a misconception. I was a finalist years ago and probably had a 200 point difference on the two exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get larger awards from some colleges and some corporations for being a NMF, so there is the possibility of more scholarship money.

Being a NMF used to be a big deal, my sense is less so today because of the prevalence of prepping. I was an NMF and so were my kids, so that’s the basis of my thought that it seems different today. It’s still a nice award to put on a college application.

It says that you got high test scores, which the colleges can already see. What's the point of an award that simply reiterates something that's obvious?