<p>I know the majority of people who are semi finalists become finalists. What do I need to ensure I become a finalist? I got a 232, and will definitely take the SAT, which I will probably get 2300+ on (hopefully). Anything else? What GPA do I need?</p>
<p>From what I've heard, all you pretty much need to do is turn in the paperwork on time. As far as I know there's not a GPA cutoff or anything.</p>
<p>whats the National Merit finalist? Is there some sort of scholarship if u do well on the SAT?? never heard one like that.</p>
<p>The National Merit Scholarship is based on scores from PSAT test taken as a Junior. If score is high enough then it is listed as either commended (usually 96/97%) and 98/99% for finalist status. There is some scholarship money associated with being a finalist (NMF).</p>
<p>While there is not a GPA cutoff your GPA can't be in the basement. You will also need to write some essays and get some recs. The purpose of all those (as well as the SAT that backs up the PSAT) is to make sure you don't JUST test well and that it was not a lucky shot.</p>
<p>what exactly is considered the basement though? </p>
<p>my couselor says that my score is high enough for semifinalist, and i've done fairly well on SAT's so i'm not too concerned about that but my GPA is REALLY BAD.</p>
<p>i've taken honors and ap courses throughout and only took electives that were required to graduate (i.e. 2 art, 2 gym, health, etc.). Like this year, i have NO electives, its all "core classes" all of which are honors or AP. but with that schedule (and my school's new grading scale that makes it even more difficult for AP/honors students), my unweighted GPA is around 10.14 on a 12 pt scale. I get good grades during the quarters but dont do very well on my final exams which pull my overall semester grades down.</p>
<p>will NM take into consideration all the hard classes or instead think that I couldn't handle those classes and not let me move on to finalist standing?</p>
<p>Uh.. 12 pt scale? Okay, so that would be like 3.3ish on the regular scale. Hmm, no, I don't think that's too low. That's probably ok.</p>
<p>what's the SAT score you need to get in order to advance to finalist standing?</p>
<p>^ there is no certain score...the collegeboard only states that there shouldn't be a "big discrepancy" b/w the psat and sat score. I'm guessing like 200 or 300 points...</p>
<p>What do you think the prospects would be for a 230 PSAT, 2220 SAT, and a 3.1 GPA? I think I did a pretty good essay, and I've done loads of extra-curricular stuff, but my academic record pegs me firmly in the slacker category.</p>
<p>You're fine. 15000/16000 semifinalists get finalist - and of the 1000 that don't get it, most of them just didn't get their paperwork in on time.</p>
<p>If you have no Ds or Fs and you turned it in, and your SAT roughly mirrors your PSAT, you're fine.</p>
<p>anyone know when the finalists will be announced? it just says february on the website..</p>
<p>A semifinalist at my school said that he got his rejection letter a few days ago... but he's known for lying for the hell of it. I thought that they sent out Finalist letters in February.</p>
<p>I know that states have quotas for the number of semifinalists. Does anyone know if this applies to the number of finalists/winners as well? Also are there quotas for the number of males/females and of each race? For example Im a male Asian American from Georgia so does that mean there are higher standards for me than if I was female African American from Mississippi?</p>
<p>I know someone who didn't make Nat'l Hispanic Scholar b/c her GPA was under 3.5. She told me that that was the cutoff. Instead she got Honorable Mention or something like that.</p>
<p>Well, you send in your transcript and they probably weight AP and Honors courses and it will definitely be graded on a subjective scale (so not taking those other courses might not help too much.)</p>
<p>So as long as you have a B+/A- or better, you should do fine.</p>
<p>National merit finalists announced in Fabruary</p>