I spoke to a college recruiter yesterday here in Texas and she didn’t even know that the commended SI number was officially a 209. Not sure how that works. When I told her that the commended was a 209 she sounded extremely shocked and said she thought with the top score going down to a 228 that the commended and NMSF number would go down also. We just thought we had no idea. I informed her that testmasters and compass had posted Texas as a 219 to 220 for NMSF in Texas. She was even more shocked with that. I am not for sure if she just didn’t want to tell me anything or if she truly did not know any of this stuff. Confused in Texas!!!
Look at Arts post at end of Compass predictions. With reasonable certainty the odds of hitting the semifinalist number for any state can predicted. Utah 41% chance 213 or higher 59% chance 212 or lower give or take about 8 % on either side depending on methodology. Good Luck.
My D said one of her teachers (sponsor for the PSAT study group for high test scores going for NMSF) read the CB letter and list of commended students to one of her classes. It was not my D’s class so she did not get the details but her friends in the class texted her to congratulate her for making the list, from the wording of the letter they though she had won “a major award.” She knows (thanks to CC) that she is commended but likely not NMSF, but it sounds like the letter gives a different impression.
I asked her to try to find out how many commended there are this year so I can compare to previous years.
@CaucAsianDad, that must have been the same letter that a friend daughter reported that her (private) HS counselor red to the kids. My friend immediately told me that the counselor said her D (and my extension my S) was in the finalist competition. She was going to try to confirm with the counselor. I have not heard back from her.
I’m guessing that the letter reads something like "The following students at (XYZ High School) have qualified for recognition in the NMSQT competition based on their 2015 PSAT scores . . . " or something like that. Most people haven’t read the Official Guide to PSAT 2017 so really have no idea what “recognition” actually means. What it means is that they will be recognized at minimum as a commended scholar at the appropriate time. Too bad these schools sharing that letter with the student body can’t make that more clear. In fact, this level of the competition is far from over and won’t be over till the semifinalists and commended are actually informed.
The purpose of the letter was NOT to make any announcements but rather to double check for errors or changes in reported eligibility. It’s a letter to administrators, not to the participants themselves.
@Mamelot …do the administrators have to reply if there are no changes?
@Tgirlfriend I have no idea - I thought someone previously had said “No” to that question but I could be misremembering. I’m sure the letter has instructions.
Was also going to mention from your easier post #4200 that it sounds like some colleges may have underestimated cut-offs for the 2017 competition. I know (from friends with kids this has happened to) that if you are in the ballpark you will be included in most elite college mailings, even if you end up missing the cut-off. (Most likely the College Search Service goes off of national percentiles, not projected state cut-offs anyway . . . ). But now I’m wondering if colleges and universities who are targeting NM’s were going off the incorrect percentile table or making incorrect inferences about what cut-offs would look like this year. For instance, how exactly did OU figure out to whom they should send that National Merit recruitment letter? Did they end up sending it to someone who, for instance, scored a 208 in WV or Wyo?
Interesting.
@Mamelot, I believe the colleges that are targeting NM kids were going off of last year cut-offs. Other elite colleges determine mailings based on overall self-reported profiles and test scores. My D’s SI is lower than last year’s cut-off and she did not receive any NM-targeted mailings from OU. But she has received tons of mail from elite schools. Two of them (a certain highly ranked Ivy and a tippy top LAC), I actually consider to be stalkers. lol
@itsgettingreal17 OK that makes sense. Still, for some of the lower cut-off states those cut-offs are actually going to be significantly higher this year. So that gets back to the question of whether someone who scored lower than the commended cut-off received NM scholarship recruitment material. That would be a shame.
D3 is getting stalked and a few have reached out to stalk her parents as well :-j . I’m the gate keeper for all this material because she gave them my e-mail address and I pick up the snail mail before she gets home from school. She doesn’t even read this stuff.
Schools put zero thought into the mailings they send. More (emails) is better less. Don’t read too much into these useless mailings.
did anyone make a prediction for each state yet? If so, can they post it?
Not all of them are useless. One of those e-mails led to acceptance in a pre-college program that D3 thinks will help her figure out what to major in. It so happens to be occurring at a university she was planning to apply to and this way she gets to explore both college and major in a way that fits into her busy summer schedule. She has no delusions that her chances of acceptance will somehow be improved - she’s doing this for her own enrichment. She even applied for and received a small scholarship to attend (enough to provide spending money during her time there).
What’s great about all the mailings and e-mails is that you can take them or leave them. Use them to help your student if the opportunity happens to arise. As I told my D3 when we were discussing the PSAT last year at this time, a high score opens up a whole new level of opportunity. It doesn’t guarantee anything nor does it mean you have to follow any particular path or track.
Keep an eye open for fee waiver too. I remember D15 getting some random mailings that had fee waivers to entice the student to apply.
My kids have received fee waivers after contacting schools directly about specific programs, not just because of their PSAT (or other) scores. It’s important to skim those emails.
I agree re: the emails. My D found out about a number of free summer programs that were not on my radar from emails. We have not received any fee waivers yet, but fee waivers that are offered by the college but not requested are often a good sign for admissions potential.
An earlier poster posted a letter they received that said they should register for the May or June SAT. My son scored a 218 in Illinois so we don’t know yet if he made the cut off for national merit semi finalist. Should he take the SAT this summer or wait until after September??
There are no SATs in the summer. Wait for fall
@perch1024 You may want to sign him up for the June 4 test, unless he is taking SAT subject tests that day.
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat-subject-tests/register/test-dates-deadlines
@perch1024 – I think the test dates remaining this school year cycle are - May 7th, June 4th and then for next school year - Oct 1st & Nov. 5th-- https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register/dates-deadlines.
Did anyone else get the USC letter? D3 received it today and it basically said that according to info. they received from the CB she’d make a great addition to their rich academic environment blah blah blah.
What I’m trying to figure out is whether they are basing this off the PSAT or the SAT. She took the SAT in March. She got letters like this in Jan/Feb. following the PSAT but not many lately so I’m wondering if her SAT scores are resulting in another round of mail. (Can’t recall if she received anything from USC in the past).
There is no mention of NM per se, they do mention their merit scholarship program (which is actually really good, esp. for NM kids).