Do I have a chance at NMF?

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>My school got our PSAT scores back the other day and I got a 225. From what I have heard, I am basically guaranteed to qualify for semifinalist next year (Qualifying score for Texas was 219 last year, and everybody seems to believe it is going down a bit this year.. but even if it goes up it shouldn't surpass 225, right?). </p>

<p>I've been looking at the scholarship opportunities for some of the schools I am thinking about, and getting NMF is HUGE money at some of them. From what I have been able to find out on my own, once you are a semifinalist, you have a pretty good chance at finalist, as long as you are a fairly good student and your PSAT was not a fluke (On that note, I just took the SAT for the first time today, but I don't feel nearly as well as I did after I took the PSAT.. what exactly do they see as a "fluke"? Will doing a little worse on one SAT screw me?).</p>

<p>Anyways, what do you guys think of my chances of actually getting finalist? </p>

<p>I'm an A/B student throughout high school (Other than 1 79 in an AP class that I got at the end of Freshman year after sustaining a concussion). I have a few B minuses, but for the most part, my grades a B+ and up. Every class has been either honors or, if offered, AP.</p>

<p>5 and a 4 on my two AP tests, if they look at stuff like that as well. </p>

<p>GPA:
UW - 3.4
W - 4.4</p>

<p>Again, no SAT scores yet as I just took it this morning. </p>

<p>What do you guys think? Still really just trying to figure this all out lol. Do I have a shot at NMF?</p>

2

<p>This thread should help answer your questions:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1365011-faq-psat-sat-nmsf-nmf-process.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1365011-faq-psat-sat-nmsf-nmf-process.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>One high C on your transcript shouldn’t stop you from making NMF.</p>

<p>Your SAT score doesn’t need to meet or exceed your PSAT; your SAT score only needs to be over 1960. For you, an SAT score of 2250 would match your PSAT. If your SAT was a slightly weaker performance than your PSAT, you’ll still be OK for NMF.</p>