<p>My S scored very high last year on the PSAT. He is a B student. I would like to know if his GPA can affect him from getting the award.
My D won last year and I noticed her scores are almost identical to his.</p>
<p>Grades matter in going from semifinalist (which is based solely on PSAT/NMSQT scores, state by state) to finalist. The other factors for becoming a National Merit Finalist are SAT scores, a personal essay, and I think a form from the high school. Whether grades of B are too low probably depends a LOT on whether those grades are in hard courses from a hard school or in typical courses at an average school, and whether the student had other adversity issues going on at the time.</p>
<p>Thank you tokenadult for the explanation.
I guess the end of the school year will give me a better idea.</p>
<p>NMS semifinalist is baseds soley on PSAT. A B average will not hurt him in going from NMS semifinalist to finalist. He will just need to fill out the form, write the essay and get the school to do their part. Almost every semifinalist becomes a finalist if they submit the paperwork and are a citizen or otherwise eligible. There was another thread on this recently here you might want to look for.</p>
<p>When you said that your son scored highly on the PSAT last year, was he a sophomore? The only year that counts for NMS is the test taken during the junior year, and will be given next Saturday, Oct. 18th. If he was a junior last year and did well on the test, he would already know if he was a semi-finalist.</p>
<p>Rcefn my S is a junior this year. I just think he is going to do as well this year as he did last year in the PSAT.</p>
<p>B’s are fine. The counselor at my son’s HS has been there for years and she said she has never seen anyone with decent grades get cut. He should be fine.</p>
<p>Does the NMS program publish any criteria for finalist? Or is qualification simply subject to any number of discretionary factors? Does a high (near perfect) on the PSAT help in and of itself?</p>
<p>The FAQ is your friend. </p>
<p>[National</a> Merit Scholarship Corporation - NMSP](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php]National”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php)</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of a student who completed the paperwork and did not become a finalist… There is an essay required, and I guess 5% on NMSs are too lazy to submit it. Another possibility for not advansing is not taking the SAT or not submitting the score to NM corporation.
High schools always want to have as many finalists as possible, so I doubt any HS would “tank” its candidate…</p>
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<p>I agree with this statement with regard to high schools with counselors who do their jobs right. But I know, having observed it personally, that some high schools hire incompetent counselors. (I’m very satisfied with the college counselor in my son’s high school, but I remember what was done in an earlier generation at a different high school.)</p>
<p>I just want to point out that it is entirely possible to not advance from semifinalist to finalist that is not based on laziness. There are many whose PSAT scores are far above that of their SAT’s. For example, my PSAT score is higher by 200 points. To achieve finalist status, I need to get an SAT score in the same range. Unless by the grace of God, this probably will not happen. Side effects of an illness [multiple sclerosis] often manage to hinder my performance if I am not feeling well that day. It’s very frustrating to go through the application process for finalist status, knowing that this one thing stands in my way.</p>
<p>My brother didn’t advance from semi to finalist. He had ~3.0 GPA and got 1530 on the old SAT. So yes, it’s possible to fill in the paperwork and not make it, even with a good to great SAT score.</p>
<p>(this was 5 years ago)</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I heard of at least one student here on CC who didn’t advance a couple of years ago. His parents thought it was probably his grades (a bunch of C’s).</p>
<p>When I was a college counselor (now many years ago), our school had a semifinalist with terrible grades and many disciplinary problems. We declined to support that student.</p>
<p>ciiaobella, your SAT score does not need to be in the range of your PSAT score, it just needs to be in the range of the minimum qualify PSAT score. Thus a 2000 SAT score is usually sufficient. As an illustration, a student with a 240 PSAT will not need anything close to 2400 to advance. Otherwise, the one who barely make the minimum score will be in advantage over those that score much higher. Did you score 2000+ in your SAT?</p>
<p>Oh no, my score for the SAT was horrible. I got a 1740-which means I have a great deal to go if I want to be considered a finalist.</p>