How many NM Semi Finalists at your school? Is my school abnormal?

Test Preparation
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<p>I'm not claiming minority status, I just think it's unfair that around 70% of my local population can receive minority scholarships when every student attends the same public high school and is therefore receiving the same education opportunities. I understand scholarships for underpriviliged school systems, but when everything is equal why are people who perform below the level of others being rewarded for their ethnicity? I've always seen it as a kind of reverse discrimination. </p>

<p>For some reason our school is traditionally very weak with National Merit Semifinalists. We generally have none or one while the high schools in our nearest city each average five to six per year (we are only slightly smaller). We have some very good teachers for a public school, but no students seem to grasp the importance of scholarship. I wonder what the largest amount ever to come from one school is?</p>

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<p>wemel: Yes, I did suggest that state cut-offs are unfair. You said that no one with a 204 would be a semi-finalist if there was a national cut-off. And that is precisely my point! Why should someone with a 204 in some state make NMSF when someone in another state needs a 222 to qualify? It shouldn't be called a "national" competition if there are state cut-offs.</p>

<p>I personally don't care if certain states have relatively few who qualify. Perhaps those states needs to improve their education system.</p>

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<p>Class size ~375
NMSF - Estimating 3-6 (including me and two genius friends)
Public school in Webster, NY</p>

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<p>this is off topic, but I just wrote National Merit Semifinalist as an award on the NM app...</p>

<p>lol</p>

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<p>Awards was the hardest part for me to fill out. Most of my awards are U.I.L. contests or tests that probably mean nothing to National Merit people. At least my SAT scores "confirmed" my PSAT ones or whatever their statement says.</p>

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<p>Our class size is about 92 kids and we had 4 this year. I'm not sure how many were NMSF's last year but the kids who got the award were ones you wouldn't expect to get it and the ones who you would expect to get it didnt so I don't know it was weird. Oh yea and our schools private.</p>

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<p>31 people out of about 550 at my high school</p>

<p>And yet our school still hasn't opened the material yet . . . we all found out when the paper published something. And even then there was no official anything at school. I'd be worried about deadlines and stuff, but we typically have a lot of semifinalists, so hopefully they know what they are doing.</p>

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<p>17/750</p>

<p>Top in OK was 18/75?</p>

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<p>1 out of 250 seniors.</p>

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<p>4 out of 750</p>

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<p>Quote: "I personally don't care if certain states have relatively few who qualify. Perhaps those states needs to improve their education system."</p>

<p>I agree that every state should be trying to improve their educational system... but what I've discovered is that having a high PSAT score has more to do with where you live, your access to private schools, attending SAT camps, courses or hiring tutors. Those who are educationally privileged have access to resources which the majority of this nation's students don't even know exist, let alone have the ability to utilize.</p>

<p>When I took the PSAT a million years ago, it was NOT a big deal in my school. No one studied for it... we thought it was just one morning where we went to the high school cafeteria and took this test which would help tell us what our strengths were regarding college. We had no clue that there were scholarships and entry into elite colleges and all those good things that would come from having NMSF designation. And I think that in a great many regions of this nation, that is still the case.</p>

<p>For most students, taking the PSAT is simply a snapshot of what they know on that given day. What you are getting in areas where the students don't kill themselves over it, is a true picture of students who are very bright and have academic promise. I would venture that many to most of those students could boost their PSAT scores to those higher levels if they studied and went to all the classes, etc. and would be among the top in the nation.</p>

<p>So, although it is tougher for students from the NE (nearly four times as many students take it in some of those states than in other areas of the nation) to get the NMSF designation, I don't blame the College Board at all for keeping it a national program as opposed to an elite program for students in just one geographic region.</p>

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<p>8 semifinalist out of my class of 104
2 additional nation achievement scholars (me :-)</p>

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<p>NOTE* I go to a residential Governor's school, so despite our status as a public high school, the numbers are abmormally high, because we all have to audition.</p>

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<p>Well said, DVU1990.</p>

<p>I had no idea what the PSAT was when I took it. I though it was just a practice for the SAT.</p>

<p>3 NMSFs from our class of about 350... myself and two others, all from the same Calc BC class (;</p>

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<p>Thanks, also from me, DVU. I've wanted to answer "happy" for days, but it kept coming out sounding like a rant. While I am completely and totally sympathetic with any kid who really tried and missed, I feel "happy" asked for an answer, and when he/she got one, didn't accept it. I know my "answer" won't be acceptable either, because I come from the state which apparently has the lowest cutoff. Does that please me? No, I feel it's an embarrassment. I also believe the top schools know what the cutoffs are, and will act accordingly. Besides, do you REALLY believe that a state having few to no SF's will hurry up and improve their educational system? GET REAL! No Child Left Behind has ruined the chances for all our gifted kids. It's now just "make sure everybody PASSES the tests so we can meet AYP." </p>

<p>Why don't you ask the kids who made it in the 220+ score states what kind of schools they went to and what those schools do for them? Here is what we have where we live:</p>

<ol>
<li> NO private schools.</li>
<li> NO magnet schools.</li>
<li> NO charter schools.</li>
<li> NO gifted program.</li>
<li> NO test prep centers. (Ok, one could study online, or read the prep books during one's 2-hour bus ride to school, I suppose)</li>
<li> NO announcement of the PSAT.</li>
<li> NO preparation in school for the PSAT (or the SAT or ACT for that matter)</li>
<li> NO paying for the PSAT (or ACT or SAT for that matter. ONly mention this because some posters say their schools actually paid for it); and most importantly.</li>
<li> NO money! We are a very poor state.</li>
</ol>

<p>Is it my D's fault she lives here? No, it's ours (her parents). Should we have moved to give her a better education? Some would say so, (including her sometimes) but we live in a wonderful, caring, friendly, safe place and besides, I have a good job here so I'm not going.</p>

<p>Now some other points:
1. "happy", you think a $2500 scholarship is "no big deal." Believe me it would be a pretty big deal for a lot of kids here.
2. The schools that offer the "big money" scholarships are for the most part not looked upon very highly by the "top 1%'ers." Read the threads regarding this. Most of the really high-scoring, wealthy kids showed total disdain for those schools. Remember, the IVY's and other prestige schools don't give anything for NM.<br>
3. To "prove" your score you are REQUIRED to take the SAT. We are an ACT state. D has taken the SAT (since 8th grade, by the way, only because Im obsessive). For some kids taking the SAT requires a 4-hour drive (each way) or an overnight stay in a hotel. Is that fair?</p>

<p>For a good explanation of why some colleges are not even considering any test scores anymore, look at Fiske's "Guide to Getting into the Right Colleges" </p>

<p>Finally, to answer the OP. We had 4 SF out of 200 in class. Significantly, they were also the ONLY 4 in the county (600 in 3 public HS's)(and, as I found out, they were also the only commended- AAAAGGGGHHH!). I've known practically all 200 in D's class since kindergarten and there are some incredibly bright kids who didn't make it despite the low cutoff. The ones who did, mine included, I will admit had parents who knew the importance of the PSAT and how it all worked. I am more proud of my D, who would have made it in many other states, because she told everyone in her class to take it- just to try (would a really competitive NE kid do that?) She also told all her younger friends to take it for practice. This year she is telling every junior to try for it, and is helping them get the time changed and/or a band comp. time changed (as I managed to do last year with a lot of effort ) so no one will be penalized for taking the test.</p>

<p>Oh, drat, it still sounded like a rant! Thanks for listening :-)</p>

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<p>wvartsymom - Your child is really lucky to have a parent who is on top of this whole process, and it sounds like that's rubbing off when she encourages other kids to take the test. Great! </p>

<p>I feel your pain, and am also disturbed at the inequities in our nation's under-funded educational system. But I just want to mention that kids from states like WV are going to reap the benefits of being from an under-represented area when they apply to selective colleges. My son and his classmates have kind of the opposite problem: at a private urban school where about 30% make NMSF, it's really tough for all those smart kids to have a GPA that will be competitive for admission to elite colleges, despite their stellar test scores. Nobody at this school gets a 4.0, and the classes are nearly all taught at a college level, so the material is hard and the work is demanding. Consequently, a 3.5 GPA is considered quite respectable in that context, yet would cause many CC'ers to predict failure in college admissions! Yes, these students are very well educated and prepared for testing (not through a prep course or prior exposure to the test for my son, by the way), but this doesn't necessarily pave the way to HYPS for most of them.</p>

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<p>we had 10 finalists out of 138 graduating seniors last year and about 20 more commended students.</p>

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<p>i believe we have about 20 something in a class of about 950.</p>

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<p>43 semifinalists out of a class of about 770. 38 out of the 43 are magnet kids</p>

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<p>4 out of class of 400</p>