A few questions, tw23md.
– Is she currently a senior?
– Does she go to a non-boarding school?
– Is her high school in MD (as opposed to DC or another state)?</p>
<p>I am very reluctant to change the numbers on this as the list is highly reliable (although, admittedly, not guaranteed–but also see post #149). If any of the above are not true of her then it could be she has not qualified for reasons other than the MD cutoff score. If they all apply then I would suggest you call the NMSC to doublecheck on her status. Let us know what you find out.</p>
<p>I had a 220 and am a semifinalist in Maryland…
If your daughter goes to school in Maryland and is otherwise eligible to be in this year’s pool, you should probably call the National Merit Corporation about her situation.</p>
<p>Each state’s cutoff is assigned at the nearest score which will allow x students of the state to be semifinalists, where x is a percentage of the overall 16,000 semifinalists based on state population. So no, there are no county quotas. You should call the NMC.</p>
<p>I talked to the folks at NMSC, and they verified that 219 was the cutoff for Maryland. They then put me through to someone who had access to my daughter’s score, who said that she hadn’t filled out the NMSC eligibility questions on her answer sheet. Sigh. She can apparently write to them and request entry retrospectively, which she will do today. I’ll report back to let the forum know if this works. Fingers crossed. Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>Glad to hear it! Yes, I expected it was some sort of mistake with the answer sheet or fluke in their system. The same thing happened for me–I was only named a semifinalist earlier this week, because I moved and NMSC incorrectly included me in the international pool instead of in the Maryland pool. So I had to call them and sort that out, but it worked. Good luck to your daughter in the finalist runnings!</p>
<p>Not a word at our school yet, though it was in the local papers a week ago. Kids getting nervous, but no one wants to bother the GCs. My guess is that they are waiting for National Achievement Scholar official announcement date so they can announce all at the same time?</p>
<p>Good point. Same situation here - in local paper a couple of days ago but no announcement in school yet. What is the date of the Achievement Scholar announcement date?</p>
<p>Not to make anyone anxious, but the due date for submission of on-line Finalist application (including essay, activities list, biographic information, and school recommendation) is October 10.</p>
<p>BTW, lest there be any doubt that school’s may contact finalists before the press-release date (Sept. 12 this year), here is what it says in the letter to the semifinalist (in a letter dated August 21) distributed by the school:
So clearly NMSC intends that semifinalists may be contacted before the press is informed.</p>
Good luck to your daughter in the finalist runnings!</p>