Names of National Merit Semifinalists in DC Released: Sidwell -16. St. Albans - 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This list makes no sense if you compare it to previous years. Sidwell has more finalists than it normally would. St. Albans only one. GDS only one. None for Gonzaga (which typically has 5ish). Nothing for Walls.

My kids don't go to any of these schools, but, I wonder what the deal is. This isn't something I'd be bragging about over at Sidwell. I think this list is really weird and possibly incomplete or manipulated in some way.

Has anyone considered that the parents of the top public school students transferred them to open private schools during the pandemic and Sidwell got the top crop (maybe because they had more open seats, maybe because they answered the phone calls first, maybe because they were more accommodating).

You'd of course have to ask a Sidwell parent if most of these 16 Semifinalists were transfers but regardless I think this is a job well done and should be celebrated.

Congrats to Sidwell! (And if my pandemic theory is right - they should start poaching star students every year )

Sidwell US parent here. This transfer theory did not happen. There were no “pandemic openings.”

We are just one data point but our teen was not contacted via email or verbal regarding PSAT/SAT swap.

Interesting. So what do you think the cause of the difference was?

Well somehow it caught on at Sidwell this year that you could manually submit your SAT score to be in the running for NMSF and many kids did.

If it wasn't the college counseling department at department at Sidwell that suggested kids do this it was 1)savvy parents 2)kids themselves. I know if my daughter's friends did this, she would want to do this.
It's not surprising that it became "a thing". Whereas at other school no one submitted scores.

We never submitted our DDs score and she would have made the cut off. I had no idea this was a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This list makes no sense if you compare it to previous years. Sidwell has more finalists than it normally would. St. Albans only one. GDS only one. None for Gonzaga (which typically has 5ish). Nothing for Walls.

My kids don't go to any of these schools, but, I wonder what the deal is. This isn't something I'd be bragging about over at Sidwell. I think this list is really weird and possibly incomplete or manipulated in some way.

Has anyone considered that the parents of the top public school students transferred them to open private schools during the pandemic and Sidwell got the top crop (maybe because they had more open seats, maybe because they answered the phone calls first, maybe because they were more accommodating).

You'd of course have to ask a Sidwell parent if most of these 16 Semifinalists were transfers but regardless I think this is a job well done and should be celebrated.

Congrats to Sidwell! (And if my pandemic theory is right - they should start poaching star students every year )

Sidwell US parent here. This transfer theory did not happen. There were no “pandemic openings.”

We are just one data point but our teen was not contacted via email or verbal regarding PSAT/SAT swap.

Interesting. So what do you think the cause of the difference was?

Well somehow it caught on at Sidwell this year that you could manually submit your SAT score to be in the running for NMSF and many kids did.

If it wasn't the college counseling department at department at Sidwell that suggested kids do this it was 1)savvy parents 2)kids themselves. I know if my daughter's friends did this, she would want to do this.
It's not surprising that it became "a thing". Whereas at other school no one submitted scores.

We never submitted our DDs score and she would have made the cut off. I had no idea this was a thing.

You could only do it if you DIDN'T take the PSAT. Almost all of the Sidwell kids, in fact, took the PSAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a former NMSF myself, I can’t figure out for the life of me why anyone cares about this.

Same. Except I just LOVE boasting about my NMSF days of yore. My colleagues do too. I can tell.

I know - I think we traded congratulations for our past accomplishment at a party recently!

As for the money available, it's a $2500 award for some, money from corps. for their employees' kids (so determined as much by parents) or community, and colleges that, IIRC, tend not to be the top colleges that a person with a NMSF-level score may well get into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why it is so surprise that Sidwell has 15? As comparison Sidwell had 13 in 2020.
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/834430.page

NP. If you look at the data linked in the FAQ, Sidwell averages 15-16 per year over the past couple decades. Seems like this year’s number is pretty normal for them. In the past, STA has averaged something like 10 or so, so maybe this year’s small number was just a down year for them. Perhaps the pandemic was especially hard for boys who are used to lots of structure at school? Who knows. I’m sure they’ll bounce back in coming years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This list makes no sense if you compare it to previous years. Sidwell has more finalists than it normally would. St. Albans only one. GDS only one. None for Gonzaga (which typically has 5ish). Nothing for Walls.

My kids don't go to any of these schools, but, I wonder what the deal is. This isn't something I'd be bragging about over at Sidwell. I think this list is really weird and possibly incomplete or manipulated in some way.

Has anyone considered that the parents of the top public school students transferred them to open private schools during the pandemic and Sidwell got the top crop (maybe because they had more open seats, maybe because they answered the phone calls first, maybe because they were more accommodating).

You'd of course have to ask a Sidwell parent if most of these 16 Semifinalists were transfers but regardless I think this is a job well done and should be celebrated.

Congrats to Sidwell! (And if my pandemic theory is right - they should start poaching star students every year )

Sidwell US parent here. This transfer theory did not happen. There were no “pandemic openings.”

We are just one data point but our teen was not contacted via email or verbal regarding PSAT/SAT swap.

Interesting. So what do you think the cause of the difference was?

Well somehow it caught on at Sidwell this year that you could manually submit your SAT score to be in the running for NMSF and many kids did.

If it wasn't the college counseling department at department at Sidwell that suggested kids do this it was 1)savvy parents 2)kids themselves. I know if my daughter's friends did this, she would want to do this.
It's not surprising that it became "a thing". Whereas at other school no one submitted scores.

We never submitted our DDs score and she would have made the cut off. I had no idea this was a thing.

What school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to St. Albans? It used to be close.

https://patch.com/district-columbia/washingtondc/2022-national-merit-semifinalists-named-washington-dc

STA is 2/3 the size of sidwell for one and more importantly size wise percentages STA sent as many kids to Ivies and top 20. Actually STA’s college admissions was more impressive overall.

Bit defensive, STA parent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a former NMSF myself, I can’t figure out for the life of me why anyone cares about this.

Same. Except I just LOVE boasting about my NMSF days of yore. My colleagues do too. I can tell.

I know - I think we traded congratulations for our past accomplishment at a party recently!

As for the money available, it's a $2500 award for some, money from corps. for their employees' kids (so determined as much by parents) or community, and colleges that, IIRC, tend not to be the top colleges that a person with a NMSF-level score may well get into.

You all are probably just being sarcastic, because I’m sure you recognize that lots of parents trying to choose among all these great schools for their children regularly view national merit percentages as one proxy for gauging the academic rigor of different schools and student bodies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to St. Albans? It used to be close.

https://patch.com/district-columbia/washingtondc/2022-national-merit-semifinalists-named-washington-dc

Sidwell is a different kind of student overall. Kids are not as well rounded as social as sta. Different kids. Friend at Sidwell say all their kids do is study and they have way more homework daily and over the weekend. Despite this college admissions are about the same. Remember Sidwell has 125-130 students and sta has about 80-85 max

Sidwell kids are smarter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to St. Albans? It used to be close.

https://patch.com/district-columbia/washingtondc/2022-national-merit-semifinalists-named-washington-dc

Sidwell is a different kind of student overall. Kids are not as well rounded as social as sta. Different kids. Friend at Sidwell say all their kids do is study and they have way more homework daily and over the weekend. Despite this college admissions are about the same. Remember Sidwell has 125-130 students and sta has about 80-85 max

Sidwell kids are smarter?

And more athletic.

And better thespians.

[Anonymous]

St. John's with same number as St. Albans. One less than Georgetown Day. One more than Gonzaga.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We never submitted our DDs score and she would have made the cut off. I had no idea this was a thing.

What school?

You wouldn't know it, it's in the Niagara Falls area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a former NMSF myself, I can’t figure out for the life of me why anyone cares about this.

Same. Except I just LOVE boasting about my NMSF days of yore. My colleagues do too. I can tell.

I know - I think we traded congratulations for our past accomplishment at a party recently!

As for the money available, it's a $2500 award for some, money from corps. for their employees' kids (so determined as much by parents) or community, and colleges that, IIRC, tend not to be the top colleges that a person with a NMSF-level score may well get into.

You all are probably just being sarcastic, because I’m sure you recognize that lots of parents trying to choose among all these great schools for their children regularly view national merit percentages as one proxy for gauging the academic rigor of different schools and student bodies.

I am being somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but not entirely. You might say the NMSF is a proxy for measuring the rigor or a high school. You might be right. If there is data to show that the PSAT scores are across the board higher among lower and higher income students at a particular high school, I’d be very willing to believe it. I doubt we have that data, and from what I’ve read, the PSAT and SAT correlate more closely to a student’s wealth than anything else. After all, there is an entire cottage industry devoted to coaching these tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all are probably just being sarcastic, because I’m sure you recognize that lots of parents trying to choose among all these great schools for their children regularly view national merit percentages as one proxy for gauging the academic rigor of different schools and student bodies.

I am being somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but not entirely. You might say the NMSF is a proxy for measuring the rigor or a high school. You might be right. If there is data to show that the PSAT scores are across the board higher among lower and higher income students at a particular high school, I’d be very willing to believe it. I doubt we have that data, and from what I’ve read, the PSAT and SAT correlate more closely to a student’s wealth than anything else. After all, there is an entire cottage industry devoted to coaching these tests.

If people were comparing national merit numbers from some pricey DC private school against those from a low income school, I might agree with you that parent income could be a confounding factor. But let's be realistic: the comparisons people are making are among 8-10 private schools in DC, MD, VA whose tuitions are all somewhere well above $40,000 per year. I'm pretty confident that most families at these schools can afford whatever test prep they consider appropriate. I'm not saying national merit numbers are a great comparison point. (I personally think distance of commute is one of the most important factors!) But I've been around here long enough to know that lots of parents look for any objective yardstick they can find to choose among schools, and also that lots of people make up stories about schools that aren't consistent with what these objective measures show.

[Anonymous]

It gets you scholarships at rinky dink no name colleges. Not top 590.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to St. Albans? It used to be close.

https://patch.com/district-columbia/washingtondc/2022-national-merit-semifinalists-named-washington-dc

Sidwell is a different kind of student overall. Kids are not as well rounded as social as sta. Different kids. Friend at Sidwell say all their kids do is study and they have way more homework daily and over the weekend. Despite this college admissions are about the same. Remember Sidwell has 125-130 students and sta has about 80-85 max

Sidwell kids are smarter?

No just not as well rounded in my experience. Kids I know there according to their parents just study and are not as involved with athletics or outside activities. There is no sports requirement is there?