<p>From what I've learned, the 1,000 students who don't make finalist are those who do poorly on the SAT, have low GPA's, have been suspended or in other fairly serious trouble at school, etc. Considering 15,000 of the 16,000 semi's make it, there's got to be something out of the ordinary to keep a student from reaching finalist. </p>
<p>Where the essays, recommendations, EC's, etc., become very important is in selecting the actual NM Scholars. </p>
<p>At our school we usually have between 12 and 20 semi's, and in recent years they have all made finalist. The current juniors will find out next September if they are semi's, then they fill out the application and that's due in October. In February the semi's find out if they made finalist. In March the finalists find out if they got a corporate sponsored scholarship or the actual NM scholarship. There is a timeline at Gustavus Adolphus College's website: <a href="http://www.gustavus.edu/admission/experience/merit-timetable.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.gustavus.edu/admission/experience/merit-timetable.cfm</a> </p>
<p>There are numerous threads here which explain whole process. Do a "national merit" search in the 'parents forum' and the 'SAT/ACT forum."</p>