<p>The counselor told me no information would be released before mid-September. I will have an ulcer by then!</p>
<p>Some schools refuse to share the news until the official news date. Ours are like that. They pretend not to have received anything. It’s their policy. But you may have better luck at your school. It varies a lot.</p>
<p>A couple of things while we wait…</p>
<p>1) Advice, please! This weekend, DS needs to finish his app for our state flagship Honors College. At the Honors College day, the panel of advisers suggested that the sooner a student applies, the easier it would be for the student to be admitted…because there are only so many “slots” to fill. DS actually has time this weekend (he’s swamped otherwise) and he needs to submit a resume w/his app. His resume starts out w/a list of his Academic Awards/Achievements and lists his SAT & ACT scores among other things. His SAT is a good deal higher than his PSAT, but I think he should still include a bullet-point along the lines of this:</p>
<p>PSAT: 213 (Awaiting official announcement of National Merit Scholar Semifinalist or National Merit Commended Scholar standing.)</p>
<p>I suggested this to DS because we would otherwise have to wait until his school officially notifies him of Commended Status, right? And that could be until early October, according to a mom I know who has already had a NMS at our high school, and has a daughter who will easily be NMSF this year. </p>
<p>Is this bullet-point a bad idea? DS <em>does not care.</em> He just wants to be done with this app & resume. Frankly, so do I! This process is getting old and DS is getting…ummm…cranky. School is already in full swing, fall sport, etc., etc. and we need to wrap this one up.</p>
<p>WWYD?</p>
<p>2) Re: the question posed earlier by @Wolverine86, we are absolutely in this for the scholarship opportunities. DS could attend our state flagship w/free tuition if he’s a NMS (unlikely, but that was our goal in the beginning). For our family, I can’t really put into words how much this would mean. We’ve had a lot of medical bills over the past several years and that can be devastating to a family budget & savings, even with fairly decent insurance.</p>
<p>3) If one has room on the app, I do not see how listing National Merit Commended Scholar is a bad thing. Couldn’t the PSAT score be listed alongside it, if it was very good? The reason I suggested DS list his PSAT score on his resume is that our Honors College Admins would probably identify that DS came very close to our state cut-off for NMSF…and his SAT score is definitely higher than his PSAT score…so I really don’t see a downside.</p>
<p>4) There’s a student on here asking if he/she is the only one following this thread (Welcome, Student! I don’t have your User ID handy.) I bet there are many students watching this thread, but I admire any young person who has it together enough to join in, ask questions, etc. My DS is not this way (at all) and so I commend any student who is so fully engaged. Even if you don’t make NMS, you are going to be FINE in Life, which is what matters more than anything, IMHO.</p>
<p>@Grammargal, the number of NMSFs allotted to a state is based on the number of graduating seniors in the state as a percentage of the graduating seniors in the entire U.S. There is no connection between the number of students taking the PSAT and the number of NMSFs your state will have. Having said that, I personally am focused on the huge number of Texas students who took the PSAT - 10,000 more than the previous year - because that translated to large numbers of students in the upper score categories, even though the percentages of students in those categories did not increase. As for how the NMSC figures out the number of graduating seniors, and what year’s data is used, I don’t know. Texas is growing, but not by enough to explain 10,000 more test takers!</p>
<p>Oh, right. Is that the number of seniors in the class of 2015 or based on last year’s numbers? Hang in there. It still seems so unfair that it can vary so drastically by state. </p>
<p>I can’t believe we are going to get NOTHING today! I had hoped for at least a few kickoff data pieces, to prove at least that they were actually sent. </p>
<p>Relax and enjoy the holiday folks, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.</p>
<p>My kid’s school would never share the news with the students until the official release in September, unless the new principal has a different policy. CC is the only hope to save me from this extremely stressful waiting. Meanwhile, I would need to do my homework to help the busy and now sick kid-- researching some good comp sci programs and getting advice regarding retaking ACT and/or SAT. </p>
<p>Nothing in colorado today! </p>
<p>Enjoy your holiday! No break until Thanksgiving…</p>
<p>A bit belated, but I can help out with organizing the master list. I’m going back to school on Tuesday, though, so I probably won’t be able to check this thread every 30 minutes like I’ve been doing today. </p>
<p>@onlythebest13 Sorry no news today. We’re all rooting for you. Try to go out and enjoy the rest of your weekend without thinking about this :)</p>
<p>And I have to work too so I won’t be able to check during the day on Tuesday either. It will probably be a wild ride. X_X </p>
<p>What is the scholarship award? I thought it was $2,500 one time if you are a winner… but I just clicked on something that said between $500 and $2,000 annually. Does it pay one time or four? My S has a 225 in NJ. We are looking forward to September 10th…</p>
<p>@GoAskDad, I think it’s entirely appropriate for your son to include your wording in bullet point one. Fingers majorly crossed for you guys.</p>
<p>@veggylover…There are several different “official” scholarships that a NMF might be awarded. There is the one-time $2500 award which can be used at any accredited school, there are university sponsored awards which usually range from $500-$2000/yr (most in the $500-$1000/yr range) and are renewable, corporate sponsored scholarships of various amounts which are usually for children of that corporation’s employees, and a few assorted special scholarships. All of these “official” scholarships are administered by NMSC and being awarded any of these scholarships designates an NMF as a NM Scholar. An NMF can only be offered one of these “official” scholarships.</p>
<p>The large dollar full-ride and near full-ride scholarships that some schools (Bama, Oklahoma, UKy, etc.) offer are considered “unofficial” NM scholarships, although most of them include a small component in the $500-$2000/yr range in order for the student to still be designated a NM Scholar.</p>
<p>Thank you, @suzy100! I was hoping you’d check in and I appreciate your perspective. I think we’ll include that bullet because DS needs to get this app out the door. It helps to have your affirmation, though ;-)</p>
<p>OK and one more thing, everyone: What’s the significance of September 10? Is that the date we can call NMSC ourselves to find out…what, again? Our state cut-off? I don’t think we get <em>that</em> info out of them, right? What info do we get on Sept 10? (sorry for the dumb question…)</p>
<p>@GoAskDad: On September 10, NMSC will confirm by phone if your child is on the list, at least according to what I was told earlier this week. Though how they verify who they are speaking with I’m not sure.</p>
<p>The state cut-off numbers will be announced September 10.</p>
<p>Edit: I have no idea what I’m talking about. Thank you, @Wolverine86, for the accurate answer.</p>
<p>@GoAskDad…Sep 10th is the date that NMSC gives to principals, etc. for public release of NMSF info. Their intent is that the schools can and should tell individual students that they have been designated as a SF, but not make public releases to newspapers, etc. before that date. Some HS misinterpret this date and won’t inform any of the students until Sep 10th unfortunately.</p>
<p>If you call NMSC on Sep 10th, they will confirm for you whether or not your child has been designated as a NMSF but will not tell you directly what the state cutoff score is. They will tell you what the “confirming” SAT score for the Class of 2015 SFs is on that date also.</p>
<p>ETA: @HeliMom74…IIRC NMSC never does release a full list of state by state cutoff scores. There are other sites/entities (including CC <:-P ) that will compile and publish a list by other means though. The “race” is to see if we CC folks can get the entire list together before Sep 10th by “bracketing” as students are informed whether their score qualifies.</p>
<p>It’s a weird timeline. The SF letters are mailed August 26, confirmation calls can be made September 10, and Commended letters go out on Sept. 16. Why not do it all on the same day? Nobody knows.</p>
<p>(Edited for accuracy.)</p>