A word of warning to all newly announced(?) semifinalists

First of all, congrats. Y’all got lucky and every state lowered their requirements… but that says something dire about your cohort’s commitment to education. These are historic lows for a lot of states, and very huge dips for others.

I won’t be surprised if many of this year’s semifinalists do not qualify for finalist status. It’s quite the drop in academic performance, and merit scholars are held to a very high standard of academic excellence. Unless you’re a handful of points above the cutoff, don’t expect to make finalist automatically. Work for it. Do insanely well on the SAT, make sure your grades are extremely solid, and make sure your essays and recommenders are filled with genuine passion and thought.

Be very wary and know this is a hard step to overcome since they lowered the standard for you guys. Good luck out there.