Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, this whole thread has been confusing as hell to me...
I grew up in NYC in the in the (just barely) web era and attended a poorly funded school in a outer borough, and my recollection is that literally nobody - not one single human - gave a flying leap that I was a NMSF...yes, up to and including my very supportive immediate family and teachers. I got some official looking results mailing at home that mentioned that was my designation somewhere, and that was the end of that.
I think I asked a teacher once if being a semifinalist meant something special and they said: nope, not really... that the only thing that counted was being a finalist - and in retrospect, they're right.
Am I missing something here - what is this, rural Iowa? why do a few local high school students getting a reasonably decent (but not outstanding) score on a standardized test merit any kind of wide public notice?

Because it is so difficult to get a qualifying score in DC. Sounds like it's much easier in NYC so agree, probably not impressive at all.

Uh, the best public high schools in NYC are much, much better than the best public high schools in DC.

Uh, that is irrelevant to the how the cutoff score for NMSF is set by state.

Stuyvesant High School had 173 (!) semifinalists in one year, a couple years ago. Bronx Sci routinely has almost 50. How many did JR have? One?

NY cut off is 223, while DC cut off is 225. Why is it easier to become NMSF in NY when it already has so many great schools?

Anonymous wrote:Only 3 NMSF at walls this year (compared with 6 last year)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only 3 NMSF at walls this year (compared with 6 last year)

How do you know this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, this whole thread has been confusing as hell to me...
I grew up in NYC in the in the (just barely) web era and attended a poorly funded school in a outer borough, and my recollection is that literally nobody - not one single human - gave a flying leap that I was a NMSF...yes, up to and including my very supportive immediate family and teachers. I got some official looking results mailing at home that mentioned that was my designation somewhere, and that was the end of that.
I think I asked a teacher once if being a semifinalist meant something special and they said: nope, not really... that the only thing that counted was being a finalist - and in retrospect, they're right.
Am I missing something here - what is this, rural Iowa? why do a few local high school students getting a reasonably decent (but not outstanding) score on a standardized test merit any kind of wide public notice?

Because it is so difficult to get a qualifying score in DC. Sounds like it's much easier in NYC so agree, probably not impressive at all.

Or perhaps PP's experience isn't universal (something the PP should know, as an adult.) I also grew up in NY State at a school that hadn't had a NMSF in 5 years when I became one, and it was big news in the local paper, and they put my picture up in the school lobby (along with the other 3 kids who had been semifinalists in the last decade.) It is not "easy" to be a NMSF in many states, including New York, as you can see by its 224 threshold this year.

Anonymous wrote:Only 3 NMSF at walls this year (compared with 6 last year)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, this whole thread has been confusing as hell to me...
I grew up in NYC in the in the (just barely) web era and attended a poorly funded school in a outer borough, and my recollection is that literally nobody - not one single human - gave a flying leap that I was a NMSF...yes, up to and including my very supportive immediate family and teachers. I got some official looking results mailing at home that mentioned that was my designation somewhere, and that was the end of that.
I think I asked a teacher once if being a semifinalist meant something special and they said: nope, not really... that the only thing that counted was being a finalist - and in retrospect, they're right.
Am I missing something here - what is this, rural Iowa? why do a few local high school students getting a reasonably decent (but not outstanding) score on a standardized test merit any kind of wide public notice?

Because it is so difficult to get a qualifying score in DC. Sounds like it's much easier in NYC so agree, probably not impressive at all.

Uh, the best public high schools in NYC are much, much better than the best public high schools in DC.

Uh, that is irrelevant to the how the cutoff score for NMSF is set by state.

Stuyvesant High School had 173 (!) semifinalists in one year, a couple years ago. Bronx Sci routinely has almost 50. How many did JR have? One?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, this whole thread has been confusing as hell to me...
I grew up in NYC in the in the (just barely) web era and attended a poorly funded school in a outer borough, and my recollection is that literally nobody - not one single human - gave a flying leap that I was a NMSF...yes, up to and including my very supportive immediate family and teachers. I got some official looking results mailing at home that mentioned that was my designation somewhere, and that was the end of that.
I think I asked a teacher once if being a semifinalist meant something special and they said: nope, not really... that the only thing that counted was being a finalist - and in retrospect, they're right.
Am I missing something here - what is this, rural Iowa? why do a few local high school students getting a reasonably decent (but not outstanding) score on a standardized test merit any kind of wide public notice?

Because it is so difficult to get a qualifying score in DC. Sounds like it's much easier in NYC so agree, probably not impressive at all.

Uh, the best public high schools in NYC are much, much better than the best public high schools in DC.

Uh, that is irrelevant to the how the cutoff score for NMSF is set by state.

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, this whole thread has been confusing as hell to me...
I grew up in NYC in the in the (just barely) web era and attended a poorly funded school in a outer borough, and my recollection is that literally nobody - not one single human - gave a flying leap that I was a NMSF...yes, up to and including my very supportive immediate family and teachers. I got some official looking results mailing at home that mentioned that was my designation somewhere, and that was the end of that.
I think I asked a teacher once if being a semifinalist meant something special and they said: nope, not really... that the only thing that counted was being a finalist - and in retrospect, they're right.
Am I missing something here - what is this, rural Iowa? why do a few local high school students getting a reasonably decent (but not outstanding) score on a standardized test merit any kind of wide public notice?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, this whole thread has been confusing as hell to me...
I grew up in NYC in the in the (just barely) web era and attended a poorly funded school in a outer borough, and my recollection is that literally nobody - not one single human - gave a flying leap that I was a NMSF...yes, up to and including my very supportive immediate family and teachers. I got some official looking results mailing at home that mentioned that was my designation somewhere, and that was the end of that.
I think I asked a teacher once if being a semifinalist meant something special and they said: nope, not really... that the only thing that counted was being a finalist - and in retrospect, they're right.
Am I missing something here - what is this, rural Iowa? why do a few local high school students getting a reasonably decent (but not outstanding) score on a standardized test merit any kind of wide public notice?

Because it is so difficult to get a qualifying score in DC. Sounds like it's much easier in NYC so agree, probably not impressive at all.

Uh, the best public high schools in NYC are much, much better than the best public high schools in DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, this whole thread has been confusing as hell to me...
I grew up in NYC in the in the (just barely) web era and attended a poorly funded school in a outer borough, and my recollection is that literally nobody - not one single human - gave a flying leap that I was a NMSF...yes, up to and including my very supportive immediate family and teachers. I got some official looking results mailing at home that mentioned that was my designation somewhere, and that was the end of that.
I think I asked a teacher once if being a semifinalist meant something special and they said: nope, not really... that the only thing that counted was being a finalist - and in retrospect, they're right.
Am I missing something here - what is this, rural Iowa? why do a few local high school students getting a reasonably decent (but not outstanding) score on a standardized test merit any kind of wide public notice?

NMSF = national merit scholar finalist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, this whole thread has been confusing as hell to me...
I grew up in NYC in the in the (just barely) web era and attended a poorly funded school in a outer borough, and my recollection is that literally nobody - not one single human - gave a flying leap that I was a NMSF...yes, up to and including my very supportive immediate family and teachers. I got some official looking results mailing at home that mentioned that was my designation somewhere, and that was the end of that.
I think I asked a teacher once if being a semifinalist meant something special and they said: nope, not really... that the only thing that counted was being a finalist - and in retrospect, they're right.
Am I missing something here - what is this, rural Iowa? why do a few local high school students getting a reasonably decent (but not outstanding) score on a standardized test merit any kind of wide public notice?

Because it is so difficult to get a qualifying score in DC. Sounds like it's much easier in NYC so agree, probably not impressive at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, this whole thread has been confusing as hell to me...
I grew up in NYC in the in the (just barely) web era and attended a poorly funded school in a outer borough, and my recollection is that literally nobody - not one single human - gave a flying leap that I was a NMSF...yes, up to and including my very supportive immediate family and teachers. I got some official looking results mailing at home that mentioned that was my designation somewhere, and that was the end of that.
I think I asked a teacher once if being a semifinalist meant something special and they said: nope, not really... that the only thing that counted was being a finalist - and in retrospect, they're right.
Am I missing something here - what is this, rural Iowa? why do a few local high school students getting a reasonably decent (but not outstanding) score on a standardized test merit any kind of wide public notice?

Because it is so difficult to get a qualifying score in DC. Sounds like it's much easier in NYC so agree, probably not impressive at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody gives a shit about being a national merit semifinalist, and I'm speaking from experience. It's the most overrated award out there.

You have had an atypical experience.

It's a warmup for the SAT. However you do on the SAT is a million times more important.

Not anymore. Plenty of strong applicants are applying to top schools without submitting SAT scores and getting in, true since 2021. Even Harvard doesn't require SAT scores in admissions these days. If a kid isn't going to stand out by scoring high on the SATs, they're free to find another way. The PSAT as a warmup for the SATs just isn't as relevant as it was pre-Covid.

Harvard is test required.

Yale was one of the first to move back with a detailed discussion from the Dean about how test optional was (1) bad for academic performance and (2) worst for poor kids when admissions started moving to "safer" schools and profiles to make up for (1).

It was a much more nuanced discussion than that. The only correlation they made between test scores and academic performance was for STEM—math, specifically, I believe.

The main reasons they shifted back were to ensure students from lower-performing schools submitted schools that might not look high relative to all applicants but distinguished them within their school context (your reason 2). And the largely unspoken reason that they get an overwhelming number of applications so need scores as a weed-out factor.

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, this whole thread has been confusing as hell to me...
I grew up in NYC in the in the (just barely) web era and attended a poorly funded school in a outer borough, and my recollection is that literally nobody - not one single human - gave a flying leap that I was a NMSF...yes, up to and including my very supportive immediate family and teachers. I got some official looking results mailing at home that mentioned that was my designation somewhere, and that was the end of that.
I think I asked a teacher once if being a semifinalist meant something special and they said: nope, not really... that the only thing that counted was being a finalist - and in retrospect, they're right.
Am I missing something here - what is this, rural Iowa? why do a few local high school students getting a reasonably decent (but not outstanding) score on a standardized test merit any kind of wide public notice?