Anonymous
10/07/2025 21:59
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Potomac is admitting most of its students well before 9th grade and often for non-academic reasons. So not apples to apples with TJ.
Anonymous
10/07/2025 21:50
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Top 5 in VA public (TJ, Oakton, Langley, McLean, Marshall) absolutely trounced top 5 in VA private (Potomac, Basis, Flint Hill, Madeira, SSSAS).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view?pli=1
That just isn't the case. Just for two random examples, Oakton has an enormous senior class of 690. Potomac has a senior class of 120. That means, 3.6% of the Oakton class got NMSF compared to 7.5% of the Potomac class.
Compared to about 25% of the TJ class.
Anonymous
10/07/2025 10:15
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:Top 5 in VA public (TJ, Oakton, Langley, McLean, Marshall) absolutely trounced top 5 in VA private (Potomac, Basis, Flint Hill, Madeira, SSSAS).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view?pli=1
That just isn't the case. Just for two random examples, Oakton has an enormous senior class of 690. Potomac has a senior class of 120. That means, 3.6% of the Oakton class got NMSF compared to 7.5% of the Potomac class.
Anonymous
10/07/2025 07:36
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:I don't think that's how you use the word "modulo".Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Here's MD and VA 2026 NMSF courtesy of reddit (if these lists are fakes, they're definitely elaborate ones.) No DC posted unfortunately. The number of public school magnet students (TJ, Blair etc.) on these lists is incredible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1ndby41/lists_of_semifinalists_by_state_2026/
Maryland 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eH4WYg3mc8FIb9IhZGqvbIbcVIjXziJF/view
Virginia 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view
Wow TJ!
Despite those rockin' numbers, TJ is significantly behind where they were a few years ago, despite having a much larger class size. FCPS rejiggered admissions to cap high performing feeder schools and removed testing. This is why the other FCPS high schools are now posting such big numbers -- Oakton managed 25. Under the old admissions system, most of those kids would have been at TJ.
Further indication that parsing school results from year to year is silly — it’s not the schools, it’s the kids, and they’d likely be stellar students whether they are in public, magnet, or private.
Of course - it’s still pretty interesting to see the current relative concentrations of high-achieving kids.
I wish they also would give numbers for Commended, which doesn't change on a state-by-state basis and is less streaky, since it's looking at the top 3%, not the tippity top less than 1%.
This is modulo the SAT not being as strong at test as it used to be - more subject to practice effects, less able to distinguish top performers from each other, switching to calculators, dropping free response and analogies, etc.
DP but I would guess it’s an autocorrect fail.
Anonymous
10/07/2025 02:25
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
I don't think that's how you use the word "modulo".Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Here's MD and VA 2026 NMSF courtesy of reddit (if these lists are fakes, they're definitely elaborate ones.) No DC posted unfortunately. The number of public school magnet students (TJ, Blair etc.) on these lists is incredible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1ndby41/lists_of_semifinalists_by_state_2026/
Maryland 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eH4WYg3mc8FIb9IhZGqvbIbcVIjXziJF/view
Virginia 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view
Wow TJ!
Despite those rockin' numbers, TJ is significantly behind where they were a few years ago, despite having a much larger class size. FCPS rejiggered admissions to cap high performing feeder schools and removed testing. This is why the other FCPS high schools are now posting such big numbers -- Oakton managed 25. Under the old admissions system, most of those kids would have been at TJ.
Further indication that parsing school results from year to year is silly — it’s not the schools, it’s the kids, and they’d likely be stellar students whether they are in public, magnet, or private.
Of course - it’s still pretty interesting to see the current relative concentrations of high-achieving kids.
I wish they also would give numbers for Commended, which doesn't change on a state-by-state basis and is less streaky, since it's looking at the top 3%, not the tippity top less than 1%.
This is modulo the SAT not being as strong at test as it used to be - more subject to practice effects, less able to distinguish top performers from each other, switching to calculators, dropping free response and analogies, etc.
Anonymous
10/06/2025 20:40
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:Top 5 in VA public (TJ, Oakton, Langley, McLean, Marshall) absolutely trounced top 5 in VA private (Potomac, Basis, Flint Hill, Madeira, SSSAS).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view?pli=1
You know how to compare ratios, right? Apart from TJ, your statement doesn’t hold when considering the number of NMSF as a proportion of the graduating class.
Anonymous
10/06/2025 17:26
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Top 5 in VA public (TJ, Oakton, Langley, McLean, Marshall) absolutely trounced top 5 in VA private (Potomac, Basis, Flint Hill, Madeira, SSSAS).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view?pli=1
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view?pli=1
Anonymous
10/03/2025 16:53
Subject: Re:Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Thank you!
Does anyone have the numbers from VA privates? Potomac, Flint Hill, Madeira etc?
SSSAS had 4
VA privates:
Potomac: 9
Basis (McLean): 9
Flint Hill: 4
Madeira: 4
SSSAS: 4
Bishop Ireton: 3
Bishop O’Connell: 1
MD privates:
Holton: 12
Landon: 5
St Andrews: 5
Bullis: 3
Heights: 1
DC privates:
NCS: 5
GDS: 4
Sidwell: 4
St Anselm: 3
STA: 2
Visi: 2
Maret: 1
WIS: 1
St John’s: 1
Isn't BIM graduating class like 30 students?
Yeah. Imagine 1 out of every 3 students is a NMSF.
There are actually about 40 seniors this year. Still impressive at almost 25% NMSF.
Anonymous
09/29/2025 17:34
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Here's MD and VA 2026 NMSF courtesy of reddit (if these lists are fakes, they're definitely elaborate ones.) No DC posted unfortunately. The number of public school magnet students (TJ, Blair etc.) on these lists is incredible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1ndby41/lists_of_semifinalists_by_state_2026/
Maryland 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eH4WYg3mc8FIb9IhZGqvbIbcVIjXziJF/view
Virginia 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view
Wow TJ!
Despite those rockin' numbers, TJ is significantly behind where they were a few years ago, despite having a much larger class size. FCPS rejiggered admissions to cap high performing feeder schools and removed testing. This is why the other FCPS high schools are now posting such big numbers -- Oakton managed 25. Under the old admissions system, most of those kids would have been at TJ.
Further indication that parsing school results from year to year is silly — it’s not the schools, it’s the kids, and they’d likely be stellar students whether they are in public, magnet, or private.
Of course - it’s still pretty interesting to see the current relative concentrations of high-achieving kids.
I wish they also would give numbers for Commended, which doesn't change on a state-by-state basis and is less streaky, since it's looking at the top 3%, not the tippity top less than 1%.
This is modulo the SAT not being as strong at test as it used to be - more subject to practice effects, less able to distinguish top performers from each other, switching to calculators, dropping free response and analogies, etc.
Anonymous
09/29/2025 09:32
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Here's MD and VA 2026 NMSF courtesy of reddit (if these lists are fakes, they're definitely elaborate ones.) No DC posted unfortunately. The number of public school magnet students (TJ, Blair etc.) on these lists is incredible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1ndby41/lists_of_semifinalists_by_state_2026/
Maryland 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eH4WYg3mc8FIb9IhZGqvbIbcVIjXziJF/view
Virginia 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view
Wow TJ!
Despite those rockin' numbers, TJ is significantly behind where they were a few years ago, despite having a much larger class size. FCPS rejiggered admissions to cap high performing feeder schools and removed testing. This is why the other FCPS high schools are now posting such big numbers -- Oakton managed 25. Under the old admissions system, most of those kids would have been at TJ.
Further indication that parsing school results from year to year is silly — it’s not the schools, it’s the kids, and they’d likely be stellar students whether they are in public, magnet, or private.
Of course - it’s still pretty interesting to see the current relative concentrations of high-achieving kids.
Anonymous
09/29/2025 09:00
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Here's MD and VA 2026 NMSF courtesy of reddit (if these lists are fakes, they're definitely elaborate ones.) No DC posted unfortunately. The number of public school magnet students (TJ, Blair etc.) on these lists is incredible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1ndby41/lists_of_semifinalists_by_state_2026/
Maryland 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eH4WYg3mc8FIb9IhZGqvbIbcVIjXziJF/view
Virginia 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view
Wow TJ!
Despite those rockin' numbers, TJ is significantly behind where they were a few years ago, despite having a much larger class size. FCPS rejiggered admissions to cap high performing feeder schools and removed testing. This is why the other FCPS high schools are now posting such big numbers -- Oakton managed 25. Under the old admissions system, most of those kids would have been at TJ.
Further indication that parsing school results from year to year is silly — it’s not the schools, it’s the kids, and they’d likely be stellar students whether they are in public, magnet, or private.
Anonymous
09/29/2025 00:52
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Here's MD and VA 2026 NMSF courtesy of reddit (if these lists are fakes, they're definitely elaborate ones.) No DC posted unfortunately. The number of public school magnet students (TJ, Blair etc.) on these lists is incredible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1ndby41/lists_of_semifinalists_by_state_2026/
Maryland 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eH4WYg3mc8FIb9IhZGqvbIbcVIjXziJF/view
Virginia 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view
Wow TJ!
Despite those rockin' numbers, TJ is significantly behind where they were a few years ago, despite having a much larger class size. FCPS rejiggered admissions to cap high performing feeder schools and removed testing. This is why the other FCPS high schools are now posting such big numbers -- Oakton managed 25. Under the old admissions system, most of those kids would have been at TJ.
Anonymous
09/28/2025 21:19
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:Here's MD and VA 2026 NMSF courtesy of reddit (if these lists are fakes, they're definitely elaborate ones.) No DC posted unfortunately. The number of public school magnet students (TJ, Blair etc.) on these lists is incredible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/1ndby41/lists_of_semifinalists_by_state_2026/
Maryland 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eH4WYg3mc8FIb9IhZGqvbIbcVIjXziJF/view
Virginia 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xCdjpoXII9oTmu_hWYFqeWl5XWmTblSu/view
Wow TJ!
Anonymous
09/28/2025 18:03
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
Anonymous wrote:What isn’t being talked about is that many kids took the ACT not the SAT. I can speak to sidwell; and know many kids with a 35 or 36 on the ACT.
That’s irrelevant. All the area private schools host a PSAT for their juniors. That score gets you to semi-finalist, and to apply for finalist you can submit SAT or ACT scores.
Anonymous
09/28/2025 17:15
Subject: Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists
What isn’t being talked about is that many kids took the ACT not the SAT. I can speak to sidwell; and know many kids with a 35 or 36 on the ACT.