For commended students, do they get the notification from the school or directly at home from NMSC? Also, recall there was a discussion about whether SF is a national award or state award. The consensus seemed to be it was a “state” award b/c the recipient gets the award based on their state cutoff. This seems weird to me b/c SFs are by definition commended’s too and commended is a “national” award or recognition since it’s a national cutoff of the top 50k scorers. Just wondering as it’s apps time and also whether AP awards go under “national” awards as well?
I don’t think any college will hold it against a student if they call an NMSF or AP award ‘state’ or ‘national’. The AdComms know what these are…IMO they will care very little if at all which is selected. Those qualifiers are more important for local, foreign, or obscure honors/awards/programs that AdComms may be less familiar with.
My child heard yesterday by email from his gc that he is NM semi-finalist and will go to gc today to get his letter with log in information. Says everything additional must be done by October 12.
@WhataProcess 6601. Thanks. Makes sense. IMO SF is a big deal for those schools that offer full rides. For top 20 schools, AP, SF, commended, national honor society etc. are no big deal and fall into the “missing tile syndrome” category: if you don’t have them it looks odd and raises a red flag. But having them won’t really help you with those schools.
@Pickmen Not having some of the items you mentioned does not raise a red flag. Where did you get that idea?
For those using the Common App:
"Recognition for National Merit
National Merit Commended Scholar and National Merit Semifinalist recognition are both appropriately designated as State/Regional honors.
National Merit Finalist and National Merit Scholar recognition are both appropriately designated as National honors."
https://appsupport.commonapp.org/link/portal/33011/33013/Article/65/Recognition-for-National-Merit
(Not sure why Commended is a State designation since it’s just one cutoff. Maybe because the choices are commended or sf and the latter is a state-specific designation?)
so sorry… just saw your post definitely the cutoff is 215 got confirming email from gc yesterday…congrats
FWIW, S was notified this morning that he made it to semifinalist. The school must have received the letters yesterday. Also, S and a friend got the same raw scores on the PSAT, but she got one point higher on the SI. S did better in math and his friend did better on the English portions of the test.
Our school hasn’t notified the kids either. School just started this week and there were plenty of scheduling issues to resolve, so I’m sure NMSF notifications weren’t their first priority. I have no worries about it because they are well versed in what to do since there are quite a few each year.
I sent an email to my daughter’s school counselor asking when NM semifinalists will be announced by the school. She responded “mid to late September.”! (My daughter made it by a point - - would just like to receive the letter so that she can start on the application process . . . )
S17 is at high performing school. Wins awards for # of national merit scholars every year. They DO NOT ALLOW anyone other than 11th graders to take the PSAT. I honestly tried when DS was in 10th. To be honest I only had my kid take the PSAT because of a possibility of NM. (He made commended.) My D12 I didn’t have take the PSAT, she took the ACT twice.
I’m someone who see’s value in the PSAT/SAT/ACT but doesn’t believe it does our kids to overemphasis them nor make them take them over & over again. (It helps level the playing field.) I understand why people do the way university applications are done. But I don’t think it’s in the general best interest of our students to spend a lot of time on this type of standardized test.
@websensation There is a lot more going on with kids who get top test scores but don’t have high SAT’s. Calling all kids who don’t have top GPA’s lazy isn’t helpful. There are many reasons why this might be the case. I’m not going to give a lecture, but perhaps you need to learn a bit about gifted & 2E (gifted kids with learning disabilities). Plus as others said, GPA isn’t standardized very well. S17 goes to a high performing school, about a 1/5 of those who make semi-finalists don’t get finalists. My son is by far the only student who gets mostly B’s, 5’s on AP tests & top SAT/PSAT scores.
@Pickmen- If you do the math you will see that there are roughly 16,000 NMSF.
Harvard accepts about 1900
Princeton accepts about 1900
Yale accepts about 2000
Columbia accepts about 2200
Stanford accepts about 2200
U of Chicago accepts about 2500
MIT accepts about 1500
Duke accepts about 2700
Penn accepts about 3800
That’s 18,200 students accepted at NINE universities. I know there are kids with multiple acceptances but I didn’t even get out of the top 10 universities (never mind LAC) when I ran out of spots for NMSF. Many NMSF don’t even apply to the top 20 because they are eligible for so much money at other universities outside the top 20. It is quite obvious that not everyone at the top 20 universities/LAC is a NMSF.
My son will be a NMSF. I am proud of him. I do think it is an honor and will help a little in admissions to a top school. But there will be many well qualified students accepted to top schools who are not NMSF.
@itsgettingreal17 I’m not an admissions officer. it was just my opinion and not well phrased. Of course not having any or all of these awards/factors may not hurt your application or even raise a “red flag” but if you are competing against who do have all these distinctions on their application, especially from your own high school, and you don’t, then I think you are facing uphill climb.
@Proudpatriot - I agree with what you are saying. Congrats to your son. It is an honor. Yes, most top schools will get students who are not SFs. But a lot of these kids will have the same stats as the others: AP scholars, NHS, high SATs/ACTs, very high GPAs etc.
My Daughter’s TX HS just recognized the school’s NM Semi-finalist. We had six students. 220 was the cutoff. Very happy for my daughter! Now if only she knew what she wanted to study and where to go? LOL
It is important to also keep in mind that this is just a test given on one particular day and I think top schools recognize that. My kid will probably not make the cutoff (one point off). Her school is also very competitive with lots of students not getting all A’s but still top scorers on AP, SAT, and PSAT. We have at least 50 SFs every year. I also know for a fact that a good portion of her friends that will make SF did not perform as well as her on ACT or SAT. But I can’t believe that not making SF will hinder her chances to get into the top schools. Am I slightly upset about missing it, yes. She will miss out on some monetary awards. But, she is top 5% of her class with excellent test scores as well as very solid extra curricular, and community involvement. Maybe I’m naive, but I can’t believe that her not making SF by one point will influence any school’s decision. One test does not an application make.
D’s HS in FL has 4 NMSF this year, down from 6 last year. A couple missed it by just a point, one the likely Val was devastated, but he is a bit too competitive at times and will do fine without the NMF…
South FL privates have dominated NMSF in the past, it will be interesting to see if the new PSAT really did level the playing field.
@G8tr2mom - 50 plus SFs each yr. That’s an amazing stat. Means there are probably at least as many commended if not more. Yes, one test does not application make.
@Mamelot are you saying that your comment above for NM commended is to be listed as State/regional under the Honors/awards section? Or is there another place on the common app where this is included???
@hccom65 under the Honors/awards section of the Common App. (go to the common app. tab, then “Education”, then “Honors” I believe). Possible that Individual schools may also ask for this in their supplemental sections - one of my D3’s schools wants her to attach a resume even though pretty much everything on it would be included either in the Common app. itself or on transcripts/ score repots, etc.
When you get to that specific section you will see instructions over to the right. Click on them for the details.