<p>I understand that each state has a cutoff score for semifinalist status. However, I am not clear about how semifinalists advance to finalist standing. The College Board site states the following:</p>
<p>To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must advance to Finalist standing in the competition by meeting high academic standards and all other requirements explained in the materials provided to each Semifinalist.</p>
<p>Finalists
In February, some 15,000 Semifinalists will be notified by mail at their home addresses that they have advanced to Finalist standing. High school principals will be notified and provided with a certificate to present to each Finalist.</p>
<p>Winner Selection
All winners of Merit Scholarship® awards (Merit Scholar® designees) will be chosen from the Finalist group, based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishmentswithout regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. A variety of information is available for NMSC selectors to evaluatethe Finalist's academic record, information about the school's curricula and grading system, two sets of test scores, school official's written recommendation, information about the student's activities and leadership, and the Finalist's own essay.</p>
<p>Which two sets of test scores are they referring to? (PSAT and SAT?)
Do many semifinalists actually advance to finalist standing?<br>
And at which point does the semifinalist have to designate a school as a first choice?</p>
<p>Most semifinalists advance to finalist: 15000/16000 or something like that. You don't have to designate a first-choice school until fairly late in the game though it may help that you do so. D was a bit bummed that none of her top six schools offered NM-based scholarships.</p>
<p>at the beginning of senior year, your kid (if he meets the cut-off score for semi-finalist) will be mailed an applications packet. After you fill this out, you return it to your guidance counselor, who then mails it to the NMS place.</p>
<p>About 15,000/16,000 of the semi-finalists advance to finalist status, but only a portion of those are selected to recieve money.</p>
<p>I thought the only test that factored into the NMSC was the PSAT. I also see on their website the specific reference to "TWO TESTS". I have no idea what they are talking about. If somebody knows, or if you contact them yourself and find out, pls let me know too. It almost looks like a mistake to me.</p>
<p>Tokenadult is correct. The second test is the SAT 1. On the boards last year the view was expressed that a 1300-1350 was sufficient to meet "second test" criterion for Finalist status, but I am not personally sure what number will work this year with the new SAT I. Perhaps 2000 out of 2400? I guess our kids get to be the first to experience the new benchmark.</p>
<p>Odd. I also thought that the only test factored in was the PSAT. Perhaps they want to make sure that a high PSAT score was not a fluke.<br>
Reasonabledad: Is your S/D taking the first new SAT in March or waiting until May?</p>
<p>You are right in that the PSAT scores are used to qualify for Semifinalist, but the SATs have to be relatively high (I don't know if there is an exact cutoff) to show that the PSAT was not a fluke.</p>
<p>As far as I know, you do not have to take the SAT 1 AFTER the PSAT, you just have to have some SAT score. At least that's how it was for me...I took my last SAT 1 the week before I took the PSAT, and it was no problem for national merit.</p>
<p>I agree with jenskate1--any suitable SAT test (taken before or after PSAT) will work. 1300 was bantied about as a level to shoot for, but I don't recall if someone actually had experience with not advancing to the finalist round because of a lower-than-1300 SAT score. The things that usually kick someone out of the semi-finalist designation are bad grades or school suspensions.</p>
<p>I've since been on the annoyingly uninformative National Merit Scholarship program Web site, and indeed I don't see any requirement that the SAT scores have to be from an administration AFTER one's PSAT administration, so you can strike out the "taken after" from my reply above. A lot of kids who have done talent search testing at middle-school ages would probably have sufficiently high SAT scores to go from semifinalist to finalist, even if they didn't take the SAT I a second time. </p>
<p>I suppose the definitive answer about what to submit is the form that is sent out to semifinalists each year. It's regrettable that that is not posted on the Web.</p>
<p>Information about the whole National Merit process is kept so minimal--and I'm not sure why. Many CC parents first discovered CC as a place to find out info about National Merit--nothing like having a webful of kids/parents who have gone through the process. You can access prior threads in the archives. The same questions get asked every year, for the most part.</p>
<p>As for the semi-finalist forms, I think that most of them get sent to the principal's office, rather than get mailed directly to the semi-finalist. There were horror stories last year about the school administration not getting the packets to the semi-finalist in a timely manner. </p>
<p>One thing you should know, there is an essay component to the form--archives would have the exact topic question--but it is on the lines of tell us about yourself. If you could convince your S/D to write that essay in August, you'd be miles ahead.</p>
<p>As for when to designate your number 1 school, my D put down undecided until she knew which school she chose to attend (April of senior year? It was late, that's all I remember). If your child wins a scholarship from a school which is given to NM finalists, the school will ask you to designate it as your #1 school. This can be done without any problem with the filing of simple form.</p>
<p>The Carleton College website has a good National Merit component to it. They aggressively pursue NM semi-finalists.</p>
<p>I tried to find the NMSF qualifying selection indices for those who took the PSAT last fall (2003) on the National Merit and College Board sites but was unsuccessful there. I did find them on the page linked below, for anyone interested. I am curious to see how the indices change with this new PSAT given this Oct.</p>
<p>has more information about the National Merit Scholarship program than the program's own Web site has. And, I must confess, I only remembered the bit about the SAT scores counting for moving from semifinalist to finalist from another CC thread [grin]. It makes me glad to be a participant on CC and proud to be a grandson of a Carleton grad. Thanks for sharing the info. </p>
<p>P.S. The Carleton timetable implies taking the SAT after the PSAT. Too bad that Carleton's word is not official on that point.</p>
<p>Tokenadult: The Carleton site is indeed very helpful, as is CC.</p>
<p>If anyone has the exact prompt for the essay, I would greatly appreciate it if you would post it or send it to me. </p>
<p>SV2: I'm also wondering how/if the indices will change with the new test. I would assume that the curves would adjust for any changes in difficulty (plus or minus) so the indices would be close, but who can begin to second-guess the College Board? I would also assume that those in the 99th percentile would become semi-finalists ... but, I am quickly learning on this board that one should not assume much at all.</p>
<p>It's state by state when it comes down to who is recognized as a NMSF. Some states are down to 204--other states are 220+. So you could be in the 99th percentile (215, let's say) and still not be NMSF if you are from, say, NY.</p>
<p>Describe your personal characteristics, accomplishments, primary interests, plans, and goals. What sets you apart? Your essay should be about 500 words.</p>
<p>Just a cursory glance through the archives came up with this. If not the exact wording of the prompt, it gives you the flavor.</p>
<p>Also on that same archive thread, one parent noted that he/she had called the NM people and they told her that 1300 (old SAT) score was a good confirming score.</p>