<p>Sorry, my post above is just our experience. I understand that others may have had a different experience. Hope that was clear. 
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<p>Just wanted to add to the dual credit discussion–If the credits are earned through CLEP exams, as in my daughter’s case, you don’t need to inform the college of all of your credits at once. You can ask to have only certain test scores sent. Then, during the next year, you can send the rest when losing freshman status is no longer an issue.</p>
<p>@barfly, Totally true! At Cornell and UPenn (two of her favorites) D can only carry one years worth of college credit if she doesn’t want to apply as a transfer student. So she will “lose” a large number of credit hours, but always retain the knowledge. The great benefit for her is that she will “skip” past a number of basic classes and have a chance to broaden and deepen her curriculum and still graduate in 3 years. From the dad perspective I’m relieved that she isn’t rushing through things.Socially and emotionally the undergrad experience is so formative</p>
<p>@luvmygirls, Outstanding idea !!!</p>
<p>@barfly and @Singersdad --Another thing to consider–My daughter took the CLEP exams in subjects where she might have a problem maintaining a really high grade if she took them at college. This is especially important for students hoping to keep their college grade point average high in order to keep scholarships that are awarded.</p>
<p>Along with that line of thinking, my daughter also did NOT take CLEP exams in areas where she would have no problem excelling in the classroom. For example, she would have most likely been able to take the College Composition exam without studying, but this is a strength for her (and something she enjoys.) She is better off taking the English course on campus. She took the Biology CLEP (even though this required a lot of prep for her) because she will not be majoring in the sciences and did not want the pressure of having to take it on campus.</p>
<p>For anyone considering taking the CLEP exams, be sure that the colleges you are considering accept the exams you want to take, and be aware of the minimum passing score required by each college. Some set their own threshold for what is a passing grade for credit. </p>
<p>Every school handles it differently. At Texas A&M, you can send all your AP scores, but then decide which credits to accept and when. Students can accept AP credits online at any time. So my oldest son accepted AP Spanish credits right before he started job interviews so that his transcript would show 3 semesters of Spanish. Some students accept AP credits so that they can qualify early to get their class rings, even though the credits may not count in their degree plans. Dual credit courses are automatically accepted and there is no way to avoid that, but in our high school, many courses are offered as either DC or AP, so my kids took DC for courses that they knew they never wanted to take in college (English!), but AP for courses when they wanted the option (calculus, chem, physics) to take over in college for a strong base or to take AP credits. </p>
<p>@luvmygirls, my kids have also taken CLEP exams. Also, kids can take AP tests without being enrolled in the AP course. Our high school pretends that students cannot do that, but all my kids have done that (took some convincing - the AP coordinator insisted that was not allowed). Sometimes the AP class just doesn’t fit in a schedule, but at least at our school, my kids had no problem passing AP tests even if enrolled in just Honors and not AP. I am always banging the CLEP drum because so few people even know that is an option, and many colleges do accept CLEP credits.</p>
<p>We do not have AP world history offered at our school. My oldest took Euro and US and then took the AP exam for world history and made a 4. I think the teachers tell them what to study. My youngest is doing the same this year.</p>
<p>Our school finally released the list for students being considered for National merit. Anyone else hear from their schools??</p>
<p>Not yet at our school. I will post when we hear though.</p>
<p>This is for commended @saismom? Not for NMSF I’m assuming?</p>
<p>I did verify that the school was given my son’s name. They said they were asked to verify the spelling of his name and his enrollment status. I’m trying to find out if any others are on the list. </p>
<p>Yes, this is for the next step, which guarantees commended or better, but it’s not the NMSF notification.</p>
<p>“Congratulations to the following juniors who are being considered for the
2015 National Merit Scholarship Program” This is how it was posted on the website. I assume it is for all 201 PSAT scorers and above.</p>
<p>It is unlikely we will ever be notified by the HS. I am thinking of contacting the HS to ask - thought I would say that my son is applying for something and would like to be able to state on his app that he is advancing in the NM competition, and could the HS please verify that his name is on the list. But that would seem weird for me to be asking rather than my son asking the question, and I am sure he would not want to ask.</p>
<p>Does anyone know to whom the letter is sent? Principal? GCs? I wonder if it would have been worth home schooling him for the past 11 years so that I would have received the letter myself. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha………</p>
<p>@Barfly that’s a nice way to get the school to say something. 
clever. I may do that. Yes we’ll need to know who got the letter. Your son can ask instead of you - just a thought. </p>
<p>It would be good of them to notify families, especially if those letters aren’t coming home anymore. Everyone here is on top of things, but I’m sure there are families out there who aren’t so focused on this, and might not even know what NMSC or NMSF stand for. Can you imagine? </p>
<p>So it’s last week of September and GC calls you into office to tell you about NMSF. “Oh, by the way, have you taken the SAT yet? No? don’t worry, you still have a week to sign up for the November test and there is even another option in December…” Never mind that the November date is state championship tournament in your sport and you already have plane tickets to sis’s wedding or a college visit that date in December.</p>
<p>Our schools have never notified before this year about commended. I’ll have to ask S if he’s heard anything this year. 2 of our high schools each get quite a number of NMSFs and they tend not to even notice the commended kids. Which is too bad, really. They aren’t mentioned at all during the senior honors night when NMFs get their accolades. I should say something. For GPA they have honors/high honors/4.0 groups that get recognized separately. For Presidential Scholar, they call up the candidates and then separately recognize the finalists, and if they have one, the winner. They could easily call up commended kids.</p>
<p>@Maxwellequations, my son won’t want to ask, but I may suggest it. </p>
<p>In that case, I don’t think it’s bad if you ask. </p>
<p>@celesteroberts I had never thought about what a disadvantage ignorance to your national merit status could be, especially if you may be a SF. Good point. It’s possible that some schools just don’t promote academic achievement as much as they promote sports or other activities. I’m glad our school still puts academics first.</p>
<p>Our school announced the commended students last week…of course we were away on vacation so my son heard via text that he was announced! They are actually taking all the kids pic tomorrow for their website!
I hope they will let us know as soon as they know the cutoff # . Hopefully it will be in time to put on college applications!</p>
<p>celesteroberts - I laughed out loud at your portrayal of the events in September and the conflicts with SAT dates. That is SO our lives! Extremely real.</p>
<p>I see some posts here saying your school has announced the cut off for NMSF. How is this possible if those results are not out until September? Our school indicated would not know until then? Anyone have an estimate for the cut off in TN?</p>