does national merit bolster resume?

Applying to College
1

<p>I know that it can make a college app look better, but how much weight does it have? and is a 222 in a Californian school enough for semi-finalist cut off?</p>

2

<p>at colleges that are big players in the National Merit game, such as USC and Alabama, yes it’s a big admissions boost. The Ivies just don’t care.</p>

3

<p>No. Even for USC, some students are denied with NMSF.</p>

4

<p>At highly selective schools, its impact will be negligible. While acceptance rates for NMFs/NMSFs are likely higher, that’s probably more as a result of all the other positive things that tend to appear on NMF/NMSF applications more frequently than they do on others’ applications.</p>

<p>Since National Merit is almost entirely about your scores on the PSAT, which correlate with your scores on the SAT/ACT, it doesn’t say a whole lot that won’t already be said by your standardized test scores and grades.</p>

<p>The major advantage of National Merit is that being a finalist opens you up to tons of opportunities for full rides at excellent institutions. Or, as is often the case, to tiny scholarships (in proportion to the total cost of attendance) at the schools you actually want to attend.</p>

5

<p>The cutoffs are not the same year to year. We have no idea what score will be ‘enough’ until September.</p>