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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]National merit scholarships are based on PSAT scores and that’s it. They are nothing. Nobody cares about them. That’s why the top schools don’t have many.[/quote]

So colleges don't care about the national merit qualifying test, which you can only take once, but care tons about the regular SAT, which you can take over and over again if you have the means?  I believe you're right, but that approach makes little sense to me.[/quote]

The issue with the way "National" merit awards work is by state. The commended cutoff is the score to be in the top 4% nationally, roughly equivalent to SAT of 1400 depending on breakdown. That is a true National award. 
Semifinalist is BY STATE. In many states, the minimum commended score, or roughly 1400, is all that is needed. In a whole bunch of states, roughly equivalent to SAT 1460 is needed. In the five most competitive states, MA CA VA NJ and DC if you miss more than 2 questions depending on R/M breakdown, you do not make the cutoff, ie roughly 1580ish. Students who can score 1530-1600 on their first SAT miss NMSF all the time yet are far far more impressive than those whose max SAT is 1400ish yet make NMSF due to their state of residence. 
NMSF is not a "national" nor impressive award from most states because the state cutoffs are so very different. That is why colleges do not care tons. They would rather see the SAT or ACT and most elites prefer non-superscored though they do not say it in writing. [/quote]

This is a good point--the cutoffs do vary somewhat by state.  But wouldn't it make more sense for colleges to consider the [b]score[/b] on the qualifying PSAT, which you can only take once, versus the [b]score[/b] on the SAT, which you can take many times?  Wouldn't that be a more standardized comparison?[/quote]

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