<p>You don’t have to inform the teacher…it’d be a nice surprise if you do send up traveling to Washington. </p>
<p>How many Semifinalists are chosen?</p>
<p>We have 3 from my d’s high school and I already know they’re all perfect scores. Another local high school has 10. Jeepers.</p>
<p>An ACT 142 in Missouri made it in and a 141 did not. This was for boys, I don’t know about girls.</p>
<p>Damn. Cutoff for MD was likely 1600. I probably should have retaken my 1580, but I was too lazy to (&taking the SAT once was enough for a lifetime).</p>
<p>If there are more than 40 candidates for a state (as there are for Maryland), the cutoff is probably 1600, since they take the top 20 male and 20 female, and ties. If the cutoff is below 1600, there are unlikely to be many ties.</p>
<p>This is a good experience–if anybody is on the fence about applying, I would urge you to do so. I think the competition may not be as great as it appears, because quite a few students choose not to apply because (a) it’s work and (b) there’s no money involved.</p>
<p>How long was everybody else’s long essays? Mine feels short at 600 words.</p>
<p>Does anyone know whether they simply take 2 people from each state at the very end, or do they look at the whole pool of applicants and is it possible that some states have no one going?</p>
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<p>I think it’s 2 from each state regardless, which of course disproportionately gives advantage to some.</p>
<p>They take 2 from each state, and a few extra that can be from any state.</p>
<p>This is a very difficult accomplishment. Congrats to all!</p>
<p>I think it’s two from each state and the rest come from families abroad and not-states like Puerto Rico. I don’t think more than two go from each state, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>They pick two from each state/territory and then they have about 15 at-large picks that can come from anywhere, includng other states.</p>
<p>Any financial things involved?</p>
<p>^Nope. It’s not a scholarship.</p>