@G8tr2mom - I was totally wrong on how my son found out that he made NMSF. The school is my husband’s client and my husband’s contact at the school told my husband.
@Proudpatriot - thanks for the update. I ran into another mom today whose kid works for the test prep company and she also heard that.
I am trying to figure this whole thing out still, so how accurate are smART’s “final cutoffs” and why are we not allowed to mention his name?
My child studied for the PSAT because we knew how she did in 10th grade. I think going in she had that little voice in her head “you should make NMSF” and well, she did not perform well. She did score a 36 - one and done - on the ACT, so she is thrilled.
RE: schools that inflate GPAs…a fairly sure way for colleges to see how inflated is to look at a combination of things - including SAT subject tests and AP tests. If a child has a high GPA and As in AP classes, but low AP scores and/or subject tests - well, that would be a red flag to any college!
I’m curious about these schools that offer year-long test prep classes. Are these classes listed on your child’s transcript?
Edit: Sorry, off topic. I’ll ask in a different section.
@oliver17 re: your first question: probably very accurate but it’s crowdsourced rather than from NMSC itself so there is always a small probability of error (we’ve seen that already with the WA #). They used the term “highly confident”. Re your second question read this thread:
@Mamelot thanks for the clarification. I didn’t know there were different threads on CC for NMSF.
So if the Utah cutoff is 215 and DS had a 216, why does my GC tell me the school hasn’t heard anything yet? Is it possible that they screwed up when NM asked for corroboration in the spring and DS still won’t make it? I’m getting a little worried here.
@spaamie1 I’m in Colorado and if the numbers given are accurate, my son missed it by 1 point. We have a great relationship with the GC who was formerly his teacher, and she continues to check with those who would have received the letter (post-grad dept and principals) and still they say they have not received anything. We are in a huge school, one of the largest in the state, so sure someone at the school made it, but we also have not received an update. We have teachers whose son made Scholar last year, so the school knows the procedure. So I think some schools there must be a delay for? Hoping to encourage you.
Don’t worrie @spaamie1 - the school isn’t supposed to do anything. Everyone at or above the cutoff makes it to the NMSF round.
@spaamie1 the letter could be taking a scenic route, or maybe someone is lazy opening mail, or maybe some overzealous admin decided the “confidential” stuff was law. I also wonder if some GCs choose to say “we havent heard anything” because it gets less pushback than “we know, but wont tell you.”
I know our school knows because supposedly one of the GCs has been telling kids. I’m getting worried because it shouldn’t have taken them multiple days to tell the supposedly very small number of NMSFs. I want to call and find out, but S doesn’t want me to (because he’s moved past his disappointment already, and thinks it would be embarassing to have your mom calling about an award you didn’t win).
same here in texas my son has si 225 and GC did not receive anything yet
@flatKansas Your DS is probably right - that would be a little embarrassing. I guess if he didn’t make it, you won’t hear anything until the commended letters come out at the end of the month.
@spaamie1 he’s well over the cutoff for our state, but insists he can’t have won because he’s sure there were lots of people with higher scores than his, and the rumor mill says we have very few NMSF. I had the same idea that you had - that the HS screwed up the thing back in May. I can’t change his mind and I cant call, so… we wait :-<
Our school has not notified kids yet. The GC says they haven’t gotten the letter yet. I believe they will tell the kids when they do hear because they know the kids are working on their apps and want to include that in whatever section it goes. The NMC uses bulk mail rates, so only the slowest snails are used for delivery.
Two students can have the same raw score (e.g 1460), but their SIs can be different (e.g. 219, 221). So if kids are comparing raw scores it can be confusing with regard to NMSF.
(regarding mail…you can’t count on the USPS to be consistent, and if they were sent ‘bulk’…weeks are not out of the question. We just received a Priority letter - special outer envelope, $6 postage - that took 13 days to get to us.)
@rb681000 - The prep classes are not for credit. They start spring of soph year and resume in the fall when school starts. The school pays the tuition of students in the program. There are optional summer classes that parents can pay for. The classes happen after school or in the evening not during school hours. Kids are assigned classes after a diagnostic exam so that kids are in classes with other kids who have to work on the same stuff.
@WhataProcess – yes - the total PSAT can be converted into various SIs bc of the weighting of the sections. There was in-depth analysis of that many pages/months ago. Our DS’s 1470 was only a 218 for example - 1 point short in NY. A fate many have also shared. Maybe CB & NMSC could make things a bit clearer. I imagine when students with the same total score but different SI’s talk to each other and find out one makes NMSF and one doesn’t, that hurts and of course raises questions about what the total score really represents/means.
Son says another kid in his school “got an email” that he had made the cut, but he hasn’t heard anything. And his SI of 223 is supposedly higher than said kid’s score. So we’ll see.
An SI of 223 is higher than any of the state cutoffs. He will clearly be NMSF.