National Merit Cutoff Predictions Class of 2017

@kikkydee thank you. I saw that on the Compass site, but I didn’t know if anything more concrete was known yet.

Art, you must be reading. You have been wonderful for gathering all this info. I know some people don’t want to post scores here for privacy purposes, so its great that you’ve gathered the private messages and posted them so quickly. And late into the night!

@Enforcer88 wish there was for you and us in Indiana. The midwest is kind of quiet on here. After Illinois at 219 maybe I don’t want to know! :confused:

@kikidee9 Well, a 220 definitely makes it here in Ohio.

Any more reports from New Yorkers???

Just thought I’d compare most likely (art) with the ones we’ve had. It seems like he’s been 0-1 pts less than the actual cutoffs so far (he did a great job, I just hate flipping from site to site checking. (I’m still waiting on MO :()
Art’s predictions in parenthesis, actual cutoffs aren’t:
ALABAMA (214) - 215
CA (220) - 221
CO (217) - 218
DC (222) - 222
FL (216) - 217
KY (214) - 215
LA (214) - 214
MA. (221) - 222
MD (220) - 221
NJ (222) - 222
TN (215) - 218
TX (219) - 220
VA (219) - 221
WI (213) - 215
WV (209) - 209
With not a single one falling below Art’s most likely cutoff, should a Missourian with a 213 (Art’s predicted cutoff - 214) just give up?

Art’s prediction for CA is 219 with 222 has upper limit.

@srk2017 The thing is there will rarely be that situation where two applications are equal. One applicant will always be “liked” more than another applicant under the holistic review. I have seen too many almost perfect standardized test scorers get denied vs pretty good test scorers who get in.

Art confirmed CA cut-off at 221.

Wondering how much the ratcheting we saw in the TX data (more frequent even scores than odd scores) is impacting these cut-offs. Of the 16 states called by Art, here is what we know so far:

Eight states (AL, CA, CO, FL, KY, MA, MD, and TX) are 1 higher than Art’s mid-point prediction. Not clear whether the prediction is even or odd seems to have much impact so far since five of those had even mid-points and four had odd. Keeping an eye on that.

Four states (IL, WI, TN, and VA) are two or more higher than predicted mid-point. Of these, three states (IL, WI, VA) had predictions that were odd-numbered and the actual remained odd. One - TN - basically broke out of the corral and ran off. We’ll have to see what else is going on with, say, GA but a +3 for TN is extraordinary IMHO so could be an outlier.

Speaking of “outliers”: We were all a tad surprised a couple days ago by IL (+2 over predicted estimate). However, as it’s been joined by two other states - one of them being a fellow Midwestern - we can probably conclude that +2/hitting the high end of Art’s range was not as expected but not that unusual. Is the old saying “+1 an accident, +2 a trend, +3 a problem” true for these cut-offs? Not sure yet. Right now +3 may well be an “accident” but we’ll have to see how the rest of the week shakes out.

(If someone had told me last week that a 220 in MN was at risk of not making it, I would have laughed. Today . . . different story).

Finally, we have our “No Changers”. Interestingly, with one exception (LA), these are at the tails! DC and NJ at the right with a 222, and WV at the left with a (not-surprising) 209. Perhaps LA decided it was just fine where predicted, thank-you-very-much, and gave a few points away to TN!

Will be updating this specific analysis throughout the week. Any feedback/suggestions for further trends very welcome!

@3589Annabel great minds think alike! :wink:

So, to update/paraphrase that old adage: +1 is a trend, +2 is a lesser trend, +3 is still a mistake for now.

@Mamelot – I can’t thank you enough and others on here for the endless compiling, analysis and updating…my humble thanks!

@thinmints I’m so sorry you DC missed by one! This is happening a LOT this year, just as @DoyleB predicted. Crazy results. And you are spot on with the critique about the negative impact of uncertainty. My kid would gladly have passed on the March SAT but for the reasonable (at-the-time) expectation of making NM. Now . . . well, I’m sweating it out for her. Another one of those “We” things from an “over-involved” parent :x

yes — huge thanks to @mamelot and others for heir diligence, support & thoughtful analysis.

Wow - I’m so sorry to hear that so many are missing it by 1 point - such impressive scores they all had. I have been fascinated with all of this over the past 8 months and although it’s been a frustrating wait, I’ve enjoyed following his thread. My state has been reported on - THANK YOU, Art. I will continue to follow though, as I’ve learned quite a bit from you all. Best of luck to everyone with college applications and admissions. Hoping the rest of the states are called soon for everyone waiting. And that the numbers come down.

Art says NY is 219 - so we are added to the list of those who missed it by a point. DS had much better math than English - darn Frederick Douglas!

219 here in GA!

@ambvogue Congrats, any info on cut off.

@CA1543 - yes, Frederick Douglas had greater influence on PSAT :slight_smile: I also came across his name in one of college prompts, don’t remember which one.

Art at CompassPrep says he’s confirmed 215 for Iowa.