<p>Are all Yale students National Merit Scholars?</p>
<p>haha what do you think? the answer is no.</p>
<p>never hurts to ask. 
it’s such a beautiful school, with the kindest people i’ve ever met. seriously. i don’t know if that’s a characteristic or not, but that’s what i got out of my visit–yale kids are just kind, not fake or doing it to promote, just kind.</p>
<p>That’s exactly what my son thought when he visited. After having just finished his first year at Yale, he still thinks everyone is “sweet” and “kind” at Yale.</p>
<p>yeah…shame i’d never get in. :)</p>
<p>lol. I doubt it. I’m a Commended Student, I think, is that a scholar? I don’t think so…</p>
<p>i sure wasn’t. and we are pretty kind and nice. haha.</p>
<p>My D was a semi-finalist…but never took the SAT couldn’t be a candidate for finalist.</p>
<p>I’m not! Relieved? :P</p>
<p>about 17.5% of yale freshmen are national merit scholars. incidentally, about the same percentage of harvard freshman are, after a huge dropoff from just three years ago.</p>
<p>copied from the “other” site:</p>
<p>School: 2002 2003 2004 2005 (20042005 change) estimated 2005 percentage of class </p>
<p>Harvard: 396 378 312 287 (-25) 17.5% </p>
<p>Yale: 180 228 224 232 (+8) 17.5% </p>
<p>Princeton: 149 165 192 180 (-12) 14.7% </p>
<p>MIT: 139 151 134 131 (-3) 12.2% </p>
<p>Stanford: 223 217 217 194 (-23) 11.9%</p>
<p>Still won’t get in. 
+ 
i know what it takes, and i definately don’t have it–my gpa is just a 4.0 weighted, unweighted would be a 3.5 or something. some dreams just aren’t meant to be but that’s okay. it was great to have visited it. </p>
<p>i’ll vicariously through those that do make it. ;)</p>
<p>
I think you mean “I’ll live vicariously through those that do make it.”</p>
<p></p>
<p>oops…trying to type as fast as my brain…sorry.:)</p>
<p>I was a National Merit Finalist…it didn’t do too much for me.</p>
<p>So is being commended only somewhat of a disadvantage?</p>
<p>A disadvantage?? No, no, I highly doubt you’ll be penalized because you’re a National Merit Scholar I think it’s just not as big a deal as people make it out to be–it’ll help, but only by a bit.</p>
<p>Oh no, I meant if you’re commended, as opposed to actually being a semifinalist/finalist/winner.</p>
<p>It would be funny if winners were penalized, eh?</p>
<p>Wow, it seems like NMSF’s and NMF’s are somewhat rare even in places like Harvard and Yale.</p>
<p>Well, there aren’t that many to begin with. Plus, many scholars probably go to state schools or other colleges that offer merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Exactly. Plus they aren’t exactly “rare”–there are what, 15000, right? I think it’s more just an indication that they aren’t the best predictor of admissions success.</p>