<p>Agree with others about CL and Type, and I agrees with @Ynotgo about %Col (although it is odd that we are all seeing the same value of 9)</p>
<p>confirming everyone else’s comments… homeschool has type 2, with Cl 0, also %Co 9 </p>
<p>yes, public school 1,
Cl is class size x10,
%Co is 8</p>
<p>What is the theory about the Rank number? Class rank? Doesn’t seem to match up at this end.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about rank but it says 4 on my daughters application and her rank is in the top 4% of her class. She attends a public school and also has a 1 for type and 9 for %Col.</p>
<p>Pretty sure the rank is percentile rank. D1’s app shows 1 for rank, and she’s not in line for Val, but she is in the top 1%.</p>
<p>Rank is blank on S’s app and his school does not report rank.</p>
<p>What’s the %Col? Ours is only 8, and I’m feeling a bit left behind, LOL! The rest seems to make sense from what’s already been said. Our CL number is off by about 10 (1 after the math), but close enough I suppose.</p>
<p>@PAMom21…I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing it’s a percentage of students from your school that plan to attend college. IIRC, there was a question on the PSAT “bubble-ins” (or maybe when they registered?) that asked about plans to attend college so I’d guess it’s a reflection of how students from your school answered. :-/ </p>
<p>The state makes sense, though I would probably expect even lower locally. However, I’m not sure it would be from the PSAT bubbles, as wouldn’t virtually all PSAT takers at least be planning on college?</p>
<p>It probably depends upon the school. At our local HS, anyone can take the PSAT but they “encourage” it in the AP/Honors classes so very few kids in the regular level classes even consider taking the test. Some schools have everyone take the PSAT, so I’d imagine there could be a wide variance in how the test takers might answer that question. That stat could mean something completely different as well. Chock it up as just one more thing in the “NMSC mysteries” category. 
</p>
<p>Ah, good point. Locally we have a Saturday offering only, and it’s self selected. Granted, some parents might push the kids, but I would still expect close to 100% intending on college. If the stat comes from guidance or something, our 80% might make sense.</p>
<p>I think NMSC must have access to information from the school. I don’t think my DS would have had any idea how to answer if class size was a question on the PSAT registration. But maybe the school has to fill out registration information in order to offer it.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the cutoff is for SAT scores to advance to finalist? I have read 1960 (not using writing, but multiplying writing multiple choice by 10). By that formula, my daughter’s past SAT score would be 2010, which I think would be safe, as the highest estimate I’ve heard was 2000 for cutoff. However, her actual SAT was only 1990, which seems dangerously close to the cutoff. I’m wondering how critical it is that she get a better SAT score immediately. I can’t find anything on the National Merit site that confirms any particular cutoff score. </p>
<p>momtimes3, she is fine with that score. If you go back a few pages on this thread, I think there were a couple of posters who called NMSC to confirm that the required SAT score is still 1960. Or maybe it was another NM thread, not sure. But you can call them yourself if you are really worried and want to be sure. They are very nice. A real person answers the phone and talks to you.</p>
<p>@momtimes3, I had one person at the NMS headquarters somewhat confirm the 1960 (as others have also done), but if I were you, I would simply call and confirm for your specific child. I actually called once, asking about cut scores, and a second time just the other day to make sure my son had submitted everything needed. I suspect he’ll be fine, but as a mother, can appreciate your anxiety, . </p>
<p>If your child wants to retest just to raise her score, that’s another story. But I wouldn’t have her retest just for a higher NMS score, especially if her other factors are solid (strong senior year, high GPA, etc).</p>
<p>(P.S…Several of us have called and asked specifically about the magical 1960, with encouraging responses, but it sure would be nice to see that in writing!)</p>
<p>Yeah, what @celesteroberts said. Her post wasn’t there when I started mine.</p>
<p>I called to confirm and got the name of the person I spoke with---- just in case. </p>
<p>@momtimes3…The only reason (at least for NM purposes) she might want to consider re-taking is if she is only interested in possibly getting the one-time $2500 scholarship. While it’s a holistic review to determine which NMFs get offered the one-time $2500, I would imagine that the further above the 1960 minimum confirming score a student is, the better their chances might be of getting that award.</p>
<p>If your D is interested in any of the school sponsored awards, her current score will be more than sufficient.</p>
<p>My concern is whether or not the 1960 is accurate. The school she is looking at most seriously offers a full ride to NM Finalists, so she needs to make the finalist bracket. I just heard a completely different version of the process which claimed that the student had to score within their ‘confirming band’ for the particular score they received on the PSAT. So a student with a 224 would need to score at least 2200 on the PSAT, while a student with a 208 could get away with 2000, or possibly even 1960. According to this theory, my daughter’s 1990 would be way under and would keep her from getting into the finalist ranks. I wish they would just put something out there that gave us all a better idea of how they really do this. </p>
<p>But why don’t you call them if this is causing you such anxiety? They can clarify things for you in 5 minutes or less.
(847) 866-5100</p>