<p>My daughter was recently named a NMSF, and has forwarded her paperwork for finalist status. Exactly what does this mean in the college admissions process, if anything? It appears that only students who are related to someone in a particular business get the larger awards anyway. So without getting into the amounts of money; how does the status of being a semifinalist or finalist really help?</p>
<p>-At most good colleges this does not help at all
-At state schools and some other schools NMFs can get special scholarships
-If SAT scores are comparable to PSAT scores, PSAT scores are pretty much irelevant. In other words, this could help if she does terribly on SATs because theyd know she did better on PSATs</p>
<p>I don't think that it helps much with schools in the top 10, which are flooded with applications from NM semifinalists and finalists, but it can be very helpful with other colleges.</p>
<p>Some colleges aggressively seek NMSFs and will offer lots of money and special perks to get them. Arizona State, Oklahoma, and Texas A & M come to mind.</p>
<p>Some private colleges also aggressively seek NM scholars -- my son was courted actively by Macalester, for example. You will know which colleges those are by the mail you receive - if they include letters telling you about the scholarship you are sure to receive and other perks, then it means they like the NM thing a lot.</p>
<p>Yea, holy crap. Texas A&M needs to take a break with the letters.</p>
<p>You could also take a look at their freshman profiles - if they mention the number of NMF, it's probably an important factor. Kansas, Tulsa, and Eastern Michigan are additional schools that are anxious for NMF applicants. I went into this question on another thread and no one knew of any statistics on NMF acceptance % vs general.</p>
<p>What you guys are saying is not convincing to me. Obviously, far more NMFs are admitted than non NMFs. This is because if their PSAT scores are high, it's likely the SAT scores are high! It still seems like the major advantage is in terms of scholarships offered to NMFs.</p>
<p>Yes it helps somewhat as colleges know that most NMSF's become NMF and they love to show off how many finalists they have.</p>
<p>Does all of this apply to school like Amherst, Smith and Brown? That's where my D is applying to, and I do not believe they really care about NMSF or NMF. Maybe I'm dead wrong on this one (I sure hope so), and maybe it really doeas mean something to them. I'd like to hear your opinion regarding these schools. Thanks.</p>
<p>BJM8, you are correct. The schools you mention have quite a share of applicants who are all NMF. Doubt much of an admissions boost to any of them. NMF status merely corroborates other good standardized test scores.</p>
<p>"Does all of this apply to school like Amherst, Smith and Brown?" No. These schools have plenty of bright applicants. Its the schools trying to move up the ladder and show how many bright kids they have enrolled that aggressively recruit NMF's.</p>
<p>For the top 20 or so schools, it doesn't really help (its just another award to be listed). For some schools, however, being a NMSF pretty much means you'll automatically get in.</p>