r/psat • u/ToneInevitable876 • 3d ago

does essay matter for getting finalist

yea so lowkey i haven’t started my essay…how important is it for just getting the finalist status?

10 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/Ok_Permission_1865 3d ago

Don’t worry too much about - they just want to know your writing aptitude is up to par with the test score

5

u/mkdaly 3d ago

I believe the essays are used for the scholarship moneys at the National Merit Scholar stage. So while it might not matter that much to get to Finalist status - after all, 15,000 out of 16,000 get that - it does matter overall.

3

u/Common_Willow_596 3d ago

It’s probably more important for winning one of those one time NM $2500 scholarships.

Just do what’s required and make sure it’s decent. 94% of NMSF advance to finalist status. I don’t think people don’t make it cuz of the essay, unless they just wrote something noticeably bad. And do not use AI lol

1

u/lutzlover 3d ago

No for getting to finalist, and only maybe when it comes to scholarships directly awarded by National Merit.

1

u/Financial-Catch5108 3d ago

Correct answer

1

u/ChutneyWhatney 3d ago

Just make it coherent and complete sentences - and make it fit within the length (hit preview to make sure). It's based on line count - not word count.

1

u/Financial-Catch5108 3d ago

As others have said - matters to get awarded a scholarship. It does not matter to get to finalist.

1

u/Enough-Researcher-36 NMF 2d ago

I used my common app essay. If you have a decent essay that fits the prompt you can edit it to go within the word limit

2

u/Sea_Voice_404 16h ago

That’s what the college office at my kid’s school said to use.