In case you have a student in eleventh or twelfth grade, chances are you’ve heard of the particular National Merit Scholarship or grant . All test takers in their third year of high school are automatically considered for the Nationwide Merit Scholarship when they take the Primary SAT (PSAT), as the National Advantage Scholarship Corporation is a co-sponsor of the exam. This non-profit organization recognizes students with the highest scores on the PSAT each year with a scholarship. In fact , the alternate name for the PSAT is the National Merit Scholarship Being qualified Test (NMSQT).
The process for finding out if you are scholarship recipient is lengthy. Each year, roughly eleven months after a student sits for your PSAT/NMSQT, test takers are notified if they have been identified as a National Merit Commended Student or Semifinalist. Five months after that, Semifinalists will find out if they have been selected as a Finalist. Roughly half of all of the Finalists each year are deemed Nationwide Merit Scholarship recipients, with approximately 7, 400 students ultimately awarded the scholarship each year
So how does being a National Advantage Scholarship candidate impact a college application? It fits into the procedure just like any other piece of the applicant’s file. When I reviewed programs for admission, if the student integrated that she was a National Advantage Commended Student or Semifinalist within her application, I would note this in my review but focus rather on all other aspects of the application. Because the National Merit Scholarship recognizes students for high testing on a practice exam, and our admission requirements focused on a student’s official standardized testing , all of those other file was much more important within our application review.
The timeline of the National Merit Scholarship identification process also makes it difficult for it to play a significant role within the college admission process, because it covers the entirety of a student’s last year of high school. For those colleges that have application deadlines among November 1 and January 1, no student would know by the time that they submitted their application if they had advanced from the Commended Pupil or Semifinalist stage to the Finalist stage. Finalist selection happens in February of a student’s senior year and then, only in the ensuing months, the final scholarship recipients are usually identified. It’s highly probably that if your student receives a National Merit Scholarship, it will occur after their college program process has been completed.
With all this particular in mind, I suggest taking a deep breath and focusing more on all the other facets of your student’s college application. At the end of the day, your student has a lot more control over their grades, involvement, and essays, and those factors will be much more relevant in the admissions process. I would encourage all students to go in to the PSAT/NMSQT with an open mind, yet understanding that it is just one very small item in the college admission process.
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Christine Kenyon is a member of College Coach’s team of college admissions experts . Prior to joining College Coach, Christine was a senior admissions officer at Babson College and a scholarship reviewer and interviewer at UNC Chapel Slope and Duke University.
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