3 Seniors Selected as National Merit Semifinalists

Many students at Jamesville-DeWitt High School are applauded by the school and greater Syracuse community for their extraordinary achievements, extracurricular involvement, and academic success. But to be recognized on a national level? That’s another story.

Seniors Erik Davis, Andrew Lee, and Lydia Nevin are now one step closer to receiving the highly prestigious National Merit Scholarship, worth $2,500. As an added perk, the honor of being a National Merit Semifinalist gives a slight boost to college admissions chances and even with private and college-specific scholarships. There were 25 National Merit Semi-Finalists in Central New York.

“Just like being on the High Honor Roll or being an AP Scholar, this is just another accomplishment that might distinguish a person from other students,” said Lee.

It all started in October of sophomore year for Lee, when he first took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). “I wanted to try the test once without any pressure since it didn’t count for anything,” he said. Lee took the PSAT/NMSQT once again his junior year, this time along with Davis and Nevin.

According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s website, of the 1.5 million entrants in their junior year of high school, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT scores qualify for recognition into the National Merit Scholarship Program. In the April following the test administration, high-scoring participants are invited to name two colleges or universities to which they would like to be referred by the NMSC.

In September, Davis, Lee, and Nevin were three of the nearly 16,000 notified that they have qualified as Semifinalists. Seniors Jessica Salbert, Ben Shapiro, and Brianna Suslovic were three of the remaining 34,000 who received Letters of Commendation in recognition of their academic promise. Although they will not continue in the competition, these students may still become candidates for Special Scholarships sponsored by businesses and corporations.

After this stage, the Semifinalists had to fill out an online application, which includes outside activities, SAT/ACT scores, a transcript, and one essay. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation reviews these applications and notifies students if they get selected as finalists. “Then, they pick some people out of the finalists to win National Merit Scholarships, or some other awards associated with the program,” explains Nevin.

The cutoffs for being recognized as a Semifinalist vary by state and year, but Nevin says that New York’s is always one of the highest. Nevin and Lee say that there is no cutoff for selecting finalists, who are chosen more hollistically based on the online application. This year for New York State residents, that magic number was 219, according to collegeplanningsimplified.com.

“It feels good,” said Davis on his latest achievement. “I know it’s a great honor and hopefully being a semifinalist isn’t the end of the story,” he said.

Nevin has similar feelings. “It’s pretty cool. I was happy to hear, but I wasn’t surprised since I knew I was probably above the cutoff,” she said.

Lee likes the idea of a “nationwide scholarship,” but doesn’t agree with all of the weight that is put on standardized test scores. “I personally think that standardized tests are overrated and horribly inaccurate at determining a student’s ‘aptitude,’ which is kind of the point of giving out a scholarship.” Lee says that he has friends who scored lower on the PSAT/NMSQT than him but are just as worthy of being recognized.

As far as studying goes, “I did not actively prepare for it,” said Davis, who only took one practice PSAT that was in a booklet provided by the testing agency.

“The second time I didn’t really have time to prepare or even think about it. It was right during the soccer season, so I was busy with other things,” said Lee.

Nevin, on the other hand, purchased a review book and took practice tests over the summer. “My dad’s idea, not mine,” she added.

None of these students took the PSAT/NMSQT with the goal of becoming a Semifinalist in mind. “I knew that being a Semifinalist was a possibility if I did well. It wasn’t really a hard goal of mine, though. I approached it as more of an early diagnostic for the actual SAT,” said Davis.

Nevin had similar goals. “I knew it was possible, but I took it more to see what standardized tests were going to be like,” she said.

These students have great aspirations for their futures. Davis “definitely” wants to study engineering. He says that the Project Lead the Way classes at J-DHS opened his eyes and steered him towards the field. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is his top choice for college, to which he has applied Early Action.

Lee still hasn’t decided on a college major, but knows that he wants to pursue math or engineering. He wishes to get into a career that lets him work with others and travel extensively. He is looking to attend college “somewhere far from home,” like Boston or even California.

Nevin wants to go into computer science and use the skills that she develops in a way that will help people. As for now, she does not have a top choice school.

Even if these students do not get selected as Finalists, the worst case scenario, as Davis puts it, is “I just get to say I was a Semifinalist.”

Lee has a few words of advice for future PSAT/NMSQT-takers: “As a senior and remembering all of the things that I stressed out about last year, I think that the PSAT is something that you really shouldn’t go crazy over. It’s designed to be a practice test, so unless you really are gunning for the scholarship, take it as an opportunity to see how you do under test-like conditions. If you are prepping for the SAT or ACT, the two best things you can do are 1) take practice problems from a study book that gives explanations of answers in the back, and 2) sleep. A lot. The sleep part becomes more important as you approach the actual test, though,” he said.