My daughter took the SAT as a sophomore (never took the PSAT) and got a 1390. This year, at the end of her equivalent of junior year (May) she took the SAT again and got a 1540. She is wondering whether she may be a candidate for National Merit Scholarship award. How could we inquire about this? Through the College Board?
No, national merit consideration is based on PSAT not SAT
You have to take a PSAT in your junior year to qualify for National Merit Scholarship. If you score high enough to meet your state’s cut off date, you become a semifinalist.
To qualify for a finalist you meet other requirements like consistently high GPA in rigrous courses, high SAT score, application, essay, extracurriculars, good character, leadership and school principal’s endorsement.
To qualify for a scholar status, you have to be among top 2,500 finalists, if you get selected then you don’t need a college or corporation to sponsor you .
If you aren’t selected by the corporation itself, you have to win a scholarship from a participating college or a participating employer (yours, your parent’s or a major employer in the city). Even if you are selected by corporation, you are free to earn additional scholarships if offered by your top college choice or employer.
Did she take the PSAT fall of her junior year? If not, I don’t believe she is eligible for NM status at all. The NMF are selected based on PSAT scores from Junior year of HS.
Correct, that is why it is the PSAT/NMSQT test. The NMSQT stands for National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. If you score high enough on it and get a similarly high (qualifying) SAT test, you can advance to the next round. But, it all starts with PSAT/NMSQT.
The 1540 is a fantastic score, however. A solid 35 according to the recent SAT/ACT concordance table, and probably makes her a contender for other scholarships, depending on her schools of interest.
PSAT can be sat in the UK, but she is past that stage now.