<p>Just curious - what is the reasoning behind having state cut offs and not a national cut off? It’s called a National Merit Scholarship. It does confound me that my daughter would be a semifinalist in most states but probably not New York. </p>
<p>Equal distribution among the states I think. Right there with you, DrMom68.</p>
<p>Population isn’t equally divided through the nation. Why should that matter. Is a kid with a 216 from one state more deserving of a potential scholarship than a kid from a state with a higher bar?</p>
<p>Like a House of Representatives Model. </p>
<p>@DrMom68…I think at least part of the reasoning is to ensure that students from all 50 states are represented, based upon the number of HS graduates they have for that testing year. It recognizes the top .5% of test-takers from each state. </p>
<p>Maybe they don’t want states with better school systems to make up ALL the finalist. It would suck to not have a chance because you don’t live in a better school system. I assumed that’s why boarding schools have different score requirements</p>
<p>That may be true, but then this really isn’t a NATIONAL MERIT scholarship, is it? </p>
<p>Well it has participants from all states of the nation…</p>
<p>They are a private company so I suppose they would say it’s their rodeo. OTOH, 501©, so maybe you could complain to your senator or rep about it. Don’t know if it violates any rules there. I imagine if it did, someone else would have put a stop to it by now,since it upsets so many people.</p>
<p>@DrMom68 I think some of the rationale is that a lot of the scholarships are local. If you don’t make sure there are a proportionate number of winners in, say, Oklahoma, then the scholarships there would go to waste. Massachusetts kids just aren’t as likely as Oklahoma kids to take the Univ. of Oklahoma scholarships. Likewise, parents’ employers offer some of these scholarships. You have to have enough Texas winners to earn the Texas employer scholarships, which are only open to children of employees. Local rewards require local winners, which means different cutoffs because of different school systems, socio-economic factors etc.</p>
<p>I’m sure your right. Just venting. </p>
<p>Do you know what the cutoff is? I’m sitting on a 212 in MO in the wait is killing me.</p>
<p>I think ya’ll need to look at the “big picture” from the perspective of National Merit, not from your own perspectives. Of course they want NMSFs from all 50 states! They want scholarships available in all 50 states, and colleges and companies are more likely to offer scholarships if there are NMSFs in their state. A company in, say Wyoming, with employees in Wyoming, is not likely to offer a NM scholarship if nobody ever makes it from that state (and therefore employees’ kids never make it). A small school that rarely gets out of state kids is unlikely to care much about having a NM program if they never get an out of state NM kid to enroll, and there are no NMSFs from that state. There won’t be any publicity for NM in states where few make the cut. Etc., etc. NM is a not-for-profit. They want to stay relevant. Having NMSFs announced, then National Achievement and National Hispanic announced, and Commended Students, and Finalists, and scholarships, all announced at different times, in all 50 states, is good publicity - national publicity!</p>
<p>I KNOW it stinks to have a score that would qualify in most states but not your own. That REALLY stinks. But I think it makes sense from the perspective of NMSC. </p>
<p>The kids who are close but just missed should now get after their scholarship applications, because the commended students at our HS tend to end up with many merit scholarships to great schools and from local organizations. These kids are go-getters and great students with typically excellent SAT and ACT scores, so they seek and find many great scholarships! </p>
<p>It is a bit frustrating to know someone could get ten points less than me and still get in in a different syate</p>
<p>213 is kansas"a cutoff. Principle just told us.</p>
<p>My D has a 215 in Michigan. Still waiting to hear if she made it. I asked the principal today and he stated that he does not have anything yet. </p>
<p>YES THAT IS SO GREAT</p>
<p>213 in Kansas? Where is @GoAskDad??? </p>
<p>hagzz 213 KS?? Aghh goaskdad did you hear? OMG </p>
<p>WAAAAHOOOOOOO!!</p>
<p>she maybe fainted. </p>