<p>Ok, so I was lucky enough to qualify as a national merit semifinalist. But now, how do I let colleges know? I know we got that card that says you can inform your top choice school, but what about your other colleges? Do I put "National Merit Semifinalist" in the award/honors section of my application, or do colleges somehow know that I am a semifinalist? Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>you have to put it in the awards/honors sections. they dont magically know whether or not u are a semi-finalist</p>
<p>My D has started getting lots of mail from colleges that we did not contact. The mail is saying things like "congratulations on becoming a National Merit Semifinalist" and asking that she come and visit their establishment. </p>
<p>So how did they find out this information if we didn't send it to them? Not that we're complaining.</p>
<p>My D has also received several 'congradulatory" letters from colleges that she did not report her score to. Evidently the schools that actively recruit NMS are getting this information from somewhere.</p>
<p>When you sign up for the test, one of the options you can tick is to allow the College Board to share your results with interested Colleges and University. Don't know for certain, but I bet that the schools pay a fee to find out who did well but not exact scores.</p>
<p>That said, I'd bet few schools are organized enough to automatically add that to your application for you and may even be contractually prevented from using the information for more than organizing mailings.</p>
<p>By all means, include the fact that you're a semi-finalist (or commended or what ever). Even if they know, it never hurts to repeat once it if it's true.</p>
<p>I wanted to put that I am a semifinalist in the academic awards section of my application to stanford and yale. But since I know these schools dont value semifinalist status that much, do you think they would already know if I am one? I think I am just going to mention it anyway.</p>
<p>Definitely mention NM semifinalist status on the application in the academic awards section. It's nice to have something to put in the "national awards" category. And I don't think the adcom member reading your app is going to know that you are a NM semifinalist unless you list it.</p>