<p>There was a note earlier about why they do state-by-state qualifying. All of that info was very good. I would add that in some states tests are essentially mandatory and participation is near 100%. In other states, participation is completely up to the parents/students, so fewer take the tests. The results tend to be that the ‘target’ is higher in the states where fewer students take the test. When it is optional, only those most qualified tend to go for it. If you make the cut-offs national, the bar would be artificially high for some and artificially low for others. </p>
<p>Torveaux, I think you have not looked at enough state-by-state data. The reverse of what you seem to be saying is the truth. Cut scores tend to be pulled up in states with high test participation rates. Even though it is possible that fewer low-scoring students take the test in states with low participation (not sure of this), any such effect is swamped by the fact that in each state, the number of NMSF is completely independent of the # of test-takers and is based solely on the number of graduating seniors. In states with low participation rates NMSC has to ‘dig deeper’ to get the requisite number.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how frequently NMSC sends colleges notification that they were named a student’s first choice? If my student just set his choice today, when will the school likely be notified. (We want to get confirmation of a (guaranteed by our understanding) scholarship before sending in a deposit.)</p>
<p>what is considereed a discipline problem? I had one time in sophmore year where I left class for a whole period and got a saturday school. Is that considered a discipline problem even though i only did it once?</p>
<p>Please answer question:what is considereed a discipline problem? I had one time in sophmore year where I left class for a whole period and got a saturday school. Is that considered a discipline problem even though i only did it once? this is urgent! </p>
<p>@fu11rideschool I don’t think there’s a clear/simple answer there. It comes down to whether or not your school will choose to report it as a discipline problem when they do your recommendation. I would guess that they probably will not; however it might be good to ask your guidance counselor now, especially if you are on good terms with him/her.</p>
<p>If they do choose to report it, they won’t not let me be a finalist just because of one discipline problem right? It only happened once and I only got a traffic help for 10 minutes as discipline @mathmomvt </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids do you know of any other automatic scholarships to colleges other than the national merit psat one and are not that competettive but may be lesser known so people dont apply to them?</p>
<p>@fu11rideschool I can’t give you any guarantees. Your best bet would be to confirm with the school that the incident was minor enough that they won’t feel the need to report it. Once reported as a “discipline problem” it could disqualify you from moving from semifinalist to finalist. I don’t have any specific information, but my impression is that kids get disqualified if they’ve been suspended, not for getting a single detention. But I don’t know if that’s because schools would choose not to bother reporting a single detention, or if NMSC doesn’t care about that level of disciplinary action. I can’t find a copy of the form the school has to fill out, but I think it’s at the school’s discretion what to report. </p>
<p>Check out <a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Paying for College - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a> for non-NMF automatic scholarships. Also if you check the national merit list, there are a few scholarships there available to semifinalists.</p>
<p>I really doubt that one time thing will get you. It is the principal that fills out the form so get in good with him or her.</p>
<p>how does one prepare for the PSAT w/out any prep books? does anyone know of any good websites?</p>
<p>so top scorers get notified in their junior year? i did not get notified and i made 222. does that mean i cannot be a finalist? (i live in GA)</p>
<p>anellie8…If you’re a rising senior, you should get notified by your school in September of this year if you have been named a Semi-Finalist. Since your score is several points above the highest cutoff GA has seen, I think you should be pretty confident of making Semi-Finalist.</p>
<p>The notification earlier this year would’ve been a letter your school received basically verifying the status of the top 50,000 scorers among the juniors who took the PSAT last fall. Some schools mentioned this letter to the students, but many did not. You didn’t miss anything by not being notified at that point. </p>
<p>Continue to watch these threads in the next several weeks and you’ll see when people start getting notified of SF status by their schools. At that point, you need to be in touch with your Guidance Counselor and/or principal to make sure they’ve received your Semi-Finalist notification letter and instructions. The letter will have login information for you to create an account with NMSC in order to complete your portion of the SF package. The deadline for submission of required items is usually in the first week or two of October, so don’t sit back waiting for them to contact you…especially if your school is not familiar with the NM process.</p>
<p>In the meantime, read through the rest of this FAQ thread to familiarize yourself with what you’ll need to do and what your school will need to do for your SF package. Congrats on a great PSAT score!! Good Luck!!</p>
<p>thank you very much :)</p>
Announced Fall of 2014 for the Class of 2015
Alabama - 207
Alaska - 210
Arizona - 213
Arkansas - 206
California - 222
Colorado - 213
Connecticut - 220
Delaware - 215
Florida - 211
Georgia - 215
Hawaii - 214
Idaho - 211
Illinois - 215
Indiana - 212
Iowa - 207
Kansas - 213
Kentucky - 210
Louisiana - 208
Maine - 212
Maryland - 221
Massachusetts - 223
Michigan - 210
Minnesota - 215
Mississippi - 207
Missouri - 209
Montana - 206
Nebraska - 209
Nevada - 208
New Hampshire - 212
New Jersey - 224
New Mexico - 210
New York- 218
North Carolina - 212
North Dakota - 201
Ohio - 213
Oklahoma - 206
Oregon - 217
Pennsylvania - 216
Rhode Island - 212
South Carolina - 209
South Dakota - 203
Tennessee - 212
Texas - 218
Utah - 208
Vermont - 213
Virginia - 219
Washington - 219
West Virginia - 201
Wisconsin - 208
Wyoming - 204
DC - 224
Boarding schools ^
US Territories - 201
Outside US - 224
PSAT Commended students will get a letter in the mail April this year telling them off their status. If you do not get commended letter and are on the border, you are either a PSAT finalist or nothing. I think you can estimate which you are by comparing your scores to the cutoff scores above.
I got 213 in PA, so I will most likely be commended. I hope the cutoff is not 214 this year (as scores were lower than average) because 3 in my grade got a 214. I feel very bad for NJ 223s, which deserve more recognition than they get. (That would be me if I lived 10 miles east!)
I do not like NM’s selection of finalists. It is based on one test, rather than a 4 year high school GPA. My UW GPA = 3.97 and there are people in my grade with a 3.4 UW but 220+. Some have multiple Cs this year but will get thousands of dollars of scholarships I cannot get. (I have straight As this year.) And I am in 4 AP classes, among the most of anyone in my grade.
Don’t get me wrong; some PSAT finalists are legitimatelty smart, but the others are just good test takers or got lucky.
@agupte You are talking about the NMSC Semifinalist stage. The Finalist stage requires a review of academic records, an essay, an SAT score that is 1960+, a letter of recommendation, and a short list of ECs.
I hope that the cutoff for your state is 214. And yes, I got lucky. I made my state’s cutoff by one point. Of course, if one was black or Hispanic, you may not even need a score above 200…
And on (I think) the PSAT Class of 2016 thread, a poster on there has a formula for computing the cutoff score for next year. Not guaranteed to be accurate, but it has been sometimes I think. You could ask her…
Wait, so if DD has 223 in California and will not get a letter in April she is in? So we don’t have to wait until September to find out?
I think though I am not sure. I think only commended gets the letter though it may be both commended and semifinalist.
@albert69 Oh yeah. Still though the standards to move to NMF are very low. I do not know of any NMSF who did not become NMF.