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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]2.   The National Merit Semifinalist program effectively penalizes Washington, D.C. by pegging the D.C. qualifying score to the top in the country.  In the Presidential Scholar Candidate selection process, being from DC is more advantageous than being from VA or MD.  The reason is that the Presidential Scholar program uses a "flat" approach not taking into account the state's population or number of high scoring students.  The top 20 male test takers and top 20 female test takers in any jurisdiction, whether it's giant California or tiny Delaware or tiny Washington, D.C., are designated as candidates.  [/quote]
I don't follow your No.2. -- there are way more than 40 kids listed for most states.[/quote]
Different poster here.  I think there are more than 40 because they accept all students tied at the cutoff score.  So if there are 19 male students with scores in the 2370-2400 range, and the 20th (final) male student will be at 2360, then they will award Candidate status to all male students scoring 2360, even if there are 100 of them (hypothetically speaking of course).  As a result, even the least populous state (Wyoming) will have some ties at the bottom end and thus exceed the 40-student minimum (WY has 50).  Populous states will therefore have an advantage because they can generate more ties: e.g., California with 452 Candidates, of which a whopping 412 got in a ties.

Locally, DC has a small population, so it managed only 5 ties (45 Candidates total).  Virginia is the 12th most populous state (8.3m), so it got 61 ties (101 total).  Interestingly, Maryland is significantly smaller (19th most populous with 5.9m), and yet it logged 70 ties (110 total).  I can think of a couple possible reasons MD might have a higher number than VA, but they're just speculation.[/quote]

Some of this is right, but the writing section isn't considered, only math and critical reading, so the top score is 1600. Also, kids in CA do not have an advantage. States with big populations and lots of bright students have more than 20 kids who get perfect scores, so you need to have a perfect score to be a candidate in those states.

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