@Mamelot My DD received the letter from USC yesterday. She usually doesn’t open these, but I did just now and it mentions “According to information we received from the College Board, your achievements…” She only took the PSAT, not SAT. I’m not sure why I’m still reading this thread since she won’t possibly qualify for NMSF! Good luck to the rest of you.
@canypava that actually helps! Thanks. Your DD must have scored pretty well nonetheless!!!
She did great! But at SI 211 in CA, it’s safely out of nail-biting territory 
S received the mailing from USC today. It is not on his “I’m interested” list though.
@canypava , @Mamelot We got what is likely the same mailing from USC; D17 has taken PSAT (fingers crossed that she will be NMSF), but has not taken the SAT.
@Mamelot …Here is Texas and my S got basically the same letter yesterday in the mail from USC. He took PSAT and new SAT in March. I think they are going from the PSAT scores. Just a thought however that is how I read the letter.
Ditto. It went into the recycling pile.
@mamelot D got the same type letter from a top LAC and we were trying to figure if their reference was from Oct SAT or the PSAT (she took both). Not sure about the USC letter. We get the usual deluge of flyers and they go straight into the recycling and she tells me she deletes all the email solicitations. But now it seems like the LAC is referring to her PSAT, so that’t helpful.
We got the USC mailing but she has taken PSAT only…Not sched for SAT til June. The schools have to cast wide nets to get bites (more bites equals more admission fees)
My DD also received the same USC letter. She took the PSAT, but has not taken anything else since so I’m also assuming that it was generated based on her result (221 in CA), though I guess it could have been generated based on self-disclosed information that she provided College Board when she registered for the AP and SAT II exams she has coming up next month . . .
S just received the USC letter – it has the same language as stated by others. Guess it took a while to get from CA to VA. Pretty sure it was as a result of S’s PSAT score (SI 218 for VA), though S did take the March 2016 SAT.
@CaucAsianDad – did you say you work in Orlando, FL?
@perch1024 We are in the same boat. My son scored a 218 in Illinois too. I’m not sure we will be chasing any NM money, but I’m having him take the SAT on May 7th just to keep our options open. He took the ACT in April (still waiting on those scores to post), so we figure whichever test he scores higher in we will use for college admissions. I really don’t want him to have to be taking any more tests in the fall, so that’s why we are in the crunch to get both out of the way now. Whether or not his score is high enough for NMSF is kinda secondary for us at this point.
Received the USC letter yesterday. SI is 223 in NC. Son did not take the new SAT in May so these must be based on PSAT. He did take the SAT in Nov / ACT in Dec so hope to be done unless he makes NMSF cutoff score AND NM requires the “new” SAT to confirm PSAT score.
@paveyourpath The old SAT result from last November is fine so he won’t have to take it again.
@paveyourpath you should confirm with the National Merit people but others have posted that they said they will allow either test as long as it’s within the 2 year or so timeframe.
@dolemite and @mamelot Thank you! I’m hoping that is the case. Son’s GC told him to just be prepared in case NM throws everyone a curve ball in September.
@paveyourpath @Mamelot It looks like I am getting my info from the 2016 Competition pdf so it could be possible that NMSC makes everyone take the new SAT. So it’s possible we are all using the old info. Did anyone find information for the 2017 competition confirming that older SAT results count?
I called the NMC in March to confirm that my sons SAT score from 2015 would confirm NMF status. They said it would, but the score they will use may be recalculated. So my take away was that the old confirmation score of at least 1960 may change.
The 2017 document does not require one version over the other. I had contacted NMSC about another matter and I thought I checked about this question as well. Because D3 never took the old SAT I didn’t worry about their answer but pretty sure they confirmed that either could be used. The restriction was the timeframe that the SAT would be taken, not the specific version of the test. I think as long as it’s within the last year it should be fine. However anyone with questions should definitely contact them because they’ve been very helpful and I’m sure they will answer the question accurately.
Does anyone know how the NMSF state cutoff lists are created in September? Does the NMC officially announce all of the cutoffs, or do they just notify NMSFs and the lists are compiled by outside sources like CC, Compass Prep, etc., based on reports about who got notified and who didn’t?
In other words, does the NMC say, for instance, “the cutoff for Texas is 220,” or is that determined by someone coming here saying “I’ve been notified, I’m in with 220. Yee-Haa” while someone else says “Commended at 219. Dang”?
Are commended notified at the same time, or is it the lack of notification for NMSF that will tell you?