<p>I am an Asian male with a 4.0 GPA at a topped rank high school in Illinois. I recently received my PSAT results, which were not great. A few stupid mistakes took me out of the running for National Merit Semi-Finalist. I know that my score will at least get me National Merit Commended, but will not getting Semi-Finalist affect my chances at admission at a top college? My other standardized test results have been good, but I did not do well on this one occasion. Can you please help quell my fears that I will be affected because of these results. I have plenty of extracurricular activities and leadership roles. Can you please help me in judging the importance of the PSAT and National Merit to college admissions? (The PSAT does not show up on my transcript)</p>
<p>It helps for getting scholarships at some colleges, but it really has almost no weight in the admissions process. It’s an okay filler for an application, but so is National Merit Commended in that regard.</p>
<p>Will not getting it detract at all?</p>
<p>You list your SAT or ACT scores on your college applications, not you PSAT scores. Do well on the SAT, and you’ll be fine. National merit status is helpful for scholarships, particularly as many public universities, but otherwise is not significant for college admission - SAT is much more important.</p>
<p>Not significant at all for admissions.</p>
<p>What the other posters said.</p>
<p>NMSF really isn’t all that important when it comes to top tier colleges. Focus on the SAT or ACT.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html</a> may be worth looking into (but try to make Finalist for the most availability of the scholarships).</p>
<p>Our school’s NMF scholar got $2500 and got into Stanford where her parents are paying for the rest of her tuition.</p>