Why the decline?

Uni's 15 semifinalists and 21 commended students comprise more than 60 percent of the senior class, and while this is a remarkable total, one has to wonder what caused the rather sudden decline in recognized Uni students. The Illinois Math and Science Academy also experienced a notable decline.

Director of College Counseling Lisa Micele points to the fact that the cutoff score increased. That could well be a factor, but it is quite possible that the 2-point change was the not the only reason.

Some students suggest that the heavy workload imposed on juniors at the end of the quarter last year prevented them from being able to study for the PSAT; others still theorize that the recent changes to the PSAT meant to make it more similar to the new SAT gave students from other schools with different curricula an advantage over Uni students.

However, many educators hold serious doubts about the effectiveness of comparing schools based on such numbers. Whenever the NMSC releases the names of recognized students, the information is preceded by an explicit warning to faculty and administrators: that comparing schools by their number of semifinalists will lead to “erroneous and unsound conclusions,” and becoming a semifinalist is an individual achievement, not one that a school can take credit for.

Not to worry

Micele agrees. She confirms that many administrators at Illinois high schools use National Merit data to weigh their schools against one another, but she echoes the NMSC's stance: These comparisons are unsubstantiated. She argues that any selective school, like Uni or IMSA, is bound to have above-average performance on standardized testing.

She also says that a student who does not qualify for National Merit scholarships should not be upset or discouraged. Even though the NMSC offers a “legitimate” distinction, failure to be recognized does not by any means lessen a student's chance of receiving scholarships from other organizations.

In fact, she says, students who are not recognized by the NMSC often end up receiving more financial benefits than those who are. If a recognized student applies to a college that does not offer scholarships to finalists, the only money the student will see from the competition will be from corporate sponsors.

Director/Principal Kathleen Patton is not losing sleep over the drop either.

“It's a nice honor to be a National Merit Semifinalist,” she says, “but let's keep it in perspective. It's based on one score, on one test.”

Still impressive, after all

Patton argues that, although standardized testing in general can be effective as an indication of academic achievement, students shouldn't obsess over a disappointing score.

“Large schools are happy to have a couple of semifinalists,” Patton adds. “To have 15 semifinalists in a graduating class of 60 students is an amazing accomplishment.”

The only other schools in Champaign-Urbana that had semifinalists this year were Centennial and St. Thomas More. Each school had one.

As Patton points out, Uni's semifinalist-to-student-body ratio is considerable. New Trier Township High School, a widely acclaimed school deep in Chicago's affluent suburbs, has an enormous student population (4,094, according to the IHSA), sky-high ACT and SAT scores, and about $10,000 to spend on every student. But its percentage of semifinalists has not eclipsed Uni's over the last few decades, as logic would suggest.

If Uni had proportions similar to New Trier's, it would have a semifinalist about once every 20 years. Instead, Uni has had 15 or more, per year, in every year since 1996.

Only 22 high schools in Illinois had 10 or more semifinalists this year, and only 12 schools had 15 or more. Of these 12 schools, a majority of them had 500 or more students per class. Uni had the smallest graduating class.

In terms of absolute number of semifinalists, Uni tied this year for 12th place in Illinois with Whitney M. Young Magnet School in Chicago. The state was led by New Trier (38 semifinalists) and IMSA (36). Thomas Jefferson High School (158) in Alexandria, Va., and Stuyvesant High School (105) in New York City led the nation in total numbers.

Indeed, to put things in even greater perspective, having consistently large numbers of semifinalists didn't really become the norm at Uni until the late 1990s — and it wasn't until 1999-2000 that the school crossed the 20-student threshold.

In the end, the PSAT is inherently designed for practice for the SAT, and the opportunity to get scholarships and benefits is something of an added bonus. Micele says she hopes that students realize this, and advises them not to worry about being overlooked.

“You're all gifted … you're all talented,” she says.