International students and the PSAT

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Can you tell me whether international students are elibible for merit aid, based on their PSAT scores? How does that work? Also, what about US citizens who live abroad and take the PSAT-- are they eligible for merit aid just the same as students in US? Thanks for all help!</p>

2

<p>US citizens living abroad who take the PSAT participate in the National Merit Scholarship process. Visit the website for details.</p>

<p>The National Merit Scholarship categories are only for US citizens and US permanent residents. Again, details are on the website.</p>

3

<p>I do not know of any scholarships given out based on PSAT scores alone. For internationals PSAT is really useless. AFAIK the only use of PSAT, for US citizens/PR, is to qualify for National Merit semifinalist status.</p>

<p>US citizens/PRs can qualify for National Merit commended or semifinalist status if their scores are above a certain Selection Index. SIs vary from state to state, and I believe that for overseas citizens, the SI used will be that of the last “home of record”. Please verify this, I am not sure. It may make a big difference, because SIs of different states can be as low as 200+ (Alabama, Mississippi, etc) or as high as 220+ (Massachusetts) [A</a> discussion on which state’s SI is used](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/546344-expat-finaid-merit-status.html]A”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/546344-expat-finaid-merit-status.html)</p>

<p>After the student qualifies for National Merit Semifinalist/Finalist status, he will be eligible for the $2500 National Merit Scholarship (one-off, awarded by NMSQT foundation) or various university-based scholarships. For example, at Uni SoCal, NM Finalists are eligible for this generous half-tuition:

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<p>Some schools even offer full-rides (tuition, room+board, other frills) to NM Finalists. Check out this helpful list compiled by keilexandra: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;