I am a National Merit Semi-finalist. Because I took the ACT before, I need to take the December SAT if I want to be a national merit finalist. Is it worth taking the SAT? Does being a national merit finalist ever help in the future? I’m not sure if I’m eligible for scholarships as my parents don’t work at the corporations that offer scholarships? Moreover, I’m likely to go to a college that doesn’t offer a national merit scholarship. Is there any other scholarship I can get?
I’d take it. You could get the award from the National Merit Corporation. What schools are on your list? Sometimes even if they don’t offer the big full tuition scholarships, they offer smaller awards.
They’re mostly Ivies or schools in the top 20 for CS programs.
It also might help with acceptances and you might get one of the $2500 scholarships that can be used at any college.
Becoming a NMF is important. Take the test.
This is a one shot deal. What if you need to go to a school that would offer a free ride to NMF. You would regret not taking that test.
The December test is the last one accepted, right? So when is the deadline to register for that?
The deadline is today haha.
For late registration?
Yes
Yes, it’s a great honor to be a finalist.
Well then you can still sign up
Take the test. When my son was hired for an internship, the day he showed up for work, HR said, “oh, you’re a NMF, we’ll increase your salary by $3 an hour.” Seriously. The company was a NMF sponsor, and so they highly recognize NMFs. And, that doesn’t even count that my son went to undergrad for nearly free on a NMF scholarship.
Thank you for all your advice. I will indeed take the test.
And you will do great! You already did great on the PSAT obviously, so you can do it again.