What level to list on Common App?

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

I posted this in the Common App forum as well, but perhaps I’ll receive more help here.

Under “Honors,” Common App lists a note on the side that states that National Merit Commended and Semifinalist are both considered State/Regional Honors, while Finalist and Scholar are National Honors. Although most semifinalists end up qualifying as finalists, the notification for whether someone got Finalist doesn’t come out until February. So would anyone even put down Finalist? Isn’t it a bad idea to put down Finalist if the results aren’t out yet?

Thanks in advance!

~A confused NMS Semifinalist

2

My son put down NMSF, likely NMF.

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@mom2collegekids Thank you!