How much would it help admissions to schools like Vanderbilt and Dartmouth if I was a National Merit Semifinalist or Finalist
It opens up the path to half-ride scholarships at schools like USC (It is extremely competitive though) Also, I got some mail from Texas A&M, I think they give around 30k total (4 years combined).
It helps the way a perfect SAT score would…impressive, but in the end, it’s just a test.
On your application, once you are named semifinalist, you will select a first-choice school. That school is notified that you picked them as the first-choice school, and some schools will give huge scholarships just for that.
Anyways, getting national merit kind of guarantees you’ll get into a college…dozens of schools will probably send you emails letting you know your application fee is waived, you’ll be automatically honors college, you’re eligible for scholarships, etc.
Here’s a list of schools : http://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/annual_report.pdf
Go to page 29
@theChinaman Wow… I didn’t know about any of that… Thanks for the amazing reply… What struck me the most is the fact that you have to choose a top choice college after getting picked as a National Merit Semifinalist, and the college gets notified… I assume that would be a huge + for admissions as well… Thank you so much!
That’s originally what I thought too.While it’s true that the NMSQT sends a list of first-choice pickers to each college (I learned that from a colleges admission representative), I do not think it is a big deal for those colleges. Most schools don’t give much financial aid anyways, and at typical reach schools (HYP), I wouldn’t expect you picking them as your first choice to be a factor in admissions.
@theChinaman thanks!