Under “Honors,” Common App lists a note on the side that states that National Merit Commended and Semifinalist are both considered State/Regional Honors, while Finalist and Scholar are National Honors. Although most semifinalists end up qualifying as finalists, the notification for whether someone got Finalist doesn’t come out until February. So would anyone even put down Finalist? Isn’t it a bad idea to put down Finalist if the results aren’t out yet?
Thanks in advance!
~A confused NMS Semifinalist
It is a bad idea. You will be a NMSF when you apply so put that down.
It makes little difference to the adcom as they know most NMSF will become NMF and they know your grades and SAT score anyway.
I wouldn’t recommend putting down that you’re a finalist when you’re not, even though you will probably become one. What I did was I put down semifinalist and then updated the schools via email about my finalist standing.
@ComradeStalin sounds like a good idea, thank you!
You can also update that info during the interview. (Obviously if you have one.)
