<p>Looking for info from parents of past National Merit Scholars:</p>
<p>In your kid's NMS semifinalist essay, did he or she simply give the information requested -- personal characteristics, primary interests, plans and goals, what sets you apart -- or did he or she write a quirky, entertaining essay that did not simply and directly list the information?</p>
<p>He just followed the instructions. That's what I would advise. IMO they want to know more about the student, not so much about the student's creativity/writing style. Of course everyone will try to make their essays interesting and grammatically correct while including the requested information, but I don't think a funky essay is going to win a lot of extra points--especially if it doesn't include all the requested info., or if that info. is hard to find in the essay.</p>
<p>9/10ths of semifinalists make it to finalist. It's not the essays that knock them out, it's the grades or really low SAT scores. Just basic plain vanilla essay works fine.</p>
<p>I've never heard of students not making it into the finalist catagory because of their essay--I would follow the advice of atomom and just give theim what they ask for--you are not trying to "beat" anyone out or impress the judges, you just need to meet the requirements--U.S. citizenship, decent SAT scores, and recommendation from high school--keep the "entertaining essay" for other scholarship awards where you truly are in a competition.</p>
<p>My d was encouraged by her counselors to just write about her accomplishments and activities. It was tough for her....she's a good creative writer and thought an essay on accomplishments would be incredibly boring. But she gave them what they wanted and progressed to Finalist with no problem. I think the deal breakers may be things like disciplinary issues that mar a record, or a very subpar GPA, or not being able to provide an SAT that confirms the PSAT score.... rather than the essay.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure my S used his common ap essay on the NM application. At his HS there were 14 semi-finalist and 12 made to the final stage. The two that didn't make it were obvious, tanked their grades 2.something GPA's. Of the 12 NMF, 5 got NM scholarships. Seemed like kids with lots of community involvment were the ones who got scholarships, but it did seem somewhat random. Some very good writers did not get a NM scholarship and my S did - so it couldn't have been based on the quality of the writing sample. :)</p>
<p>My son submitted his essay (about 25 words), grades, and SAT scores weeks late. Still got to be a finalist. I think the paperwork is more of an effort to knock out the lazy and incompetent than anything else.</p>
<p>My S did nothing more than what the instructions required. I second the statements that extremely poor grades and SAT's are just about the only things that can nix the Scholar status.</p>
<p>The space is limited, but my kid did an essay that became the basis for his common application -- not simply a list of accomplishments, but aimed at being interesting to read. The essays are considered for the top NM scholarships, so it is worth making it an interesting essay, and it is a good dry run for later applications.</p>