Any national merit scholar semifinalists here?

Dr. Strange Love said:
National Merit scholarship is a waste. It's a multiple choice test, for god sake, and trying to get a perfect score should Not be the goal …. Instead, test the kid on her Ability to write and engage her reader, or test her on her mathematical ingenuity, like creating some new non-novel combinatoric relationship, and give awards to the best writing submissions and the best new Math problems and solutions.

If you can do one of these tests, like the SAT, and achieve a 90% in all categories …. You're Done …. Call it a day. Our DD took the SAT one time, in her Junior year, and scored above the 90% in all categories. I believe it was 700 math, and around 650 verbal … My Wife and I said you are done … She prepared by studying a few of those old math portions that are available, and took it in May of last year …. Done …. Move on.

Some parents that I know drove their kids crazy to prepare for these things, and this is very wrong too …. And it shouldn't be treated like a sport either.

Another thing. The Academy is educating kids to be Engineers and Scientists who are taught to Break things. It is Ok to break things. It is how humans learn and society progresses. Are Scientists and Engineers perfectionists ? No.
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I agree that some parents and students place too much emphasis on standardized test scores but that is largely due to the incredibly competitive admissions process that colleges have created. I go to a very competitive high school where kids apply to Ivies and top 20 colleges. These colleges all have class profiles where the average SAT score is 1500+.

Just like how admissions to a service academy is, in a way, a competition, students have to compete against thousands of other applicants, many of whole do have 1500+ SAT scores. Ultimately the score you need depends on what schools you want to apply to, but it’s hard to blame students for feeling the pressure to get high test scores because once again, it’s a competition.
 
From DS’s experience in college applications, >1500 SAT, high rank, tons of IB and AP classes, community leadership, varsity sports have not opened many doors. The schools he has been accepted to could have been gotten into with lesser resume. The so-called selective schools are looking for something else (that he apparently does not have). It has not been an affirming process.
 
ders_dad said:
From DS’s experience in college application ...The so-called selective schools are looking for something else (that he apparently does not have). It has not been an affirming process.
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This is so true. Being “perfect” doesn’t get you as much as one might think. If usna doesn’t work out he will have to pay to go to a top engineering school. No free rides for good grades at top schools. And we have not heard back from the top top schools yet so those might be a hard NO. It’s all so shocking but in the end he will be amazing wherever he goes. Thats just his way.
 
mcfamilyof4 said:
ders_dad said:
From DS’s experience in college application ...The so-called selective schools are looking for something else (that he apparently does not have). It has not been an affirming process.
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This is so true. Being “perfect” doesn’t get you as much as one might think. If usna doesn’t work out he will have to pay to go to a top engineering school. No free rides for good grades at top schools. And we have not heard back from the top top schools yet so those might be a hard NO. It’s all so shocking but in the end he will be amazing wherever he goes. Thats just his way.
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I have a friend who works for admissions at an Ivy League school. She told me last year that there were over 1,000 applications from candidates who were #1 in their class. Of those, there were over 300 who got a perfect 1600 on the SAT. So think about it, you could be #1 in your graduating class, and have a perfect score on your SAT, and yet have 299 people ranked ahead of you. Just for this one college. This is why the schools look at all the extras. Can you have a high GPA and a high SAT or ACT score, and be in clubs, play a sport, be in a leadership position, and volunteer... They want to see the whole person.
 
brewmeist said:
I have a friend who works for admissions at an Ivy League school. ...This is why the schools look at all the extras. Can you have a high GPA and a high SAT or ACT score, and be in clubs, play a sport, be in a leadership position, and volunteer... They want to see the whole person.
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DS can and does. [emoji846] but even if Stanford accepts him he won’t get money. I assume.
 
Ditto for my son. For many select schools it really matters where you come from and a lot of other factors beyond your control. If there is one phrase I see in the SA/selective college admissions processes it is “beyond your control”. You do what you can to be the best you can be and then it is beyond your control.
 
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