Reply to National Merit Semifinalists

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just remember that nearly all the NMSF slots in DC get gobbled up by private school kids.

The awards are allocated by "state" and are based on where a kid attends school, not their home. Because of that, DC has the highest cutoff score in the country just about every year and so any public school kid that makes it on the list is really punching above their weight.[/quote]

They are not "allocated" and it's not a zero-sum game.   If, say, Wilson JR kids exceeded the cut-off for DC, then they get the nod no matter how many hit this benchmark.  Sidwell isn't taking anything from an attendee of McKinley Tech[/quote]

Wrong.  A certain percentage of test takers are designated NM Semifinalists.  There's a quota.  That's how the PSAT requirement is set.[/quote]

You are completely wrong about this. DC and U.S. students abroad are automatically assigned the highest cut score achieved by any state ([b]which always ends up being MA and NJ[/b]).[/quote]
You're definitely wrong.
Also, the number of NMSFs assigned to a state is determined by the number of graduating seniors. Yes, there is a quota.

DP[/quote]

Each state is allocated a percentage of the roughly 16,000 Semifinalists based on the percentage of that state's graduating seniors out of the nation's total, (e.g. California gets ~17% of all finalists because California has roughly 17% of all high school graduates). In 2021 there were 3,415,830 high school graduates in the U.S. DC's 72 public and private high schools graduated somewhere around 4000 students (2063 DCPS, ~1000 PCS, ~1000 Private = ~4063), so DC's percentage of that: .001 or 16 NMSF.

DC's actual number of NMSF was 30. Last year is was 36. 202o was 39. Always at least double what the quota would have been. And every year, DC's cut score is that same as the highest state. Always.

From Compass Prep, the NMSF guru: "New Jersey set the standard this year with a 223 cutoff. The cutoffs for the District of Columbia and U.S. Students Studying Abroad are set at the highest state mark, so they are also at 223. All of the figures below are confirmed and final." https://www.compassprep.com/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/[/quote]

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