Why is being a National Merit Finalist a big deal?
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Anonymous
| National Merit Finalists only get a one time award of $2500. Big whoop. Am I missing something here? |
Anonymous
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The award for the Fields Medal for outstanding contributions in mathematics is only $10k. Big whoop.
Just because something doesn't have a big monetary prize attached to it, doesn't mean it isn't a big deal. It's an award for the best of the best, and everyone knows it. |
Anonymous
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You have to be a finalist first in order to be a scholar. I went to an undergrad that offered a full ride (including housing, for up to 5 years) to National Merit Scholars. Free college was nice.
And FYI, not every Finalist gets $2500. |
Anonymous
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You can get larger awards from some colleges and some corporations for being a NMF, so there is the possibility of more scholarship money.
Being a NMF used to be a big deal, my sense is less so today because of the prevalence of prepping. I was an NMF and so were my kids, so that’s the basis of my thought that it seems different today. It’s still a nice award to put on a college application. |
Anonymous
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agree op
They should do a study and see where National Merit Finalists are at in their career and life 10, 25, 25+ years I doubt they are at the top 1% of the society because they tested at the top 1% |
Anonymous
If you can google, you will see some famous NMF folks. |
Anonymous
You don't do it for money. 
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Anonymous
How would you decide what “top 1% of society” means? What would you measure? Salary, educational attainment, choice of work that benefits society as a whole rather than self? How do you decide what makes a person “top 1% of society”? |
Anonymous
| Isn't it just based on the PSAT? |
Anonymous
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It places you in the top 1% of PSAT test takers and for some students they earn a free ride to college which is an incredible benefit.
We did not make a big deal about the NMSF in our household because ds was not applying to any of the schools that are generous with aid for NMSF and because ds was already stressed out about all the tests he would have to take in 11th grade. He did not do well in the PSAT but he did well in the actual SAT a month later (1550 which is in the 99th percentile) so hopefully that will suffice. It is also nice to add NMSF to the academic honors portion of the Common App. Here is a list https://www.college-kickstart.com/blog/item/colleges-with-great-scholarships-for-national-merit-finalists |
Anonymous
PSAT score to start with. You also need to have excellent grades and a recommendation from your school, you need to write an essay, and then you have to get a same or similar score on the SAT. |
Anonymous
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My kid was a NMF. It is not a big deal at all - unless you are interested in significant merit aid at one of the schools that buys NMFs to burnish their rep.
Highly selective colleges couldn't care less. They are interested in your SAT/ACT (and SAT II) scores, not what you got when you took the PSAT as a junior. The nicest thing about it is the recognition that comes from the internal school community for your kid. Since very few people brag publicly about their kids' test scores, this is a socially acceptable way of getting some positive attention for academic acumen. |
Anonymous
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It means that by one objective measure you outshine most American kids your age. The designation means something to some institutionS
It got me automatic acceptance and a scholarship to college for example |
Anonymous
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Does anyone know if places like Alabama, that give lots to NMFs, care if the student's SAT score is much lower?
-asking for a friend... |
Anonymous
your SAT score has to be within certain range (can't recall what that was) to become NMSF to NMF. |