<p>Even some of the “with-it” schools don’t necessarily hang the banners with names. At our school 50-75% of the class is commended or SF every year. They handle the paperwork fine, but there’s been no public notice.</p>
<p>Posts of SF minimums have stopped, so this is a final update. Since people may use this next year as a guide to the process, here’s an index of sorts:
- Initial nomenclature and notification summary is in post #202.
- More on notification process and historical minimums is in post #354.
- Rationale for national Commended limit vs. state/regional SF limit is in post #422.
- Discussion of the handling of private boarding school SF minimums is in post #639.
- N.B. The minimums shown in this thread are only as good as the posts, which may or may not be accurate. The "X"s in the table below indicate posts which later on turned out to be wrong, so take care.
- Finally, making SF isn’t criticial to admissions. Commended is pretty darn good, and while SF/not SF drives NMSC scholarships, only a small fraction of all scholarship $ come from NMSC, and only some SFs get them. Except for a few silly schools obsessive about getting their SF numbers up (which might make you question their thinking about such things, by the way), SF/not SF isn’t likely to affect college admissions – they prefer to use SATs, which are more detailed, more accurate, and more recent. SF/not SF is only a (small) part of the package you offer colleges – if your PSATs are high enough for you to be worrying about making SF, they’re just not likely to be much of an issue. Worry about your grades, your volunteer activities, your extracurriculars, your summer experience, your job, your alumni connections, your interview, and your essay.</p>
<p>It’s been a pleasure working with you all on this. Good luck to you in your college applications and decisions, and enjoy your college years.<br>
Goodbye – rlvj 9/27/06 12:42am</p>
<p>The table below shows minimums for the 2007 National Merit Program (2005 PSAT) in blue, based on posts to this thread between 8/24/06 and 9/21/06. It includes historical minimums from a variety of sources, which are mostly listed in post #354. State/regions for which 2007 data are not shown did not receive adequate posts to comment on their minimum.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '06->'07
. . . '99 .'01 .'04 .'05 .'06 . .2007 . . . change . . . . . post #s .
Commended 201 202 202 . . 203 . . . +1
AL. 211 208 208 210 212 . . 212 . . . no change . . . 231, 263, 286, 336
AK. 214 211 210 211 212
AZ. 212 210 212 211 212 . . 214 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . 321
AR. 202 201 201 202 206 . . 206 . . . no change . . . 319, 326
CA. 215 215 216 216 217 . . 219 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . 347X,376,380,398,419X,421X,425X,432,511,533
CO. 210 211 211 213 214 .<=217 . . . ? . . . . . . . . . 569
CT. 219 218 219 220 220 . . 221 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .491, 561
DE. 216 216 217 220 219 .<=219 . . . ? . . . . . . . . . .632
FL. 213 213 214 214 215 . . 215 . . . .no change . . . .274, 277, 324, 637
GA. 211 213 214 217 218 . . 218 . . . .no change. . . .370X, 497
HI. 215 218 214 216 214 . . 218 . . . .+4 (-2 last yr) .271
ID. 203 206 204 208 207
IL. 213 213 214 216 216 . . .218 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . .309, 312, 445, 522
IN. 210 207 211 212 213
IA. 209 209 207 209 210
KS. 212 211 212 214 215 . . 213 . . . -2 . . . . . . . . . 368, 369, 372, 428
KY. 207 208 210 210 212 . . 212 . . . .no change . . . 438
LA. 207 208 209 209 211 . . 209 . . . -2 . . . . . . . . . 644
ME. 214 213 211 214 212
MD. 220 220 222 222 222 . . 223 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .403, 418, 420, 423, 510
MA. 222 221 222 222 222 . . 224 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . .444
MI. 209 209 209 210 211 . . .211 . . . no change . . . 411X, 473, 475. 476, 480, 482
MN. 214 211 212 215 213 214-15 . . .+1? . . . . . . . . 488
MS. 201 200 200 203 204 . . 204. . . . no change . . .375
MO. 211 210 212 213 213 . . 214 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .234
MN. 206 204 206 207 211
NB. 208 205 205 208 208
NV. 203 204 204 207 205 208-14 . . . +? . . . . . . . . 373, 489
NH. 213 214 213 215 217 .<=216 . . . -1? . . . . . . . .609
NJ. 220 219 221 221 222 . . .223 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . 485, 514, 527
NM. 207 209 208 209 209
NY. 217 217 218 218 218 . . 221 . . . +3 . . . . . . . . .333, 338, 340, 344, 487, 601
NC. 212 212 213 216 216 . . 215 . . . -1 . . . . . . . . .506
ND. 205 204 202 204 208
OH. 211 211 212 214 215 . . 215 . . . no change . . . 247, 252
OK. 207 208 206 208 208 . . 207 . . . -1 . . . . . . . . .591, 592
OR. 211 213 213 214 214 . . 215 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .583
PA. 214 213 215 215 215 . . 217 . . . .+2 . . . . . . . . 452, 477, 478, 509, 524
RI. 213 213 213 211 214
SC. 208 208 211 213 212 .<=214 . . . +2? . . . . . . . .272 says '06 was 215 vs. 212 elsewhere, 584
SD. 204 202 206 205 206
TN. 212 212 213 216 216 . . 217 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .303, 405
TX. 214 214 216 216 217 . . 217 . . . .no change . . . 227, 386, 387, 399, 454, 616
UT. 203 204 200 204 207
VT. 212 213 213 213 218
VA. 218 218 219 219 220 . . 220 . . . .no change . . . 335
WA. 212 213 214 216 216 . . 219 . . . +3 . . . . . . . . .572, 574, 615
WV. 203 202 201 202 206
WI. 210 208 209 211 211 . . 211 . . . .no change . . . 610
WY. 204 201 200 203 204
DC. 222 221 222 222 222
T&C 201 . ? . 200 202 204 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . US Terr’ys and Commwlths
out 222 . ? . 222 222 222 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .schools outside the US
NE/MidAtl boarding schools . 225 . . . ? . . . . . . . . . .621
. . . '99 .'01 .'04 .'05 .'06 . .2007 . . . change . . . . . post #s .</p>
<p>i got the letter that i qualified for the next level of competition, and was able to send my scores to two schools, around april/may (my memory’s not too good). i have pretty much been waiting since then for information about whether i am a semifinalist or commended (although i know from this forum that i am definitely commended: my index was a 210 in TX). but today i got a letter about being a scholar finalist for the national hispanic recognition program. this has me totally confused.
am i out of the national merit competition for some reason, i mean, does this mean that i didn’t qualify for the commended even though my score was above the commended cut-off? or is it possible to qualify for both, and that my school is just really lazy and hasn’t notified me? i know my counselor has a history of flakiness.</p>
<p>does being a commended student get you anything besides self-pleasure or something? like, does it help on applications and stuff? i’d like to hope so, but i’m not sure.</p>
<p>I (and probably everyone else) really appreciate all the time and effort you put into compiling all this information for us.</p>
<p>Yes, you did an awesome job! Thanks! Looks like current juniors are going to have to score very high to become NMSFs, as the qualifying scores keep rising.</p>
<p>According to a congratulatory letter to my son from his school principal, the minimum score in Minnesota is 214 this year.</p>
<p>two of my friends got the commendations yesterday but I’ve heard nothing. I got a 226 in ny according to this site I should be asemifinalist. My mom sent my guidance consouler a email. Any advice?</p>
<p>I’d call the counselor & principal. 226 should be a NMSF in pretty much all states, including NY. If you can’t get help from them, call National Merit’s number on the college board’s website.</p>
<p>My understanding is that you can participate both in the National Merit program AND the National Hispanic Scholar program. My son (211 in CA) received the letter from National Hispanic yesterday, but his high school has not informed him of his status in either of the programs. I wouldn’t understand ANY of this, if not for these CC discussions. The people who have taken the time to compile data and explain the steps in the program are much appreciated.</p>
<p>rlvj
You truly have the heart of a teacher. You have been such a service
to all of us. You can leave this site knowing that because of your info gathering and patient explaining, some parent or student out there was able to understand this process. You helped them feel empowered to the point that they followed up with their schools when they hadn’t been notified but thought that their scores had earned them NMSF status. I also appreciate your comments putting NMSF in perspective when making application to colleges. Best Wishes to you and your daughter in her college admissions process. With her brains and your tenacity, I am sure that everything will
work out for you.</p>
<p>I’ve been looking around this forum and see that the reported cutoff for Nebraska was 208 last year. I’m pretty sure it was 210 because I know two people who got 209 that were told they barely missed it. I’m from Nebraska btw.</p>
<p>What is the chance that the Texas score will drop to a 216 for next year? This year’s PSAT was harder than last couple years, right?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t hold out hope on cutoffs dropping. Statistically speaking, that isn’t likely. Anything is possible, of course :)!</p>
<p>My daughter missed semi by a point. I don’t think it matters much for her, because none of the schools she is interested in have large NMF scholarships. The fact that she is a commended scholar is a nice addition to her apps, but it is not a huge deal. I think her actual SAT/ACT scores were probably more important in the long run.</p>
<p>But I think being recognized for your academic talent is always nice! Athletes get that kind of recognition … so should scholars. Congratulations to all who did well on their PSATs.</p>
<p>We were talking today about one place where it feels so good to be able to put in NM something (commended or SF, doesn’t matter which in this case): on the space on the Common App for awards. Many schools can only recognize a small number of their students and most awards are given at the end of senior year. So those spaces on the application form seem intimidatingly hard to fill. Nice to be able to start off with a well-known national award - increases the confidence.</p>
<p>This value was missing from the summary table. For anyone who interested, the magic number is 213 for June 2007 graduates.</p>
<p>Just a quick comment - I live in Georgia, scored a 218, and was not named a NMSF. May want to adjust the GA minimum of 218.</p>
<p>mathwiz-
Are you a junior or a senior? For seniors, the GA cutoff IS in fact, 218 for this year. If you are a senior and you didn’t get NMSF with a 218, you might want to check with your counselor. If you are a junior and just got your score, you won’t hear 'til next fall if you are a NMSF.
** By the way, congrats on your score.</p>
<p>edit— I sent you a PM to explain, mathwhiz. Hope it clarifies. The cutoff for GA has been 218 for the past 3 yrs. Lets hope it doesn’t go up if you are a junior with a 218. That would be a bummer.</p>
<p>I know 217 made it but we still don’t know the exact cut-off??? I’m just trying to establish a trend to get a feel of my chances for '08.</p>
<p>I sent email to our college counselor. I’ll post it here if she knows.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>if you are in the 99th percentile for a state with a low cutoff, like I live in ky, which was 212 last year, and i got a 213, does that mean I will most probably get it, or not?</p>