<p>On my application, I mentioned that I was a national merit semifinalist. Last Friday, I learned that I was a NMS finalist. Even though it may not necessarily give me an admissions boost, would it be worth my time to notify Princeton or any of the other schools I applied to that I became a finalist.</p>
<p>The way I understand it, it doesn’t matter. Making semifinalist is all they need to know since colleges know that most NMSF make NMF. Congrats and good luck.</p>
<p>I believe that all the schools are supplied with a list of finalists once its publicly released. Also, NMS is viewed as a flawed system because of its heavy, heavy reliance on the PSAT, so you shouldn’t put too much stock in it either, in my opinion; though USNWR places a lot of emphasis on it, today NMS really doesn’t encapsulate all of the kids that are elite, and it includes a lot who are really not at all.</p>
<p>I’ve lost all respect for the National Merit Corporation.</p>
<p>I was notified as a National Merit Semifinalist as well. However, I was ineligible for the National Merit Finalist standing as I’m not qualified due to citizenship/green card requirements. We’re currently in the process of getting a green card, but not at the “stage” denoted by the Corporation. Here’s where it gets interesting…When my counselor called National Merit Headquarters, they told her that every year, there are “quite a few” cases such as mine. This makes me believe that those 1000 supposed people who are eliminated every year are not based off of academic merits, but off of requirement issues, which disgusts me. I’ve lived in the U.S. for well over 10 years now, and I’m ineligible? That is just disgusting in every meaning of the word. So my belief is that as long as you have a green card/American citizenship and are a semifinalist, you are guaranteed to be a finalist…</p>
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<p>Nope, I have a friend that was eliminated due to comparatively weaker academic performance (3.5 GPA or so). He was born in the US.</p>
<p>Let me rephrase my previous sentence:</p>
<p>This makes me believe that **most of **those 1000 supposed people who are eliminated every year are not based off of academic merits, but off of requirement issues, which disgusts me.</p>
<p>Nope, I have a friend that was eliminated due to comparatively weaker academic performance (3.4 GPA or so). He was born in the US. Sad thing is, we deflate grades, so he would have had a 4.0 at a public school…</p>
<p>Yup. Not getting to the NMF stage is the absolute WORST thing in the world. Your friend’s life is tough.</p>