Last week at Cathedral Catholic was only a 4-day week with one day for testing and an 11 o’clock dismissal. Freshman took the Explore test, the sophomores and juniors took the PSAT, and the seniors got a day off.

The Explore test for freshman and PSAT for sophomores do not determine any scholarship opportunities, but the PSAT for juniors does.

Last year, the now seniors took the PSAT that, along with other requirements, would determine their eligibility for the National Merit Scholarship Competition.

This year, students around the U.S who are planning to enter college in the year 2013 took the PSAT. According to the PSAT/NMSQT Official Student Guide, approximately 1.5 million students are considered for national merit recognition. For sophomores planning to take the PSAT for consideration in the National Merit Scholarship Competition (NMSC), the process can seem confusing and intimidating.

El Cid Online caught up with Mrs. Sharon Rubalcava, the director of counseling at Cathedral, to help explain the process of the NMSC.

According to the PSAT/NMSQT Official Student Guide found on the National Merit website, the process can be broken down into 5 steps. But the first step is the most important.

Step 1: Take the PSAT

.Step 1 is for a registered high school student, usually a junior, to take the PSAT. At Cathedral, both sophomores and juniors take the PSAT. Although it doesn’t count academically for sophomores, it is strongly recommended by Mrs. Rubalcava that all students take it seriously. Once a junior takes the PSAT, s/he is automatically entered into the consideration for the National Merit Scholarship Competition.

Step 2: If you are chosen as a high scorer, provide NMSC with your two top choices of colleges.

Next, the National Merit Scholarship board will determine 50,000 High Scorers based on the sum of the critical reading, mathematics, and writing skill scores on the students’ PSAT. These people will then be asked to name two colleges or universities that they would like to be referred to by the National Merit Scholarship Competition.

Step 3: The high scorers will be designated as either a commended student or a semifinalist.

By September of the next year, approximately 2/3 of the students are chosen as high scorers and will receive Letters of Commendation that could provide a needed boost on a college application. These students will not be able to continue in the competition to become a finalist but may be eligible for a Special Scholarship later on (See step 5).  The other students are considered semifinalists and will be contacted by the NMSC to find out how they can advance in the program. The semifinalists are students who are the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

Step 4: The finalists are chosen.

Out of those semifinalists, 15,000 finalists are chosen in February. These finalists have the chance of winning the National Merit Scholarship.

Step 5: Scholarships are announcedFinally, the last step in the National Merit Scholarship Competition: in March, NMSC announces the recipients of the Special Scholarship (approximately 1,300 students) and the Merit Scholarship (approximately 8,300 students). Corporate sponsors provide the Special Scholarship. These students have met the criteria provided by the corporate sponsors and are chosen out of the group of commended students that did not advance to semifinalists.

Also in March, the National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced. There are three types of scholarships: the National Merit $2500 Scholarships, the Corporate-sponsored scholarships, and the college-sponsored scholarships. These students are nationally recognized and commended for their excellence in academics.

It seems like a lot of work, but Mrs. Rubalcava has some advice for students who are looking to excel on the PSAT and SAT: “Don’t guess,” she says. “It’s very important to relax and do the best you can. Make sure that you utilize the practice materials given to you.”

It looks like some of the students at Cathedral Catholic followed Mrs. Rubalcava’s advice. Cathedral has 2 semifinalists, and 10 commended students for the competition of 2012. Congratulations to Cristina Cabrera and Abby Stuart, who are the semifinalists, and Michael Anders, Cobi Baker, Clare Brodak, Michael Denigan, Patrick Fitzgerald, Sophia Graf, Clayton Jaksha, Renee Kharat, HannahYoder, and Nicholas Zustak, who received Letters of Commendation.

For more information about the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and competition please see the website: http://www.nationalmerit.org/.