<p>@FriskySquirrel…You don’t apply for the National Merit Scholarships. A student’s PSAT score from their junior year will qualify them for participation in the competition if it meets or exceeds your state’s cutoff score, but if your score was 191 it unfortunately would not qualify regardless of what state you live in.</p>
<p>You can check out the thread regarding qualifying scores for 2015 graduates here (post #3054 has a list of this year and previous years cutoffs). The national cutoff score for Commended status this year was 203.</p>
<p><a href=“***Class Of 2015 NMSF Qualifying Scores*** - #3046 by celesteroberts - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1580340-class-of-2015-nmsf-qualifying-scores-p204.html</a></p>
<p>If you are African American or Hispanic, it’s possible that your PSAT score might qualify for the National Achievement or National Hispanic scholarship competitions. Those programs have different cutoff score criteria than National Merit.</p>