National Merit Semifinalists

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commended is anyone higher than 207 (the lowest NMSF state qualifier) but nobody cares about Commended.

Parent of NMSF here.
You can keep saying that, but it's not true. That is a dumb blanket statement,
meant to disparage and nothing more. Commended, though clearly not one of the most prestigious, is a legit award, especially in a state with a high nmsf cutoff, and better than AP Honors. It really depends on the app whether nmc is worth including. My other kid absolutely will include nmc because they are adhd, and testing is trickier. And, they have other strong awards in science and art.

I know it's hard, but try to stop being jerks. Don't you kids have schoolwork to do?

One of my kids was also commended and I agree no one really cares. Especially from this area where high test scores are a dime a dozen. I don't think the poster meant it to be disparaging, but is just stating it to be true. It's certainly worth putting on some applications, but it has none of the benefits.

I think they even have a ceremony at TJ to honor the kids with commended scores now with cake and ice cream even!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Frankly colleges don’t really care about NMSF either. From our experience…..

which ones?

Southern schools do……many give Full Rides ; but its Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona , TX (but NOT Austin), etc…

Almost none of the kids who are NMSF want to go these southern schools. and the schools that they want to attend, don't really care.

This is 100% correct. The schools that want to NMSF kids (ie: southern) most of the top kids don't want them. BUT, if your kid is going to grad school, having free undergrad is pretty sweet! AND, Top tier/elite schools don’t care about NMSF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commended is anyone higher than 207 (the lowest NMSF state qualifier) but nobody cares about Commended.

Parent of NMSF here.
You can keep saying that, but it's not true. That is a dumb blanket statement,
meant to disparage and nothing more. Commended, though clearly not one of the most prestigious, is a legit award, especially in a state with a high nmsf cutoff, and better than AP Honors. It really depends on the app whether nmc is worth including. My other kid absolutely will include nmc because they are adhd, and testing is trickier. And, they have other strong awards in science and art.

I know it's hard, but try to stop being jerks. Don't you kids have schoolwork to do?

One of my kids was also commended and I agree no one really cares. Especially from this area where high test scores are a dime a dozen. I don't think the poster meant it to be disparaging, but is just stating it to be true. It's certainly worth putting on some applications, but it has none of the benefits.

I think they even have a ceremony at TJ to honor the kids with commended scores now with cake and ice cream even!

Only because last year there was a lawsuit about not telling the commended kids they were commended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commended is anyone higher than 207 (the lowest NMSF state qualifier) but nobody cares about Commended.

Parent of NMSF here.
You can keep saying that, but it's not true. That is a dumb blanket statement,
meant to disparage and nothing more. Commended, though clearly not one of the most prestigious, is a legit award, especially in a state with a high nmsf cutoff, and better than AP Honors. It really depends on the app whether nmc is worth including. My other kid absolutely will include nmc because they are adhd, and testing is trickier. And, they have other strong awards in science and art.

I know it's hard, but try to stop being jerks. Don't you kids have schoolwork to do?

One of my kids was also commended and I agree no one really cares. Especially from this area where high test scores are a dime a dozen. I don't think the poster meant it to be disparaging, but is just stating it to be true. It's certainly worth putting on some applications, but it has none of the benefits.

I think they even have a ceremony at TJ to honor the kids with commended scores now with cake and ice cream even!

Only because last year there was a lawsuit about not telling the commended kids they were commended.

So the people who run the test didn't tell the kids their scores? It isn't the job of the school system. This is not a county test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we didn't have magnets, there would be better representation across all or most high schools in MCPS.

That's ridiculous.

My kid is at a Magnet and our home high school isn't that great. If my kid was stuck at her home high school, she would have languished and not been challenged nearly enough. Her peer group at the Magnet has been amazing. They push her to work harder and achieve more. As a single mom of a bright kid, I am incredibly grateful that she has had this opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Frankly colleges don’t really care about NMSF either. From our experience…..

which ones?

Southern schools do……many give Full Rides ; but its Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona , TX (but NOT Austin), etc…

Almost none of the kids who are NMSF want to go these southern schools. and the schools that they want to attend, don't really care.

This is 100% correct. The schools that want to NMSF kids (ie: southern) most of the top kids don't want them. BUT, if your kid is going to grad school, having free undergrad is pretty sweet! AND, Top tier/elite schools don’t care about NMSF.

"Don't care" is not right. It's more that most applicants to top tier schools have recognized accomplishments that are as prestigious or more than NMSF. Being an NMSF is like a minimum requirement for an applicant whose application strength is academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we didn't have magnets, there would be better representation across all or most high schools in MCPS.

That's ridiculous.

My kid is at a Magnet and our home high school isn't that great. If my kid was stuck at her home high school, she would have languished and not been challenged nearly enough. Her peer group at the Magnet has been amazing. They push her to work harder and achieve more. As a single mom of a bright kid, I am incredibly grateful that she has had this opportunity.

Mine too! Although the school is diverse, it turns out there's a large high-achieving cohort at the school. Even the data the county leaked a few years back showed that school despite being moderate farms had the highest SAT average in the county for our demographic group and it's not Asian so the magnet has almost no impact on that statistic.

[Anonymous]

If this is Blair there's a very high achieving CAP cohort too and there are many of kids in the academies who could have been in the magnet or CAP who didn't apply or just missed getting in. Many of the many AP classes are filled these kids rather than magnet or CAP because the programs have so many of their own requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Frankly colleges don’t really care about NMSF either. From our experience…..

which ones?

Southern schools do……many give Full Rides ; but its Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona , TX (but NOT Austin), etc…

Almost none of the kids who are NMSF want to go these southern schools. and the schools that they want to attend, don't really care.

This is 100% correct. The schools that want to NMSF kids (ie: southern) most of the top kids don't want them. BUT, if your kid is going to grad school, having free undergrad is pretty sweet! AND, Top tier/elite schools don’t care about NMSF.

T20 already get so many finalists by default but unless those students get picked by national merit foundation as free standing scholars, they stay finalist, doesn't become scholars because these colleges don't offer merit scholarships.

[Anonymous]

It is highly competitive to get National Merit foundation's sponsorship scholarship. Less than 1% of semifinalists get picked.

[Anonymous]

Most only become scholars because lots of lower tier colleges give merit scholarships to attract them.