<p>Does anyone know how collegeboard chooses a National Hispanic Merit Scholar? And how big of a deal is it to be one?</p>
<p>Many colleges offer the same scholarships as they do national merit scholars. There is a forum for Hispanic students here and there are many posts about cut-offs and colleges.</p>
<p>I am waiting to see if my son has been selected. Several colleges give full scholarships to National Hispanic Scholars.</p>
<p>National Hispanic Scholars are among the top 5% of Hispanics to take the PSAT. So its an honor, but not a tippy-top award. I recommend that you dig through the Hispanic Students forum to find the lists of schools that give awards. Some of the information in the forum is rather dated, so make sure you check it against the school’s website.
<a href=“Hispanic Students - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/</a></p>
<p>I just learned that I am a 2014-15 National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar. The letter came in the mail today. It states “To be eligible, students mus be at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino and achieve a minimum PSAT/NMSQT or PAA(for Puerto Rico) score for their region. Students with a cumulative junior year grade-point average (GPA) of 3.5 or higher are designated as Scholars and those with a cumulative GPA of 3.0-3.49 are designated as Honorable Mentions.”</p>
<p>It is a big deal in that there are scholarships for people who have the honor, and you generally are going to be doing fairly well on the SAT/aCTs and have >3.5 GPA so colleges will send you invites for their “multicultural” dyas</p>