Class of 2022 National Merit Discussion - Scores Release

You mean you received an email from NMSC before your daughter got her login information and a letter than she is a NMSF? How would NMSC even know your email address without any input from your daughter?

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Right there with you on the frustration with schools not recognizing academic achievement as they do athletic. My daughter’s school does not even encourage Jrs to TAKE the PSAT, they make them all take it in their Soph year and don’t even mention the opportunity for NMSF and all the scholarships it opens to them. As far as I know, she is the only one in at least 12 years history (that I can see) to qualify and crickets so far from her school. That isn’t to say others wouldn’t have made it - but they likely didn’t know about it. I only know my daughter qualified because of lil-catfish’s list postings on Reddit (thank goodness for that kid - extra-special good vibes going out to them to get in to their dream school!)

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Of the 340 MD qualifiers, 324 have a Field of Study code of 000. From the data I posted above, this would typically be about 15%.

Art’s 80%+ AE estimate looks to be quite reasonable.

Any one aware of any real, tangible benefit of being named commended?

Starting at the top of the alphabet, Abilene Christian University:

National Merit Commended Scholars are awarded an additional $2,000 scholarship, per year ,

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Hi - do you know how commended scholars get the communication? via school email or letter or just shows up on the college board portal? thanks

from MD, son received 223- bummer!

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I would just like to point out that the 000 code does not necessarily indicate AE. My high school had 16 SF’s this year (all took the PSAT to qualify) and only one of us has a code other than 000. When I took the PSAT to qualify I have no memory of having the option to select a major code.

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Is anybody familiar with corporate-sponsored NM Scholar status?
My husband happens to work for one of the corporations that sponsor NMSC. After we were notified that my son made it to NMSF, he looked into his company website and found out that the deadline to submit the entry form was months ago.
I think it’s odd that you would be required to submit a form that leads to NM Scholar way before you even know if your kid made it to Semifinalist.
Nevertheless, my husband was able to talk to the person in charge within his company. They briefly reopened the link and we were able to submit the entry form, so all is well :blush:
Just curious if that’s the way it works for all the sponsor companies or just at this particular company.

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My dad also works at one of the corporate sponsors, and to be honest, I’m not really sure how the whole process goes. I think the requirement for the corporate scholarship is to be a finalist?

My counselor said that as long as I marked down the company name on the NMS application, it would be fine, but I’m not sure how true that is since there are forms to fill out from the company as well

I would strongly advise you to have your dad inquire about the NM entry form within his company right away. Our entry form asked for my husband’s employee ID #, work title, company email, etc, along with my son’s school and personal info.

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PSAT or AE? Those that made 222 on PSAT should have made it, while those making 224 on SAT should not.

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Just curious if that’s the way it works for all the sponsor companies or just at this particular company.

The company that I work for has a similar policy, forms were due back in March. I suspect it has to do with budgeting and helps with estimating how many employee children they may need to accommodate.

Thankfully I’m familiar with the NMF program enough to have had it on my radar early, I certainly think that schools, corporate sponsors and the NMSC could do a better job getting the word out.

To be fair, my company’s form also included wording about AE which is nice to see.

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Thank you very much for your input. Our forms were due back in March too, but didn’t include wording regarding AE. Luckily, my son was able to take the October PSAT at school.
Agree with the lack of support and information out there. Thank God for CC and all its wonderful contributors!

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@Momto33 Did you check the full list + Addendum for Maryland?

The random winners this year were those AE that made it just at the cutoff. The losers were those that took the PSAT and just fell short.

The dozen SM in the addendum must have qualified under AE, and a few more might be trickling in until Oct. Unless NMC addresses this issue upfront, next year will be another contentious situation with arbitrary last minute criteria changes. Three years, back to back, with unreliable and unpredictable results is really going to shake the confidence of all participants, including sponsors.

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We are so excited! Son qualifies for 2022 National Merit Semifinalist.
We wanted to order a banner to recognize his exemplary performance: being the FIRST EVER for his rural high school to qualify for such a prestigious opportunity. We asked permission if we can hang the banner in school but school Admin said they do not consider a National Merit Semifinalist status for their high school something worth a banner recognition in school, not unless he gets to be a Finalist.
They compared it to football State Semifinalist, no banner unless into the Finals. WOW!!!

Not even a single form of recognition in anyway or anywhere.

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Getting from semifinalist to finalist stage doesn’t seem very hard, let’s see what is the administration going to say then. :slight_smile:

Good luck.

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What’s wrong with schools these days?! Wow, I really hope your son gets named a Finalist. Hopefully your school will then do the right thing and celebrate him! (Honestly, they should at least recognize him in announcements and at a school board meeting at this stage. Getting named a semifinalist is the hard part.)

Congrats to your son!

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Hmmmm. I would have thought my comment reiterating the previous comment was clear on that.