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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:interesting that MD consistently beats VA by a couple of points.

Asian population on a % basis is pretty equal, MD has more blacks (who statistically score lowest), MD has more latinos I believe as well -

does this mean MD whites are way smarter than VA whites?

I think it does.

MD is just better. Simple as that.

But I can wear my gun like a fashion accessory when I'm shopping for milk in Target in VA.

I bet you can't do that you effete marylander.

Take that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:interesting that MD consistently beats VA by a couple of points.

Asian population on a % basis is pretty equal, MD has more blacks (who statistically score lowest), MD has more latinos I believe as well -

does this mean MD whites are way smarter than VA whites?

I think it does.

MD is just better. Simple as that.

But I can wear my gun like a fashion accessory when I'm shopping for milk in Target in VA.

I bet you can't do that you effete marylander.

Take that.

That's fine. Just don't start shooting shoppers at Target.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:interesting that MD consistently beats VA by a couple of points.

Asian population on a % basis is pretty equal, MD has more blacks (who statistically score lowest), MD has more latinos I believe as well -

does this mean MD whites are way smarter than VA whites?

I think it does.

MD is just better. Simple as that.

But I can wear my gun like a fashion accessory when I'm shopping for milk in Target in VA.

I bet you can't do that you effete marylander.

Take that.

Is that important to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:interesting that MD consistently beats VA by a couple of points.

Asian population on a % basis is pretty equal, MD has more blacks (who statistically score lowest), MD has more latinos I believe as well -

does this mean MD whites are way smarter than VA whites?

I think it does.

MD is just better. Simple as that.

But I can wear my gun like a fashion accessory when I'm shopping for milk in Target in VA.

I bet you can't do that you effete marylander.

Take that.

Is that important to you?

I was being sarcastic. I'm on Team MD over VA all day, every day.

[Anonymous]

^ hard to know sometimes. my apologies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ hard to know sometimes. my apologies.

It's all good, I thought Mr. green would give it away.

Bad Mr. Green, not conveying my sarcasm well enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WV & ND : 201

DC: 224

DC is 50% black

WV is 4 % black.

ND has similar black %.

Disparate impact! National Merit corp is RACIST!

No. They are trying to limit the Asians from taking most of the spots.

So as long as we hurt the asians so the whites from flyover country get a boost, screw what happens to the blacks.

Do I have the gist of the argument down pat?

NMSC is a private business. They have been designating Commended students and Semifinalists the same way for decades. I was a finalist back in the 70s and that's how they were doing it then, so this is not some new idea to control who gets the NM scholarships. The company simply wants finalists who represent the entire country, it has nothing to do with race.

Sure - just like Utexas has that top 10% admission plan purely on the basis of geographic equality. Nothing to do with race at all.

Keep telling yourself that.

By the way, just because you are a private business, doesn't mean it absolves you from acting in a way that creates racial disparate impact. We just had a scotus case regarding housing that ruled on that.

So, are you thinking that back in the 70s NMSC came up with this scheme to keep Asian American students from getting NM scholarships?

This has nothing to do with Asians. Not sure why you are bringing this up. I'm specifically talking about black students, who happen to be concentrated in places that have higher cut offs than pasty white flyover states like wyoming, wv, north dakota, south dakota, who are screwed due to this policy.

However, it seems like you are the one who has issues with Asians.

This impacts Asians too. There will be more Asian NMSF if the national score was used instead of state by state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WV & ND : 201

DC: 224

DC is 50% black

WV is 4 % black.

ND has similar black %.

Disparate impact! National Merit corp is RACIST!

No. They are trying to limit the Asians from taking most of the spots.

So as long as we hurt the asians so the whites from flyover country get a boost, screw what happens to the blacks.

Do I have the gist of the argument down pat?

NMSC is a private business. They have been designating Commended students and Semifinalists the same way for decades. I was a finalist back in the 70s and that's how they were doing it then, so this is not some new idea to control who gets the NM scholarships. The company simply wants finalists who represent the entire country, it has nothing to do with race.

Sure - just like Utexas has that top 10% admission plan purely on the basis of geographic equality. Nothing to do with race at all.

Keep telling yourself that.

By the way, just because you are a private business, doesn't mean it absolves you from acting in a way that creates racial disparate impact. We just had a scotus case regarding housing that ruled on that.

So, are you thinking that back in the 70s NMSC came up with this scheme to keep Asian American students from getting NM scholarships?

This has nothing to do with Asians. Not sure why you are bringing this up. I'm specifically talking about black students, who happen to be concentrated in places that have higher cut offs than pasty white flyover states like wyoming, wv, north dakota, south dakota, who are screwed due to this policy.

However, it seems like you are the one who has issues with Asians.

This impacts Asians too. There will be more Asian NMSF if the national score was used instead of state by state.

So it affects Asians & Blacks. Isn't that all the more reason why the policy needs to change?

[Anonymous]

You also have to be a US citizen to be eligible for a National Merit Scholarship. Fair or unfair?

[Anonymous]

OP here again, hoping we'll have some generous parents and/or students post their qualifying NMSF scores for Class of 2016, and their respective states, in an effort to help those who are trying to determine this year's cut-offs over on College Confidential (and here, for that matter).

For some students, like my *white DS who lives in a flyover state*, being a National Merit Scholar provides the necessary scholarship to attend college. Like most other things in life, the scholarship competition not completely fair, but it's what we're working with at the moment. My DS is attending a state school on a full merit scholarship + other fantastic opportunities, thanks to National Merit. I'm just trying to help some fellow parents this year, like I was helped last year, in gathering information. For some folks, this scholarship means a lot, and the waiting is very hard.

Thanks to anyone who can help by posting on the topic.

[Anonymous]

Didn't someone just post the list? Or were the 2015 scores listed for the class of 2015?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again, hoping we'll have some generous parents and/or students post their qualifying NMSF scores for Class of 2016, and their respective states, in an effort to help those who are trying to determine this year's cut-offs over on College Confidential (and here, for that matter).

For some students, like my *white DS who lives in a flyover state*, being a National Merit Scholar provides the necessary scholarship to attend college. Like most other things in life, the scholarship competition not completely fair, but it's what we're working with at the moment. My DS is attending a state school on a full merit scholarship + other fantastic opportunities, thanks to National Merit. I'm just trying to help some fellow parents this year, like I was helped last year, in gathering information. For some folks, this scholarship means a lot, and the waiting is very hard.

Thanks to anyone who can help by posting on the topic.

Given the cut-offs are different between various states, would your son have qualified if he lived in DC, MA, or MD? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

surprised how well texas does given the racial mix there. 218 is a great score.

surprised how poorly wisconsin does. People on DCUM always talk about how educated wisconsin is when they talk about looking for places to move to.

it scores about the same as alabama - which people dump on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again, hoping we'll have some generous parents and/or students post their qualifying NMSF scores for Class of 2016, and their respective states, in an effort to help those who are trying to determine this year's cut-offs over on College Confidential (and here, for that matter).

For some students, like my *white DS who lives in a flyover state*, being a National Merit Scholar provides the necessary scholarship to attend college. Like most other things in life, the scholarship competition not completely fair, but it's what we're working with at the moment. My DS is attending a state school on a full merit scholarship + other fantastic opportunities, thanks to National Merit. I'm just trying to help some fellow parents this year, like I was helped last year, in gathering information. For some folks, this scholarship means a lot, and the waiting is very hard.

Thanks to anyone who can help by posting on the topic.

Given the cut-offs are different between various states, would your son have qualified if he lived in DC, MA, or MD? Just curious.

Why does it matter? What's the point of your Q?

- NP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again, hoping we'll have some generous parents and/or students post their qualifying NMSF scores for Class of 2016, and their respective states, in an effort to help those who are trying to determine this year's cut-offs over on College Confidential (and here, for that matter).

For some students, like my *white DS who lives in a flyover state*, being a National Merit Scholar provides the necessary scholarship to attend college. Like most other things in life, the scholarship competition not completely fair, but it's what we're working with at the moment. My DS is attending a state school on a full merit scholarship + other fantastic opportunities, thanks to National Merit. I'm just trying to help some fellow parents this year, like I was helped last year, in gathering information. For some folks, this scholarship means a lot, and the waiting is very hard.

Thanks to anyone who can help by posting on the topic.

Given the cut-offs are different between various states, would your son have qualified if he lived in DC, MA, or MD? Just curious.

Why does it matter? What's the point of your Q?

- NP

Just curious if OP's son took advantage of geographic affirmative action.

I feel bad for the black kids in MD - MD is one of the blackest states in the country and yet in 45+ other states they would be in the running but they live in MD due to no fault of their own.

I wouldn't care if all states were bunched together by 2-3 points. The gaps are shocking though. Especially so called 'educated' states like Wisconsin.

And yet with this shocking gap, flyover politicians say they don't want national standards on curriculum and assessment (common core).

Are you kidding me?