Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The top 20 percent of my DCs public school class is 110 kids, which is about the same size as the big 3 classes (bigger than St Albans, slightly smaller than SFS). Most of that group at DCs school will be NMSFs or commended scholars (was 85 kids this year). About half will go to Ivy League or other very top schools (Stanford, MIT, etc.). The rest will probably go to very selective schools, as will many of the kids below the top 20%. Yes some will certainly go to UMD because of economics or because they want to, which is less likely in the Big 3.

What public high school is this?

Here's the description of commended students from the NMSC - it's basically the top 3% of PSAT takers, with about 1/3 of them becoming NMSF. I think it's a more recent thing but many schools publish the list of commended students. The cut off varies each year - usually it's in the low 200s. Of course many commended students in this area would be NMSF in other states since the NMSF cut offs are so high here.

"Of the 1.5 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (critical reading + mathematics + writing skills scores) qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program. In September, these high scorers are notified through their schools that they have qualified as either a Commended Student or Semifinalist.

Commended Students

In late September, more than two-thirds (about 34,000) of the approximately 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT® receive Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Commended Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score that may vary from year to year and is typically below the level required for participants to be named Semifinalists in their respective states. Although Commended Students do not continue in the competition for National Merit® Scholarships, some of these students do become candidates for Special Scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.

Semifinalists

In early September, about 16,000 students, or approximately one-third of the 50,000 high scorers, are notified that they have qualified as Semifinalists. To ensure that academically talented young people from all parts of the United States are included in this talent pool, Semifinalists are designated on a state representational basis. They are the highest scoring entrants in each state. NMSC provides scholarship application materials to Semifinalists through their high schools. To be considered for a National Merit® Scholarship, Semifinalists must advance to Finalist standing in the competition by meeting high academic standards and all other requirements explained in the information provided to each Semifinalist. Click here to learn about requirements for becoming a Finalist in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program. '

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The top 20 percent of my DCs public school class is 110 kids, which is about the same size as the big 3 classes (bigger than St Albans, slightly smaller than SFS). Most of that group at DCs school will be NMSFs or commended scholars (was 85 kids this year). About half will go to Ivy League or other very top schools (Stanford, MIT, etc.). The rest will probably go to very selective schools, as will many of the kids below the top 20%. Yes some will certainly go to UMD because of economics or because they want to, which is less likely in the Big 3.

What public high school is this?

NP here. I'm going to guess it's Blair. I'm not sure what a Commended Scholar is, but Blair usually has 30+ NMSSFs.

We're another family that started out in private but made the switch to public. We're glad we did. The education was very good, although sometimes it was a bit uneven. The families are more "real" as another PP said, and in fact we went from being one if the few two-WOH families at the private to one of the wealthier-seeming families at the public. But to get back to the point of this thread, we were finally able to do some serious saving for college, which is a great thing because DC attends an ivy that routinely makes the lists of most expensive colleges.