My son is officially a National Merit Semifinalist! 
Congrats to all the kids who made it!! 
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You could contact a news outlet, or see if one publishes it.
The listed Reddit threads are also attempting to track these lists, though there are only a few so far.
One student claims to have received the entire 16.7k list - we’ll see if that gets posted.
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I’m not clear on why you say this. Art’s analysis specifically said that he’d be surprised if less than 80% of MD’s semifinalist were via AE.
I would be surprised if as many as 20% of the 370 Semifinalists were PSAT takers.
MD is certainly on the high side, but I doubt it’s not meaningfully high in many states.
He also noted
AE propped up what would have otherwise been a large decline.
Intended College major, as listed on the PSAT application. AE students seem to all have 000, though not all 000s are AE.
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Thank you! My daughter qualified through PSAT and has 000, probably did not put her major:)
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Thank you!
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This is not what I meant My comment was about the TOTAL number of NMSF which were listed right above what you quoted.
This Reddit user has posted screenshots of the full list I believe (or most of the list).
https://www.reddit.com/user/lil-catfish/comments/poue65/flgahi/
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It might be easier to start at https://www.reddit.com/user/lil-catfish
Scroll down to find the specific posts with your state. They are in groups of ~2-4 states. (the link above is directly to one of them)
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Got it. Yes, the total number is confirmed at 16,740 vs. 16,453 last year. This year may go up slightly as AE scores are accepted through October 15.
AE is certainly a much larger percentage, but unlike in the past, they were included when making the cutoffs, to keep the number in the same 16k range.
MD and CA account for 232 of the 287 increase, possibly to keep the cutoff from being absurdly high (at least in MD).
Crickey - our high school went from 8 Finalists last year to my daughter as the only Semi-Finalist. (The October test was conducted as normal, with school still fully in session.)
That’s kind of sad.
Agreed. They didn’t publish the number of AE NMSF or at least I didn’t see any. It would be interesting to see the ratios.
I hope next year will see more regular PSAT applicants. Hopefully, NMSC will also implement changes that will restrict who may apply via AE, as well as limit the number of SAT tests for AE applicants.
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Thank you all for your helpful posts - the reddit list finally let us know my son made it in MI! Nothing from the school yet:( Like others have shared, our school does not celebrate NMSF or NMF in any way whatsoever. It’s pretty disappointing given the kudos given to our athletes. Anyway, I am relieved and happy to actually see my son’s name listed. His college list will expand based on this - hurray! and Congrats to all!
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Someone posted complete list for states FL, GA and HI
https://www.reddit.com/user/lil-catfish/comments/poue65/flgahi/
I suspect they won’t publish the number of AE qualifiers - they don’t want people to know. They did throw out the misleading 1.x% of applicants using AE.
The first PA school I noticed with a long list of “000” as the intended major went from 12 SF last year to 21 this year. When I get home, I’m going to see how much this is a pattern (hard to do in an iPad).
Next year should go back to requiring valid, documented reasons for AE (doctor’s note, principal confirmation). Though with this channel known, there may still be a mysterious number of illnesses right around test date (cough, cough).
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As noted above, all states can be found starting at the user’s root : https://www.reddit.com/user/lil-catfish
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Our school no announcement no celebration. They canceled psat twice, no information given about AE even though she did well on 9th grade psat practice. I have to hunt websites to find out about AE. It’s very disappointing. Too much stress as a parent to keep track of all this info.
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Agreed. They didn’t publish the number of AE NMSF or at least I didn’t see any. It would be interesting to see the ratios.
The reduction in commended students in WA, OR, CA, MD and NY (also MA, NJ, and boarding schools) is quite telling. They all lost share of the 50,000 cut compared to previous year. FL and TX gained the most number, and while population growth might account for a small percentage, not 15-30%.
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Weird question:
AE stands for alternate entry. Is there any benefit to submitting a higher score via AE even though you are already named?
Rec’d a 70 point higher score when taking the SAT in the 2021 spring. Does it matter at this point?
This will be used as the validation score, I guess.
But how can there be alternate entries after the list is announced?
This part is fuzzy for me.
My daughter qualified through the PSAT and had 000. She said someone else at her school said they qualified through AE and they have a non-000 number next to their name on the list so I’m not sure it is accurate that 000 indicates AE.
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