<p>You have to be equal or greater than the state cut off score. So if state cut off is 219 (e.g. California), and you live in California, 219 will get you to Semi Finalist status. It will get you to finalist also if all other necessary conditions are met e.g. your SAT scores, GPA, recommendations etc are above the minimum needed.</p>
<p>I have published some of these conditions in other threads.</p>