They do have access to that information. The school gets a file with all the scores for the school. Its possible that YOUR child’s GC doesn’t have it - but the school has it.
D3’s GC is pulling a Sgt. Schultz as well.
My Daughter had gotten the e-mails from Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell etc. They clearly have access to the PSAT scores.
Thanks @suzyQ7 and @Mamelot. It doesn’t matter, but I am curious how many other kids at his school are sitting on a 219 wondering if it’s semifinalist worthy. Clearly the GC wasn’t willing to look into it for me.
@Leafyseadragon sources here in the Twin Cities tell me that even the GC’s of the schools with high numbers of NM kids historically really aren’t talking this year. Everyone’s nervous because so much has changed. I can see their point to some extent. No fun sticking your neck out with some guess work and potentially incurring the wrath of Johnny’s parents who have run numerous statistical models “proving” he’ll be NM this year (and sharing them on CC of course 
). But I’m flummoxed as to why a GC can’t share school-specific data with a parent. It is what it is - the SI’s won’t change. In any case, pulling the Sgt. Schultz seems to be the easiest way to avoid the topic.
I have asked my GC a month back how many kids got above my S’s score and she said she didn’t get a chance to look at the data and I didn’t follow-up. I didn’t want to keep asking. NMF is not a high priority for us.
@CaucAsianDad and @Mamelot We just returned from Florida – S visited the University of Florida and University of Central Florida for Mechanical/Aerospace engineering. He really liked both places.
During our peer adviser chat with two UF engineering seniors, the Associate Dean for Engineering came in and spoke briefly to us about UF engineering. S was favorably impressed. Also a beautiful campus. Engineering school just received $50 million from an alum.
UCF also favorably impressed. We met with the Director of the Burnett Honors College. Was encouraged to hear that even if S doesn’t make NMSF, there are still scholarship opportunities at UCF for out-of-state students. Director also told us that Lockheed Martin hires more UCF students than from any other university. Siemens, Boeing, and Harris also have a big presence there.
Looks like S will apply to both schools. Hoping for NMSF (218 in Virginia) but if S misses, sounds like there’s still opportunities out there. We also visited the Kennedy Space Center – an amazing place to visit and spend the day.
@VABogart glad you had such a great time in FL - we visited Kennedy Space Center as well several years ago and very much enjoyed that experience.
Good luck to your son - hope he makes NMSF!
@VABogart You can search the UCF forums for examples of OOS scholarships (amount and test scores/GPA), over the last few years. The same in the UF forums (often in the admitted student discussions). Both schools have very good ME/Aero programs and are recruited nationally (for Aero).
Fun with LinkedIn!
If you go into LinkedIn and select UF or UCF, it will give you a listing of Alumni and where they currently work (and what they do). For example, UF has 247,000 alumni in LinkedIn, and the number one employer is Lockheed Martin (with 650 alumni, followed closely by Intel, IBM and PwC). It will also tell you where they live.
UCF has over 167,000 alumni in LinkedIn, with the number 1 employer being Lockheed Martin (with 1,580).
You can also select an employer and get a listing of which schools they attended (keep in mind that this list includes everyone in Linkedin that’s working at Lockhead and not just engineers). For example,
(1567) University of Central Florida
(1471) Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
(1049) University of Phoenix
(1048) Penn State University
(967) Drexel University
@Gator88NE Thanks – these are great resources! Are you a Gator alum? I loved visiting UF.
I think weather/climate is also a big factor for S for college. He seems to thrive in sunshine and warmth, and get depressed/lethargic in cold/cloudy places. Carnegie-Mellon, Purdue, and Penn State are among the best engineering schools in the country, but S would probably wither in those places due to the cold and lack of sun (relative to Florida, anyway). It’s telling that all of his schools so far (VA Tech, Texas A&M, UF, UCF) are south of where we are.
I will say Texas A&M is as good as Carnegie Mellon, Purdue, and Penn State. I’m going through the same with my Daughter we are looking a A&M, Texas, Penn, Rice, Georgia Tech, Duke and Wash U. The other thing we have been doing is asking for a list of companies that recruit at the University. Also, what % of kids go to grad school. My daughter is interested in getting a PhD. The Co-op program was pretty good a Ga Tech. They had 400 employer interview on campus last year is what they said.
My son is a freshman at UCF for computer science. In hindsight, this should have been his first choice school all along. It has been an amazing experience so far.
@PAMom21 That’s great to hear. S is still talking about his visits to UCF and UF (and the amazing FL weather B-) Can you say what your son likes most about UCF? S is still daydreaming about being in Florida.
@NCComputerNerd My dad lives in College Station, TX so he’s rooting for S to go to Texas A&M. Georgia Tech is a Top 5 engineering school. Unfortunately, S isn’t interested in GA, but my brother got his Masters and Ph.D. at Georgia Tech (atomic biophysics). He worked first for Shell Oil in LA, then some time later started his own seismic software company, which was very successful and which he eventually sold to (I think) Aramco. So there’s one successful Ph.D. anecdote for GA Tech.
Oops. I meant atomic physics, not biophysics.
LOL. if the cutoff for California is 220 ill be so mad…
i got a 219 
praying praying praying
funny tho because i tend to always get the bare minimum of my goal
like i got a 34 on the act which was like my bare target
i hope its the same with this
I noticed a new PSAT new piece:
http://patch.com/georgia/woodstock/outstanding-juniors-recognized-superintendents-key-scholars
But no indication of the “commended” score as I can tell.
@CA1543 Thanks for this. I found last year’s Key scholars announcement for the same district. There were 148 of them. This year there are 300 of them (all based on 99% of the PSAT).
http://patch.com/georgia/woodstock/148-cherokee-county-students-recognized-key-scholars
Don’t be too alarmed the Key Scholars doubled but the cutoff is top 90% not top 99%. Slim hope that the 99 percentile is so off based.
Predictions are 219-221 for CA. I hope it will be 219
@suzyQ7 – doubled the amount - do you think the key scholar percentile changed or the PSAT national profile of 99% is a wider range (bc not actual test takers)? Both articles reference the top 10% in the nation - 90%ile it seems. So supports theory of easier test and lots of clumping towards the top levels.