<p>S’s HS has about fifty semi-finalists and none of them have gotten squat yet. I wouldn’t even know anything except for this board and our family friend guidance counselor (who works for another school)! This is just incredible…I understand not making the kids who didn’t qualify feel badly by trumpeting the names of those who did, but at least let the kids start work on their essays! S got by with the lowest possible NY score (221, up by 3 this year…what’s up with that? I thought test scores were down nationwide…) and needs all the time he can get. Sigh. There, I vented.</p>
<p>I am the only nmsf in a school of 2213 (one of only a handful in my schooldistrict) and I didn’t find out untill yesterday. They didn’t type anything for me and all I got was a quick congrats from the principle. When I told him that I had been worried because I already have a lot of other things to do and I wanted to make sure I had time to do the essay, his response was, “Oops, there’s an essay? Sorry about that.” I’de have to say it’s just as hard on the students as the parents when no congradulations are given. It makes me kind of sad to do something that only a small number of students in my school’s history have done and get almost no appreciation for it. O-well, I can be happy for myself and congradulate myself I guess.</p>
<p>Jazzyrhythms, you have my congratulations and, I’m sure, the good wishes of everyone on this board.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the whole program is a little odd…the “secret” cut-offs, the changes from year to year, the different ways the HSs handle the candidates…</p>
<p>At least when the dust settles and everyone’s in college, we can look back on this and laugh. I hope.</p>
<p>can anyone provide an authentic and up to date psat cut off of this year (test administered in oct. 2006) for Louisiana?</p>
<p>tongchen1126: Nope, not possible, for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, the 2006 PSAT is for next year’s program (the 2008 Program, for those graduating high school in 2008), for which the state SF notifications will be mailed to principals in late August, 2007. That’s almost a year away. Heck, we’ve still got people posting here who haven’t heard their state minimums for the 2007 Program PSAT, which was taken almost a year ago!</p>
<p>Second, there haven’t been adequate LA posts here to determine the LA minimum, even for this year’s Program.</p>
<p>My D is taking SAT II’s in October and is having a score report including
SAT I mailed to NMSC as part of that. Is that ok for the timeline?</p>
<p>Well I was waiting to be called to the office all week but my principal never did so I went to my counselor and she said I made it!! I had a 212 in Michigan.</p>
<p>Is there a list for any official cutoffs? Is this information available?</p>
<p>An update-My D was named a SF with an index score of 216. For those of you who haven’t heard from your guidance counselors, you may want to check directly with your principal since the packets are mailed to them. Their office may be slow to forward them to guidance.</p>
<p>Information from NMSC and the High School indicated that the Wisconsin cutoff is 211 this year</p>
<p>anyone know hte cutoff for mn? my principal wrote in the parent newspaper that my school has 21 semifinalists but i havent acutally been notified of whether im a semifinalist or commended yet</p>
<p>ahh, typo:
i meant to ask if anyone knows the up to date psat cutoff for Louisiana in the test administered in 2005. thanks rlvj for the quick response anyway.</p>
<p>My S took a SATII subject test in Oct senior year as well & listed NM to receive the scores last year & it was OK. You can double-check with your counselor and/or National Merit to be SURE.</p>
<p>From NMSC FAQs: What information does NMSC release to news media? “NMSC distributes public announcements about Semifinalists in the fall and about scholarship winners in the spring. Included is background information about the competition with a list of students’ names, the names and locations of their high schools, and information about scholarship sponsors.” [Also] To whom does NMSC send public announcements? “NMSC transmits news releases by e-mail to several thousand daily and weekly newspapers and school district public information offices that have requested them.”</p>
<p>The NMSC press releases don’t appear to be publically available. Pity. The press releases they send appear to only include the names/schools of SFs local to the press outlet/school district to which they’re sent. If you haven’t heard yet and you think you’re likely to make SF, it’s probably time to call the NMSC at 847/866-5100 – as noted several times in this thread, they’re quite helpful on the phone.</p>
<p>Got some more states in the past couple of days, so here’s an updated table.
. . . . minimum . . change from
. . .<a href=“in%20blue”>color=blue</a> is:[/color] . .last year . . . . relevant post(s)
AL . . . . 212 . . . no change . . . 231, 263, 286, 336
AZ . . . . 214 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . 321
AR . . . . 206 . . . no change . . . 319, 326
CA . . . . 219 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . 347X,376,380,398,419X,421X,425X,432,511,533
CO . . <=217 . . . ?? . . . . . . . . .569
CT . . . . 221 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . 491, 561
FL . . . . 215 . . . no change . . . .274, 277, 324
GA . . . .218 . . . .no change. . . .370X, 497
HI . . . . 218 . . . +4 (-2 last yr) .271
IL . . . . .218 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . 309, 312, 445, 522
KS . . . . 213 . . . -2 . . . . . . . . .368, 369, 372, 428
KY . . . . 212 . . . no change . . . 438
MD . . . .223 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .403, 418, 420, 423, 510
MA . . . .224 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . .444
MI . . . . 211 . . . no change . . . 411X, 473, 475. 476, 480, 482
MN .214-215 . . .+1? . . . . . . . . 488
MS . . . .204. . . . no change . . .375<br>
MO . . . .214 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .234
NV . 208-214 . . . +? . . . . . . . . 373, 489
NH . . <=216 . . . -1? . . . . . . . .609
NJ . . . . .223 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . 485, 514, 527
NY . . . . 221 . . . +3 . . . . . . . . 333, 338, 340, 344, 487, 601
NC . . . . 215 . . . -1 . . . . . . . . 506
OH . . . . 215 . . . no change . . .247, 252
OK . . . . 207 . . . -1 . . . . . . . . 591, 592
OR . . . . 215 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . 583
PA . . . . 217 . . . .+2 . . . . . . . .452, 477, 478, 509, 524
SC . . <=214 . . . +2? . . . . . . . .272 says '06 was 215 vs. 212 elsewhere, 584
TN . . . . 217 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . 303, 405
TX . . . . 217 . . . no change . . . 227, 386, 387, 399, 454
VA . . . . 220 . . . no change . . . 335
WA . . . .219. . . .+3 . . . . . . . . 572, 574
WI . . . . 211 . . . no change . . . 610</p>
<p>I can also confirm that WA is 219, I didnt get at 218, GJ Jazzyrhythms.</p>
<p>At least I’m glad the wait is over.</p>
<p>yup cutoff for texas was 217.</p>
<p>themutt-I’m sorry you missed the cutoff…I didn’t think it was gonna raise by more than 2. Guess i shouldn’t be complaining. Hope you win a ton of scholarships in the next year 
Good luck.</p>
<p>rlvj –</p>
<p>Do you know the definitions, and perhaps cutoffs, of the “other selection units” described in the NMSC Annual report?
<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/05_annual%20report.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/05_annual%20report.pdf</a></p>
<p>The question about how boarding school students fit into the NMSF equation has popped up before but limited hard information has been posted over the last couple of years. Can anyone report success this year? </p>
<p>My D is a day student at a humble NE boarding school and would apparently have made the cut under the state standard but has heard nothing, so… She’s a great kid and will have wonderful options, so we’re not unduly surprised or disappointed, just a little confused still about the groundrules for these situations.</p>
<p>While I’m here, let me praise rlvj, whose empathetic and encouraging tone has been almost as valuable and reassuring as the careful, comprehensive information he (?) has posted has been helpful! Thanks so much, rlvj!</p>
<p>All Americans attending foreign international schools (this does not include American territories or commonwealths) are assigned a cutoff designated as “Oversea Americans.” In recent years, the cutoff had fluctuated between 221 and 222, always sharing the top cutoff in all American states (last year it was 222, tying MA and DC, which had the highest cutoffs in the nation).</p>