<p>I've recently been told that I am a semifinalist. I'm going to fill out all of the information on the website by the deadlinen, but I saw that almost half of the semifinalists don't become finalists. What are the main reasons for this? I'd like to know so that I hopefully avoid them.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Actually, out of 16,000 semifinalists, 15,000 become finalists. I’d say you’re almost guaranteed a finalist. I asked the same question on another thread a while ago and someone told me they’re just rooting out the ones with discipline issues and low grades, etc.</p>
<p>Where did you see that half of them got cut?</p>
<p>I think you are confusing Finalists with Scholars. As long as you do everything asked of you in the process, you probably won’t have any problem becoming a Finalists. Becoming a National Merit Scholar is a little more of a crapshoot I think.</p>
<p>The main reason is they don’t fill out the application to BECOME a finalist! Hit all the deadines and you’ll be a finalist! It seems weird that you have to jump through an extra hoop to claim the prize but you do. Way too many don’t follow through and lose thousands of dollars because of it.
Congratulations to you!
(Another reason is that your SAT score does not live up to the PSAT score.)</p>
<p>If you don’t make finalist it is almost always the fault of the student…</p>
<p>1) GPA an issue</p>
<p>2) Not high enough SAT score…usually a 2000+ is fine. Last year about a 1960 or so was fine.</p>
<p>3) Don’t fill out the NMSF paperwork</p>
<p>4) Write a rude essay</p>
<p>5) Discipline problem at school</p>
<p>6) forget to send NMCorp your SAT score… code #0085</p>
<p>On rare occasions it is the school’s fault…they forget to send in the paperwork…so verify with your school in October that they’ve done their part and have submitted the paperwork.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids- Is the qualifying SAT score a national score or state score? Daughter has been fairly confident with 222 PSAT and 2150 SAT. TX scores appear to have risen significantly. Should we worry about the 2150 SAT? How do we know the exact SAT required?</p>
<p>The qualifying SAT is ONE score for EVERYONE…national cut-off for SAT…last year it was about 1960 with some odd way of including the Writing score…which is why I like to say a 2000 or higher to be safe.</p>
<p>The SAT does NOT have to match/exceed the PSAT score…not at all.</p>
<p>Ok. I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine then with a 2200 as my highest individual test (2240 superscore.) But I guess I asked the wrong question. What prevents a Finalist from becoming a Scholar?</p>
<p>Well, anyone who gets a NMF affiliated scholarship becomes a NMS. If you choose not to go to a college that offers an “automatic” NMF scholarship, if your parent doesn’t work for a company that sponsors a scholarship or if you aren’t one of the random people who gets a scholarship from NMSC then you don’t go from NMF to NMS. From what I’ve heard, the NMSC scholarship is kind of random in terms of who gets it.</p>
<p>RobD is right.</p>
<p>If you have a parent who works for a company that gives all/most of its employees’ NMF kids an official NMF scholarship, then you become a scholar.</p>
<p>If you choose to go to a college that gives an official NMF scholarship, you become a scholar.</p>
<p>And…as Rob says…it’s random, but if you’re selected to get one of the “one time 2500” awards from NMCorp, then you become a scholar.</p>
<p>AznPride…You become a National Merit Scholar by being awarded one of the “official” NMSC scholarships: the one time $2500 directly from NMSC, a college sponsored scholarship (usually in the $1K-$2K per year range), a corporate sponsored scholarship (usually but not always given to children whose parents work for sponsoring companies), or one of the special scholarships.</p>
<p>The reason that only about half of the Finalists become Scholars is primarily because there are a limited number of the $2500 scholarships to give out, and many NMF’s choose to attend institutions that don’t offer college sponsored awards to NMF’s. College sponsored means basically that the school gives the money to NMSC and NMSC turns around and gives the money back to the school in the student’s name. Big dollar awards like Bama’s are considered “unofficial” National Merit scholarships.</p>
<p>If you choose to attend a school that offers an “official” college sponsored NMSC scholarship (the $1K-$2K per year), usually requiring you to list them as your first choice college, you’ll be designated as a National Merit Scholar once that scholarship is awarded. </p>
<p>One example of someone not making NM Scholar might be a student who is wanting to attend a school that doesn’t offer an official NMF scholarship and perhaps remains “Undecided” on a first choice school with NMSC…possibly hoping to get awarded a one-time $2500 scholarship. As there are only about 2500 of those awarded, if they don’t get selected for one and don’t get a college sponsored or corporate award…they don’t make Scholar status. It’s usually a function of personal choice by the student more than anything else.</p>
<p>*Big dollar awards like Bama’s are considered “unofficial” National Merit scholarships.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>To clarify…$1,000 per year of the Bama scholarship is considered the “official” NMF scholarship. The REST is unofficial. That said, because the $1k is “official”…all NMFs at Bama are Scholars.</p>
<p>If your parent works for a Corporate sponsor (like in the case of my son), he can decline the $1k “official part” and accept the Corporate one (which is larger)…and still get the big unofficial part (minus that $1k official part).</p>
<p>That way, you get more money.</p>
<p>Only 2500 students get the one time $2500 NMCorporation award. The rest of the Scholars are getting scholarship money from corporations and colleges.</p>
<p>As I recall, the single biggest reason (over 50%) that about 1000 NMSF’s don’t progress to NMF’s is failure to file the application.</p>
<p>What if you’ve moved schools over the summer? Who has to fill out the paperwork, your old school or your new school? (And if it’s the old school, how do you motivate them to do it??)</p>
<p>What’s the big deal about the scholarships? They barely make a dent in private school tuition.</p>
<p>The big deal is the options they give a student and family. A NMF can go to several schools (private or public) for almost a full-ride, sometimes full-tuition, or with a very good merit scholarship offered by the school. This can give a student more choices if money is something the family has to consider. Its true that there are still many more schools that do not recognize NMF’s in any way, but in that case a $2500 scholarship might be awarded that the student can use at any school. For a 2-3 hour time commitment to take the test, $2500 is not a bad time investment.</p>
<p>*What’s the big deal about the scholarships? They barely make a dent in private school tuition. *</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Well, at some privates their NMF scholarships can go a long way. Fordham offers NMFs free tuition…that’s about $35k per year. Is that a big enough “dent” for ya?</p>
<p>*What if you’ve moved schools over the summer? Who has to fill out the paperwork, your old school or your new school? (And if it’s the old school, how do you motivate them to do it??) *</p>
<p>Call NMCorp (they’re very nice and helpful on the phone) and ask them about this.</p>
<p>If it is your old school, I can’t imagine that they would just refuse to do it. If it’s a public, then contact the district and complain.</p>
<p>National Merit Scholarship Corporation
1560 Sherman Avenue
Suite 200
Evanston, Illinois 60201-4897
Main Telephone: (847) 866-5100
Main Fax: (847) 866-5113</p>
<p>
Saugus, if you happen to have an extra insignficant $2500 lying around, I’d be happy to take it off your hands.</p>