Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone and there cousin around here takes hours and hours of tuitions and test prep center classes for multiple years but hardly few make semifinalist or finalist let alone an actual scholar. What’s the secret sauce for this?

At my kids shool 3 students made the semifinalitst including my kid.
Then my kid made the finalist. Probably all 3 of them made finalist.

My kid never had prep for that. Her SAT ened up 1540.
Went to USC as an honor student with Half tuition scholarship.

What school?

It might reveal too much of my identity but I guess it's ok.
Centreville HS

Different schools provide different amount of National Merit Scholarship.
Some only give you like $2000 $3000.
Some give you full tuition such as U Florida.

Luckily my daughter's dream school provides 50% tuition for National Merit, so it worked out nicely.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone and there cousin around here takes hours and hours of tuitions and test prep center classes for multiple years but hardly few make semifinalist or finalist let alone an actual scholar. What’s the secret sauce for this?

I feel like maybe it's because a lot of people start with tutors and test prep for the SAT but not the PSAT? Idk. Also you'll hear on DCUM how everyone and their mother is scoring a 1600 on the SAT but that's not actually true... it may not be the hardest test in the world but few people are getting top top scores.

*high schoolers

Anonymous wrote:Foundation only selects 2500 scholars, it’s an extremely selective process. Much easier to get sponsored by second tier colleges if parent’s employer is a sponsor.

What's the benefit of being selected as 2500 scholars?

How many high scholars graduate American schools every year? Million or more? Getting selected by foundation as one of their 2500 scholars is tougher than getting admitted into Harvard and MIT.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone and there cousin around here takes hours and hours of tuitions and test prep center classes for multiple years but hardly few make semifinalist or finalist let alone an actual scholar. What’s the secret sauce for this?

At my kids shool 3 students made the semifinalitst including my kid.
Then my kid made the finalist. Probably all 3 of them made finalist.

My kid never had prep for that. Her SAT ened up 1540.
Went to USC as an honor student with Half tuition scholarship.

What school?

Foundation only selects 2500 scholars, it’s an extremely selective process. Much easier to get sponsored by second tier colleges if parent’s employer is a sponsor.

I think making semifinalist is tough but moving in to finalist is an easy step. What’s toughest and rare is getting selected by the National Merit Foundation as a scholar.

Anonymous wrote:They’re taking the top kids from every state. The “secret sauce” is to live in a state with fewer high scorers.

This is good a point. They use the curve system by geographic area.
So it's particulary harder to make the semi-finalist in the DC Metro area.

They’re taking the top kids from every state. The “secret sauce” is to live in a state with fewer high scorers.

DS took his PSAT this past October. His selection index of 223 exceeds the historical cutoff in Virginia so he looks like he has a chance. What I think really helped his PSAT is that he had already taken the SAT in June (end of 10th grade). Took 7-8 Khan practice tests on his own. No paid tutoring.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone and there cousin around here takes hours and hours of tuitions and test prep center classes for multiple years but hardly few make semifinalist or finalist let alone an actual scholar. What’s the secret sauce for this?

At my kids shool 3 students made the semifinalitst including my kid.
Then my kid made the finalist. Probably all 3 of them made finalist.

My kid never had prep for that. Her SAT ened up 1540.
Went to USC as an honor student with Half tuition scholarship.

My kids (3) made NMS and there is no "secret sauce" per se. I think the biggest challenge was getting to NMSF and, after that, mostly paper work/essay...etc.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone and there cousin around here takes hours and hours of tuitions and test prep center classes for multiple years but hardly few make semifinalist or finalist let alone an actual scholar. What’s the secret sauce for this?

Ido not have a NMSF. I was told by a friend that the application for National Merit which is sent after you are a finalist has a lot of questions besides academics (ECA"S, leadership etc.) and so not many make it.

Everyone and there cousin around here takes hours and hours of tuitions and test prep center classes for multiple years but hardly few make semifinalist or finalist let alone an actual scholar. What’s the secret sauce for this?