National Merit Semifinalists 2024

[Anonymous]

I was a Semifinalist 30 years ago and I have/had two children at a private (older now in college). Both were commended.

IMO judging the school based on a fraction of student body is not very useful. The difference between commended at 208 (roughly a 1400) and semifinalist at 222 (roughly 1480) is 4-5 verbal questions and 6-7 math questions. That’s the difference between a good day and an outstanding day. Sometimes things are just clicking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fehvjy/2025_nmsf_delaware_and_washington_dc/#lightbox

For DC it looks like less than 50 kids?

SFS 11
GDS 7
STA 6
Walls 6
NCS 3
Basis 3
WIS 2
St John’s 2
Latin 2
Maret 1
Field 1
JR 1
Gonzaga 1

Interesting. At the top end in Texas you have private schools with 20-30% of their graduating class earning NMSF.

I’m guessing the discrepancy has to do with distribution of student bodies among public/private schools among other things.

Compare the score cut cutoff for Texas and DC. That’s your answer.

Cutoffs this year
Texas 219
Virginia 222
Maryland 222
DC 223 (as a poster notes they get stuck with MA/NJ’s cutoff)

PP as asking why so many more in TX and the answer is because TX has more students, thus is given a larger number of semifinalist spots. It's a proportional allotment.

That is not what I am asking: The allocations are proportional to students in each state/district and the cutoffs are proportional to top 1% of each jurisdiction. What I am asking is why do the top private schools in Texas get larger CLUSTERS of NMSF than their comparable schools in DC area.

In Dallas, St. Mark's School of Texas had 29 this year out of a class of about 100 (30% of class). Hockaday 13 out of 125 (10% of class).

I don't think the cutoffs explain all of it. Basically you need around a 1486 PSAT in DC/VA and 1460 in Texas to make the corresponding cutoffs, and both of those scores are still 99th percentile nationally. So that can't explain all of the different distribution nor does the allocation of spots because those are proportional.

My guess reading through the thread is that TJ is taking up 99th percentile kids that would probably otherwise cluster in the top privates whereas Dallas doesn't have anything public quite as comparable as TJ. Dallas Academy for Talented and Gifted (closest public to TJ) had 16 out of a lower hundreds class size.

No. TJ is in VA, it doesn’t take from the top private schools in the area. It has nothing to do with that.

Some of it is the cut-off. I have a kid who would have made it in Texas but not in DC (PSAT score of 1470). His closest friend is the same. 1486 to 1460 is actually a pretty big gap--i means you go from getting maybe 2-3 questions wrong to twice that number. It's kind of a big gap.

Then you look at the NMSF names at St. Marks, most are Asian or South Asian. The DC schools just don't draw many of either. The numbers are really small. Why? Very, very few Asians live in DC proper and few commute in from suburbia in for high school.

It’s a huge gap. My kid would have made it in any state by Md, MA, and NY I think. There are lots of kids in this region in that situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fehvjy/2025_nmsf_delaware_and_washington_dc/#lightbox

For DC it looks like less than 50 kids?

SFS 11
GDS 7
STA 6
Walls 6
NCS 3
Basis 3
WIS 2
St John’s 2
Latin 2
Maret 1
Field 1
JR 1
Gonzaga 1

Interesting. At the top end in Texas you have private schools with 20-30% of their graduating class earning NMSF.

I’m guessing the discrepancy has to do with distribution of student bodies among public/private schools among other things.

Compare the score cut cutoff for Texas and DC. That’s your answer.

Cutoffs this year
Texas 219
Virginia 222
Maryland 222
DC 223 (as a poster notes they get stuck with MA/NJ’s cutoff)

PP as asking why so many more in TX and the answer is because TX has more students, thus is given a larger number of semifinalist spots. It's a proportional allotment.

That is not what I am asking: The allocations are proportional to students in each state/district and the cutoffs are proportional to top 1% of each jurisdiction. What I am asking is why do the top private schools in Texas get larger CLUSTERS of NMSF than their comparable schools in DC area.

In Dallas, St. Mark's School of Texas had 29 this year out of a class of about 100 (30% of class). Hockaday 13 out of 125 (10% of class).

I don't think the cutoffs explain all of it. Basically you need around a 1486 PSAT in DC/VA and 1460 in Texas to make the corresponding cutoffs, and both of those scores are still 99th percentile nationally. So that can't explain all of the different distribution nor does the allocation of spots because those are proportional.

My guess reading through the thread is that TJ is taking up 99th percentile kids that would probably otherwise cluster in the top privates whereas Dallas doesn't have anything public quite as comparable as TJ. Dallas Academy for Talented and Gifted (closest public to TJ) had 16 out of a lower hundreds class size.

No. TJ is in VA, it doesn’t take from the top private schools in the area. It has nothing to do with that.

Some of it is the cut-off. I have a kid who would have made it in Texas but not in DC (PSAT score of 1470). His closest friend is the same. 1486 to 1460 is actually a pretty big gap--i means you go from getting maybe 2-3 questions wrong to twice that number. It's kind of a big gap.

Then you look at the NMSF names at St. Marks, most are Asian or South Asian. The DC schools just don't draw many of either. The numbers are really small. Why? Very, very few Asians live in DC proper and few commute in from suburbia in for high school.

It’s a huge gap. My kid would have made it in any state by Md, MA, and NY I think. There are lots of kids in this region in that situation.

YES! My son would have been a NMSF in 45 states. Went on to get a 1580 SAT the next month. He knows a half dozen kids at his DC school like himself and that's just the ones he knows.

Getting NMSF in DC is almost just luck as there is a much larger pool of kids who is capable of it on any given day or with any particular version of the test. You can only miss 1 or sometimes 2 questions. Bubble in one question incorrectly? You're out. Get a single vocab word you're not familiar with vs. one you know? You're out. Have both of these things go your way? You're in.

[Anonymous]

You state the obvious: In testing, as in life, there's often a fine line between excellent and outstanding.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fehvjy/2025_nmsf_delaware_and_washington_dc/#lightbox

For DC it looks like less than 50 kids?

SFS 11
GDS 7
STA 6
Walls 6
NCS 3
Basis 3
WIS 2
St John’s 2
Latin 2
Maret 1
Field 1
JR 1
Gonzaga 1

Interesting. At the top end in Texas you have private schools with 20-30% of their graduating class earning NMSF.

I’m guessing the discrepancy has to do with distribution of student bodies among public/private schools among other things.

Compare the score cut cutoff for Texas and DC. That’s your answer.

Cutoffs this year
Texas 219
Virginia 222
Maryland 222
DC 223 (as a poster notes they get stuck with MA/NJ’s cutoff)

PP as asking why so many more in TX and the answer is because TX has more students, thus is given a larger number of semifinalist spots. It's a proportional allotment.

That is not what I am asking: The allocations are proportional to students in each state/district and the cutoffs are proportional to top 1% of each jurisdiction. What I am asking is why do the top private schools in Texas get larger CLUSTERS of NMSF than their comparable schools in DC area.

In Dallas, St. Mark's School of Texas had 29 this year out of a class of about 100 (30% of class). Hockaday 13 out of 125 (10% of class).

I don't think the cutoffs explain all of it. Basically you need around a 1486 PSAT in DC/VA and 1460 in Texas to make the corresponding cutoffs, and both of those scores are still 99th percentile nationally. So that can't explain all of the different distribution nor does the allocation of spots because those are proportional.

My guess reading through the thread is that TJ is taking up 99th percentile kids that would probably otherwise cluster in the top privates whereas Dallas doesn't have anything public quite as comparable as TJ. Dallas Academy for Talented and Gifted (closest public to TJ) had 16 out of a lower hundreds class size.

No. TJ is in VA, it doesn’t take from the top private schools in the area. It has nothing to do with that.

Some of it is the cut-off. I have a kid who would have made it in Texas but not in DC (PSAT score of 1470). His closest friend is the same. 1486 to 1460 is actually a pretty big gap--i means you go from getting maybe 2-3 questions wrong to twice that number. It's kind of a big gap.

Then you look at the NMSF names at St. Marks, most are Asian or South Asian. The DC schools just don't draw many of either. The numbers are really small. Why? Very, very few Asians live in DC proper and few commute in from suburbia in for high school.

It’s a huge gap. My kid would have made it in any state by Md, MA, and NY I think. There are lots of kids in this region in that situation.

YES! My son would have been a NMSF in 45 states. Went on to get a 1580 SAT the next month. He knows a half dozen kids at his DC school like himself and that's just the ones he knows.

Getting NMSF in DC is almost just luck as there is a much larger pool of kids who is capable of it on any given day or with any particular version of the test. You can only miss 1 or sometimes 2 questions. Bubble in one question incorrectly? You're out. Get a single vocab word you're not familiar with vs. one you know? You're out. Have both of these things go your way? You're in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's me, your local testaholic!

The local lists are starting to come out.

https://www.mymcmedia.org/158-county-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists/

Congrats to the following MoCo non-publics whose students made the list:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)


Congrats especially to Living Grace Christian School (tuition $5,750) and Yeshiva of Greater Washington ($19,950), which I have never seen on this board, for tying perpetual DCUM topics Landon ($52,360) and SSFS ($43,200), and defeating Bullis ($53,405 tuition, zero NMSF).

[Yes, I know the school doesn't necessarily have that much to do students' success on the SAT -- intentionally so, via test design -- but I enjoy being snarky.]

Thank you for sharing this! My DC is a Freshman but it is interesting to see the results.

For the sheer volume of bashing that MCPS and all public schools in general get by parents on this sub-forum, it was eye-opening to see the results of our MCPS HS compared to the most expensive Privates around here. I teach my kids to be gracious and I will do the same.

Congratulations to every student- homeschooled or public schooled or private schooled, who made it to the list!! I am sure your hard work paid off!

8.8% of Sidwell’s seniors are NMSFs this year. Which MoCo public has a higher percentage? I’m not trying to argue…just genuinely curious.

When posters are comparing MCPS to privates they are usually talking about the magnets. They are comparing special programs that are 100-125 at places like Poolesville, RMIB, and Blair magnet kids v the larger competitive privates that have classes of about the same size. In MCPS magnets, 20-40% are NMSFs depending on the program.

NMSF # varies quite a bit each year. Sidwell had 16 NMSF a couple years ago so over 10%. Poolesville had 37 NMSF a couple years ago so also over 10%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More added:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)
SSSA (4)
Bishop Ireton (1)
Immanuel Christian (2)

And now:
Oakcrest (1)
New School of Northern Virginia (1)
Pinnacle Academy (1)
Trinity Christian (1)
Trinity School at Mountain View (1)
Dominion Christian School (1)
Basis Independent McLean (4)
Madeira (3)
Potomac School (9)
Flint Hill (2)
Ideaventions Academy of Math and Science (2)

Wow - that’s a huge number for Potomac bc their grades are not that big

The class of 2024 has 122 students which is pretty typical for Potomac. They usually have around 7 NMSF and around 2 each year that are NM scholars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fehvjy/2025_nmsf_delaware_and_washington_dc/#lightbox

For DC it looks like less than 50 kids?

SFS 11
GDS 7
STA 6
Walls 6
NCS 3
Basis 3
WIS 2
St John’s 2
Latin 2
Maret 1
Field 1
JR 1
Gonzaga 1

Interesting. At the top end in Texas you have private schools with 20-30% of their graduating class earning NMSF.

I’m guessing the discrepancy has to do with distribution of student bodies among public/private schools among other things.

Compare the score cut cutoff for Texas and DC. That’s your answer.

Cutoffs this year
Texas 219
Virginia 222
Maryland 222
DC 223 (as a poster notes they get stuck with MA/NJ’s cutoff)

PP as asking why so many more in TX and the answer is because TX has more students, thus is given a larger number of semifinalist spots. It's a proportional allotment.

That is not what I am asking: The allocations are proportional to students in each state/district and the cutoffs are proportional to top 1% of each jurisdiction. What I am asking is why do the top private schools in Texas get larger CLUSTERS of NMSF than their comparable schools in DC area.

In Dallas, St. Mark's School of Texas had 29 this year out of a class of about 100 (30% of class). Hockaday 13 out of 125 (10% of class).

I don't think the cutoffs explain all of it. Basically you need around a 1486 PSAT in DC/VA and 1460 in Texas to make the corresponding cutoffs, and both of those scores are still 99th percentile nationally. So that can't explain all of the different distribution nor does the allocation of spots because those are proportional.

My guess reading through the thread is that TJ is taking up 99th percentile kids that would probably otherwise cluster in the top privates whereas Dallas doesn't have anything public quite as comparable as TJ. Dallas Academy for Talented and Gifted (closest public to TJ) had 16 out of a lower hundreds class size.

No. TJ is in VA, it doesn’t take from the top private schools in the area. It has nothing to do with that.

Some of it is the cut-off. I have a kid who would have made it in Texas but not in DC (PSAT score of 1470). His closest friend is the same. 1486 to 1460 is actually a pretty big gap--i means you go from getting maybe 2-3 questions wrong to twice that number. It's kind of a big gap.

Then you look at the NMSF names at St. Marks, most are Asian or South Asian. The DC schools just don't draw many of either. The numbers are really small. Why? Very, very few Asians live in DC proper and few commute in from suburbia in for high school.

It’s a huge gap. My kid would have made it in any state by Md, MA, and NY I think. There are lots of kids in this region in that situation.

YES! My son would have been a NMSF in 45 states. Went on to get a 1580 SAT the next month. He knows a half dozen kids at his DC school like himself and that's just the ones he knows.

Getting NMSF in DC is almost just luck as there is a much larger pool of kids who is capable of it on any given day or with any particular version of the test. You can only miss 1 or sometimes 2 questions. Bubble in one question incorrectly? You're out. Get a single vocab word you're not familiar with vs. one you know? You're out. Have both of these things go your way? You're in.

So that 1580 is lucky, isn’t it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fehvjy/2025_nmsf_delaware_and_washington_dc/#lightbox

For DC it looks like less than 50 kids?

SFS 11
GDS 7
STA 6
Walls 6
NCS 3
Basis 3
WIS 2
St John’s 2
Latin 2
Maret 1
Field 1
JR 1
Gonzaga 1

Interesting. At the top end in Texas you have private schools with 20-30% of their graduating class earning NMSF.

I’m guessing the discrepancy has to do with distribution of student bodies among public/private schools among other things.

Compare the score cut cutoff for Texas and DC. That’s your answer.

Cutoffs this year
Texas 219
Virginia 222
Maryland 222
DC 223 (as a poster notes they get stuck with MA/NJ’s cutoff)

PP as asking why so many more in TX and the answer is because TX has more students, thus is given a larger number of semifinalist spots. It's a proportional allotment.

That is not what I am asking: The allocations are proportional to students in each state/district and the cutoffs are proportional to top 1% of each jurisdiction. What I am asking is why do the top private schools in Texas get larger CLUSTERS of NMSF than their comparable schools in DC area.

In Dallas, St. Mark's School of Texas had 29 this year out of a class of about 100 (30% of class). Hockaday 13 out of 125 (10% of class).

I don't think the cutoffs explain all of it. Basically you need around a 1486 PSAT in DC/VA and 1460 in Texas to make the corresponding cutoffs, and both of those scores are still 99th percentile nationally. So that can't explain all of the different distribution nor does the allocation of spots because those are proportional.

My guess reading through the thread is that TJ is taking up 99th percentile kids that would probably otherwise cluster in the top privates whereas Dallas doesn't have anything public quite as comparable as TJ. Dallas Academy for Talented and Gifted (closest public to TJ) had 16 out of a lower hundreds class size.

No. TJ is in VA, it doesn’t take from the top private schools in the area. It has nothing to do with that.

Some of it is the cut-off. I have a kid who would have made it in Texas but not in DC (PSAT score of 1470). His closest friend is the same. 1486 to 1460 is actually a pretty big gap--i means you go from getting maybe 2-3 questions wrong to twice that number. It's kind of a big gap.

Then you look at the NMSF names at St. Marks, most are Asian or South Asian. The DC schools just don't draw many of either. The numbers are really small. Why? Very, very few Asians live in DC proper and few commute in from suburbia in for high school.

It’s a huge gap. My kid would have made it in any state by Md, MA, and NY I think. There are lots of kids in this region in that situation.

YES! My son would have been a NMSF in 45 states. Went on to get a 1580 SAT the next month. He knows a half dozen kids at his DC school like himself and that's just the ones he knows.

Getting NMSF in DC is almost just luck as there is a much larger pool of kids who is capable of it on any given day or with any particular version of the test. You can only miss 1 or sometimes 2 questions. Bubble in one question incorrectly? You're out. Get a single vocab word you're not familiar with vs. one you know? You're out. Have both of these things go your way? You're in.

So that 1580 is lucky, isn’t it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fehvjy/2025_nmsf_delaware_and_washington_dc/#lightbox

For DC it looks like less than 50 kids?

SFS 11
GDS 7
STA 6
Walls 6
NCS 3
Basis 3
WIS 2
St John’s 2
Latin 2
Maret 1
Field 1
JR 1
Gonzaga 1

Interesting. At the top end in Texas you have private schools with 20-30% of their graduating class earning NMSF.

I’m guessing the discrepancy has to do with distribution of student bodies among public/private schools among other things.

Compare the score cut cutoff for Texas and DC. That’s your answer.

Cutoffs this year
Texas 219
Virginia 222
Maryland 222
DC 223 (as a poster notes they get stuck with MA/NJ’s cutoff)

PP as asking why so many more in TX and the answer is because TX has more students, thus is given a larger number of semifinalist spots. It's a proportional allotment.

That is not what I am asking: The allocations are proportional to students in each state/district and the cutoffs are proportional to top 1% of each jurisdiction. What I am asking is why do the top private schools in Texas get larger CLUSTERS of NMSF than their comparable schools in DC area.

In Dallas, St. Mark's School of Texas had 29 this year out of a class of about 100 (30% of class). Hockaday 13 out of 125 (10% of class).

I don't think the cutoffs explain all of it. Basically you need around a 1486 PSAT in DC/VA and 1460 in Texas to make the corresponding cutoffs, and both of those scores are still 99th percentile nationally. So that can't explain all of the different distribution nor does the allocation of spots because those are proportional.

My guess reading through the thread is that TJ is taking up 99th percentile kids that would probably otherwise cluster in the top privates whereas Dallas doesn't have anything public quite as comparable as TJ. Dallas Academy for Talented and Gifted (closest public to TJ) had 16 out of a lower hundreds class size.

No. TJ is in VA, it doesn’t take from the top private schools in the area. It has nothing to do with that.

Some of it is the cut-off. I have a kid who would have made it in Texas but not in DC (PSAT score of 1470). His closest friend is the same. 1486 to 1460 is actually a pretty big gap--i means you go from getting maybe 2-3 questions wrong to twice that number. It's kind of a big gap.

Then you look at the NMSF names at St. Marks, most are Asian or South Asian. The DC schools just don't draw many of either. The numbers are really small. Why? Very, very few Asians live in DC proper and few commute in from suburbia in for high school.

It’s a huge gap. My kid would have made it in any state by Md, MA, and NY I think. There are lots of kids in this region in that situation.

YES! My son would have been a NMSF in 45 states. Went on to get a 1580 SAT the next month. He knows a half dozen kids at his DC school like himself and that's just the ones he knows.

Getting NMSF in DC is almost just luck as there is a much larger pool of kids who is capable of it on any given day or with any particular version of the test. You can only miss 1 or sometimes 2 questions. Bubble in one question incorrectly? You're out. Get a single vocab word you're not familiar with vs. one you know? You're out. Have both of these things go your way? You're in.

So that 1580 is lucky, isn’t it?

oh you're so witty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's me, your local testaholic!

The local lists are starting to come out.

https://www.mymcmedia.org/158-county-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists/

Congrats to the following MoCo non-publics whose students made the list:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)


Congrats especially to Living Grace Christian School (tuition $5,750) and Yeshiva of Greater Washington ($19,950), which I have never seen on this board, for tying perpetual DCUM topics Landon ($52,360) and SSFS ($43,200), and defeating Bullis ($53,405 tuition, zero NMSF).

[Yes, I know the school doesn't necessarily have that much to do students' success on the SAT -- intentionally so, via test design -- but I enjoy being snarky.]

Thank you for sharing this! My DC is a Freshman but it is interesting to see the results.

For the sheer volume of bashing that MCPS and all public schools in general get by parents on this sub-forum, it was eye-opening to see the results of our MCPS HS compared to the most expensive Privates around here. I teach my kids to be gracious and I will do the same.

Congratulations to every student- homeschooled or public schooled or private schooled, who made it to the list!! I am sure your hard work paid off!

8.8% of Sidwell’s seniors are NMSFs this year. Which MoCo public has a higher percentage? I’m not trying to argue…just genuinely curious.

When posters are comparing MCPS to privates they are usually talking about the magnets. They are comparing special programs that are 100-125 at places like Poolesville, RMIB, and Blair magnet kids v the larger competitive privates that have classes of about the same size. In MCPS magnets, 20-40% are NMSFs depending on the program.

NMSF # varies quite a bit each year. Sidwell had 16 NMSF a couple years ago so over 10%. Poolesville had 37 NMSF a couple years ago so also over 10%.

It does fluctuate a lot. Didn't STA have a year a few years ago when they only had 2-3?
Poolesville has about 300 per grade, not all in the magnets. If you only count the magnet students I think it's more like 20% were NMSF which is a big difference.

[Anonymous]

I think these tests are pretty meaningless on an individual level. As PP pointed out your kid can have an off day and fill out 1-2 questions wrong and not make the list but I think in aggregate it does give you a decent sense of the concentration of very smart kids in a place.

A lot of posters are focused on Potomac being really big as compared to the other privates as a way of putting down their high number of NMSF but some parents would rather have their child in a school with a high number because they will all compete with each other and make each other better. I guess the same could be said as to why some parents would choose the opposite to avoid that kind of competition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's me, your local testaholic!

The local lists are starting to come out.

https://www.mymcmedia.org/158-county-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists/

Congrats to the following MoCo non-publics whose students made the list:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)


Congrats especially to Living Grace Christian School (tuition $5,750) and Yeshiva of Greater Washington ($19,950), which I have never seen on this board, for tying perpetual DCUM topics Landon ($52,360) and SSFS ($43,200), and defeating Bullis ($53,405 tuition, zero NMSF).

[Yes, I know the school doesn't necessarily have that much to do students' success on the SAT -- intentionally so, via test design -- but I enjoy being snarky.]

Thank you for sharing this! My DC is a Freshman but it is interesting to see the results.

For the sheer volume of bashing that MCPS and all public schools in general get by parents on this sub-forum, it was eye-opening to see the results of our MCPS HS compared to the most expensive Privates around here. I teach my kids to be gracious and I will do the same.

Congratulations to every student- homeschooled or public schooled or private schooled, who made it to the list!! I am sure your hard work paid off!

8.8% of Sidwell’s seniors are NMSFs this year. Which MoCo public has a higher percentage? I’m not trying to argue…just genuinely curious.

When my kid was at TJ, it was about 150 nmsfs out of about 420 kids.

When I was at TJ it was about 120, but yeah. It's only 81 there this year!

81 is incredible. Isn't that more than all the privates listed so far?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's me, your local testaholic!

The local lists are starting to come out.

https://www.mymcmedia.org/158-county-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists/

Congrats to the following MoCo non-publics whose students made the list:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)


Congrats especially to Living Grace Christian School (tuition $5,750) and Yeshiva of Greater Washington ($19,950), which I have never seen on this board, for tying perpetual DCUM topics Landon ($52,360) and SSFS ($43,200), and defeating Bullis ($53,405 tuition, zero NMSF).

[Yes, I know the school doesn't necessarily have that much to do students' success on the SAT -- intentionally so, via test design -- but I enjoy being snarky.]

Thank you for sharing this! My DC is a Freshman but it is interesting to see the results.

For the sheer volume of bashing that MCPS and all public schools in general get by parents on this sub-forum, it was eye-opening to see the results of our MCPS HS compared to the most expensive Privates around here. I teach my kids to be gracious and I will do the same.

Congratulations to every student- homeschooled or public schooled or private schooled, who made it to the list!! I am sure your hard work paid off!

8.8% of Sidwell’s seniors are NMSFs this year. Which MoCo public has a higher percentage? I’m not trying to argue…just genuinely curious.

When my kid was at TJ, it was about 150 nmsfs out of about 420 kids.

When I was at TJ it was about 120, but yeah. It's only 81 there this year!

81 is incredible. Isn't that more than all the privates listed so far?

TJ has a much larger class.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It's me, your local testaholic!

The local lists are starting to come out.

https://www.mymcmedia.org/158-county-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists/

Congrats to the following MoCo non-publics whose students made the list:

Holton-Arms School (5)
Georgetown Preparatory School (3)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (2)
Heights School (1)
Landon School (1)
Living Grace Christian School (1)
Sandy Spring Friends School (1)
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (1)
Washington Waldorf School (1)
Yeshiva of Greater Washington (1)
Homeschool (1)


Congrats especially to Living Grace Christian School (tuition $5,750) and Yeshiva of Greater Washington ($19,950), which I have never seen on this board, for tying perpetual DCUM topics Landon ($52,360) and SSFS ($43,200), and defeating Bullis ($53,405 tuition, zero NMSF).

[Yes, I know the school doesn't necessarily have that much to do students' success on the SAT -- intentionally so, via test design -- but I enjoy being snarky.]

Thank you for sharing this! My DC is a Freshman but it is interesting to see the results.

For the sheer volume of bashing that MCPS and all public schools in general get by parents on this sub-forum, it was eye-opening to see the results of our MCPS HS compared to the most expensive Privates around here. I teach my kids to be gracious and I will do the same.

Congratulations to every student- homeschooled or public schooled or private schooled, who made it to the list!! I am sure your hard work paid off!

8.8% of Sidwell’s seniors are NMSFs this year. Which MoCo public has a higher percentage? I’m not trying to argue…just genuinely curious.

When my kid was at TJ, it was about 150 nmsfs out of about 420 kids.

When I was at TJ it was about 120, but yeah. It's only 81 there this year!

81 is incredible. Isn't that more than all the privates listed so far?

It’s a great number if your kid can get in. But as noted, due to the racial parity admissions rules, somewhere between 40 and 50 would-be NMS semifinalists were denied entry. So they stayed at their zoned school or went private. Langley and McLean HS biggest winners but others went up as well.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1fehvjy/2025_nmsf_delaware_and_washington_dc/#lightbox

For DC it looks like less than 50 kids?

SFS 11
GDS 7
STA 6
Walls 6
NCS 3
Basis 3
WIS 2
St John’s 2
Latin 2
Maret 1
Field 1
JR 1
Gonzaga 1

Interesting. At the top end in Texas you have private schools with 20-30% of their graduating class earning NMSF.

I’m guessing the discrepancy has to do with distribution of student bodies among public/private schools among other things.

Compare the score cut cutoff for Texas and DC. That’s your answer.

Cutoffs this year
Texas 219
Virginia 222
Maryland 222
DC 223 (as a poster notes they get stuck with MA/NJ’s cutoff)

PP as asking why so many more in TX and the answer is because TX has more students, thus is given a larger number of semifinalist spots. It's a proportional allotment.

That is not what I am asking: The allocations are proportional to students in each state/district and the cutoffs are proportional to top 1% of each jurisdiction. What I am asking is why do the top private schools in Texas get larger CLUSTERS of NMSF than their comparable schools in DC area.

In Dallas, St. Mark's School of Texas had 29 this year out of a class of about 100 (30% of class). Hockaday 13 out of 125 (10% of class).

I don't think the cutoffs explain all of it. Basically you need around a 1486 PSAT in DC/VA and 1460 in Texas to make the corresponding cutoffs, and both of those scores are still 99th percentile nationally. So that can't explain all of the different distribution nor does the allocation of spots because those are proportional.

My guess reading through the thread is that TJ is taking up 99th percentile kids that would probably otherwise cluster in the top privates whereas Dallas doesn't have anything public quite as comparable as TJ. Dallas Academy for Talented and Gifted (closest public to TJ) had 16 out of a lower hundreds class size.

No. TJ is in VA, it doesn’t take from the top private schools in the area. It has nothing to do with that.

It does actually. Every year, at each private, usually 1-2 or more turn down the private after TJ admissions are out. I can name more than a few in older DC's TJ class that we saw at the admissions events for top privates. That's not even counting the ones that decide not to go because of Moco programs which release invites before the private school deadlines.

TJ doesn't not affect the top private schools, really. Now if you say the MoCo magnets and the top schools? Yes, probably and vice-versa.