<p>what exactly is a national merit finalist? do you have to be a citizen to get this?</p>
<p>oh and what if you missedthe PSAT? (i was in singapore at the time)</p>
<p>National Merit Finalists do NOT have to be citizens. I think it's as long as you live in the US. I know some noncitizens, but green card holders get Finalist standing, so I'm not completely sure. Check the NMSQT site. I'm not sure what year in school you are, but PSAT must be taken junior year (if you're graduating senior year) or sophomore year (in the rare case that you graduate junior year).
Basically it's a "scholarship" (I put that in quotes because most people don't get money out of this) competition. They do two rounds of weeding out by scores. If you're named a semifinalist in fall of senior year, you just need to do a decent application to get finalist standing.</p>