<p>How hard is it to get a National Merit Scholarship? I read that even if you get to be a finalist, you still only have a 50% chance at a scholarship. I took the PSAT and got a 219 on it last fall(I was a sophomore), and i will be taking it again this fall, in a few months. My counselor was so excited that i got such a high score, since we usually only have one or two semi-finalists a year.
Exactly how likely are you to get a scholarship? I figure i can probably get a 220+. I don't want to get my hopes up on this, and then not the scholarship.
By the way, I live in Texas.</p>
<p>For Texas, the cutoff for NMSF the last couple of years was 215, so if you can repeat your score or increase it, you’d make NMSF (one of 16,000). Of those, 15,000 make NMF. If you fill out the application on time, have consistently good grades throughout HS, and get the recommendation of your GC (sounds like a given here:)), you move on to NMF.</p>
<p>As you mention, though, only about 8000 of the finalists get scholarships through NMSC. Of those, 2500 are from NMSC directly (for $2500 - they go to those “judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for college success”). The others are sponsored by corporations (and are usually reserved for children of their employees) or colleges (which you normally have to name as your “first choice”).</p>
<p>As a NMF, though, there are colleges which provide great financial aid just because of that status - here’s a list which might be of use to you.</p>
<p>[thread=649276]NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation[/thread]</p>
<p>What does it take to get a scholarship? Great scores, a great essay, a great recommendation, an interest in attending a school which gives out scholarships like candy, some combination of these, or something else completely? For the NMSC scholarships, they don’t say specifically, so my suggestion is to just be so wonderful in every way that they’d HAVE to give one to you!;)</p>
<p>Oh, and you have to take the SAT to “confirm” your PSAT score. You can find threads here on CC which debate what that means (again, NMSC is not forthcoming on this point).</p>
<p>good luck man! i got it in texas, exactly what the cut off was. I did a ton of prep, but my score went down between soph and junior years. however that is quite unusual.</p>