National Merit Semifinalist Cut-off Scores for High School Class of 2016

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was a NMF last year and there are a number of colleges in the country that will give out full-ride or nearly full-ride scholarships to National Merit Finalists. Some of the Honors Colleges at those schools are quite impressive. So, it is hardly useless. It also serves as practice for the SAT.

No, it won't open the doors at Ivy League colleges. We learned that this year.

But now I will know that my daughter received a higher PSAT (and probably SAT) than the President's daughter who will still no doubt be attending an Ivy League school next year because that's how the system works. Regardless of which party holds the Presidency.

if your daughter was URM like MO, her scores would've got her into a top 10 school even without you being potus. Do you know how rare it is for someone who stores in the 99th percentile across the board scores for blacks?

Alas, we are Prince George's County Caucasians, so my daughter wasn't considered exceptional at those top 10 or 20 schools, despite the test scores and 4.25 GPA. Oh, well. So, this year she is happily attending the Honors College at the University of Maryland, College Park. And she seemed to know way before I did that she was not Ivy League material, so she is fine with Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Scores do not matter for Malia. She can go anywhere. I'm betting Brown or Yale.