<p>I am in several ap classes and have a gpa of 3.7 or something, but that may have gone up. (I don't think thats my weighted gpa, im not sure though). I get mostly a's and b's (except in chem and trig, but i'll never need those anyway). and I do a ton of clubs.
do merit scholorships depend on clubs? grades? sat scores?</p>
<p>Merit scholarships and national merit scholarships are very different. The latter is base soley on PSAT scores of your jr year to qualify, and then will be decided based on your academic record and regular sat scores. The former is based both on grades and test scores. It generally just depends on the college</p>
<p>Oh… They also use your essay for NMS :)</p>
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<p>They require an essay and your essay needs to be decent, but I have not heard of anyone being denied NMF status because of an essay. There are two steps in the process</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Moving from National Merit Semi Finalist to a Finalist (NMSF to NMF). Here the most important criteria is that your SAT scores are high enough, your grades are good and your school is able to recommend you. If essays have a weight, I am going to guess it is a very small weight and possibly only in the marginal cases.</p></li>
<li><p>Getting a scholarship once you become a NMF. Here your essays could matter depending on your scholarship. If the corporation that your father works for gives scholarships to all employees children who qualify, the essay’s don’t matter. If there is a lot of competition for one particular scholarship, it may matter. If a college gives a scholarship, the essays may not matter (if they give it to every NMF).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, do your best on your essays, but don’t stress over them.</p>
<p>I have read on CC of someone being denied NMF, probably because of a very sarcastic essay.</p>
<p>^^^^^ Obviously a very sarcastic essay could be a grounds for not moving to NMF, but I would assume most students will not put themselves in such a predicament.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I was the one who wrote about the sarcastic essay. A NMSF from son’s school was denied because of his nasty essay. The principal now insists that all NMSF essays be read and approved by the counselor before being submitted.</p>
<p>In the fall, NMSF get an applciation to fill in. It has one space for an essay and it seems to me that it was some type of compilation of ECs. </p>
<p>I am wondering if the OP was really interested in NMF. However, for other merit scholarships, the first cut off is usually with grades and scores. Then some, but not all, colleges ask candidates to fill out an additional application for scholarships.</p>