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To ensure that academically talented young people from all parts of the United States are included in this talent pool, Semifinalists are designated on a state representational basis. They are the highest scoring entrants in each state. National</a> Merit Scholarship Corporation - NMSP
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<p>I wonder how different the NMSF cutoffs would look if they distributed the awards by congressional district rather than by state? Certainly it would produce a broader geographical distribution of awards. Could congress-critters could be persuaded to support this change? Would colleges be in favor or opposed?</p>
<p>Id they did that, it’d mean that the cutoffs would range from super low (think highly populated poor area) to insanely high (rural private prep school). </p>
<p>The main reason why it can’t happen is because the national merit corporation uses state graduation numbers to determine the numbers of SFs. There aren’t graduation numbers for each congressional district.</p>
<p>Yes, the awards would be awarded to a broader range of students, but would also leave out some deserving students. But, it would also better show how students are performing in the context of their area.</p>
<p>The changes would be big. Take my state of Hawaii. Currently probably about 80% or more of the NMSF are from one of two elite prep schools that cost about $15k or more per year. A lot of good students, even if their families have just average incomes, attend these schools because the public schools are severely lacking. There are just 2 confessional districts. The first district contains the state’s top private high schools as well as 3 of the best public high schools. I live in disrict 2 which is just about as populous as district 1. Historically there have been about 50 or 60 from district one and a single digit amount of studentsfrom district 2. What this would result in is 225 or higher semi cutoffs for district one and 205 cutoffs (maybe even lower) for district 2. Fair? Maybe. Sure to get a lot of people sore? Absolutely</p>
<p>Kentucky would be a similar situation. We have six Congressional districts, but the overwhelming majority (90%+?) come from Louisville, Lexington and Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati suburbs plus a couple small pockets near universities (Danville, Bowling Green). </p>
<p>We have a competitive state-wide summer program that mandates representation from around the state. Every year there is essentially a two-tiered distribution of students - those who have legitimitely high test scores and GPAs from the more populous areas of the state and those who simpy have not had the same academic opportunities from the rural/coal areas.</p>
<p>My guess is that the cut off for the Appalachian Congressional district in eastern Kentucky would be below 200 while the Louisville district would be over 225.</p>
<p>Would make it interesting for the NM folks, as congressional districts can change every 10 years due to census numbers. My district has changed twice since I have lived in my house.</p>