<p>I’m a national merit semifinalist with grades and SAT scores that are a bit above average for Columbia students. How much does national merit help me?
I noticed that most colleges write something in their publication about how many National Merit Scholars they have. Is this something they like to show off?</p>
<p>For Columbia, many viable applicants will be NMSF. It’s a great honor but in the Columbia applicant pool, it’s not very unique.</p>
<p>It’s definitely something that colleges like to mention (though high schools like to flaunt it even more). As T26E4, many applicants to Columbia, though by no means all, will be NMSFs. It’s not the equivalent of winning something like the Intel competition, but it’s definitely a feather in your cap. You should obviously mention it in the “academic awards” section of the application.</p>