Here you go @momtimes3 (copy and pasted from Art’s Blog)
AL = 216
AK = 217
AZ = 220
AR = 215
CA = 222
CO = 220
CT = 221
DC = 223
DE = 221
FL = 219
GA = 220
HI = 220
ID = 216
IL = 221
IN = 219
IA = 216
KS = 219
KY = 217
LA = 216
ME = 215
MD = 222
MA = 222
MI = 219
MN = 220
MS = 213
MO = 217
MT = 214
NE = 215
NV = 217
NH = 217
NJ = 223
NM = 215
NY = 221
NC = 219
ND = 211
OH = 219
OK = 216
OR = 220
PA = 219
RI = 216
SC = 217
SD = 215
TN = 218
TX = 221
UT = 216
VT = 217
VA = 222
WA = 222
WV = 211
WI = 217
WY = 213
US Territories = 211
International = 223
Commended = 211
Thanks so much, 3scoutsmom! I think I saw you on another thread… we too are homeschoolers, and I already graduated 2 National Merit Finalists, with big scholarship payoff for both (one full ride, the other turned several such offers down in favor of a different school, but still got $$ added to the “top” academic scholarship because she was a National Merit Finalist). Am getting ready to send our final baby through his PSAT, and wondering what the target looks like, so thanks so much! Looks like our state’s score went WAY up, so our son will have to get a move on to match his sister’s achievements.
@momtimes3 if your other two took the PSAT more than two years ago, you can’t directly compare because this is a new test with new rules, like no penalty for guessing. Class of 2017 was the first to take the new PSAT as juniors. You might want to brush up on the changes if your older kids took it prior.
Thanks. Who is Art, and where is his blog? I keep seeing that reference, but haven’t figured out how or where to find the info. I’m aware of all of the changes, but wanted to see just how high the scores have gone in our state, as it gives some indication of likely direction for next year as well. Having seen the tests the past 2 years (After they were taken), I’m not surprised that scores went up, as the questions are more guesswork / inference based rather than knowledge base specific. I just wanted to know how much they had gone up. Thanks.
@amominaz, once the school does their part (LOR, transcript, and whatever else is in the school part of the NMF application) and NMSC has the SAT score report, then…we wait. Again. I guess this time the wait is to allow students to take the SAT if necessary.
Does anyone know what exactly counts as an acceptable confirming score? I called the office and she said that the cutoff won’t be above 211, but she was really vague about it. Does that mean you won’t get cut if you have a 211 or above, or does that mean that 211 is just a low estimate for the cutoff? I have a 1500 (37, 39, 37) for the SAT and I really don’t want to have to retake it. Do you guys think that I would need to increase my SI of 226 to be a finalist? Or will it not really matter. Thanks!
Also does my essay score matter? My essay wasn’t the best, but I don’t want it to cause me to not make Finalist. I have another SAT with a really good essay, but it’s a 1360 overall. Would it be good to send both, or just the 1500?
And do subject tests have any bearing on this process. I’m already sending an SAT score to National Merit, so should I add these to the sending list or no?
Sorry for all the questions. I’m having to do a lot of this on my own.
If your confirming SI is 226 you will be fine. Your SAT essay score is not a factor, and there is no need to send the subject matter scores. Congratulations.
This is odd. My daughter received her Letter of Commendation for being a National Merit Commended Scholar in the mail to our home address. The letter is addressed to “Dear Homeschool Parent Teacher” and the small certificate has "Homeschool - " in the School field at the bottom. But my daughter goes to a large public school in our state. Did all Commended public school kids receive this mailing to home?
Ah, thinking about this a bit more I remember my daughter telling me shortly after she received her PSAT score (so many many moons ago) that there was a problem matching her to our high school. I guess she either entered the incorrect school code or it was somehow misread. She tried to get it corrected but after trying a few times and not having success in talking to the College Board she just gave up. So I think they never were able to match her to our high school which is why she would be treated as a homeschooled student. I emailed her guidance counselor to make sure they did know she was a Commended Scholar and perhaps I’ll make another call to the college board to try to correct it.
OK, so I am clear: they send in the application for Finalist. THEN they go in the pool for Scholar? Or is that something different? How do you apply for those scholarships?
@adlgel , DD had same problem that I immediately noticed when scores came out (listed under Tyler school instead of Dallas school). Emailed NMSC (scholarshipadmin@nmerit.net) and had it corrected. It took them 2+ months to correct the school name.
@amominaz today your student is a semifinalist. There are 16000 semifinalists. They will choose 15000 finalists from the 16000 semifinalists. Yes this application is for finalist. Scholar is something different and they are chosen from the 15000 finalists. About half of the 15000 will be Scholars and will receive the scholarships through the NMSC program.
Outside of the above many are focused on the scholarships offered by the schools that give significant merit scholarships to Finalists. These scholarships are not administered by NMSC.
Yes @amominaz your application is both for finalist and for NM scholarship as LOUKYDAD explained about 7500 of the 15000 finalists get scholarships that are very small. The scholarships are either the one time $2500, or the corporate sponsored scholarship or the school sponsored scholarship that are annual awards. The school sponsored scholarship is approximately $500-600 per year but the amount does vary some (my D16 was a NMF and got awarded a school sponsored NM scholarship of $750 per year). The bigger scholarships come directly from the schools because your child has achieved NMF status. You’ll start getting a lot of mail soon with these offers and they will ask you to list their college as your first choice on your national merit submission in order to receive the scholarship.
One add, LOUKYDAD is right the big scholarships directly from the schools aren’t administered by national merit, but the schools do ask that you list them as first choice on the national merit site because they want to be recognized as having a certain number of national merits so they can advertise that. You have until I think May 1 to list your first choice of schools on the national merit site and you can change your choice of schools or list undecided for now.
The Scholars list (about half of all finalists) actually does include the approximately 4000 college-sponsored awards including from schools such as OU, UTD, UNM, Texas Tech, etc. The colleges award an “official” Scholar award (usually $1500-$2500) but the rest of the NMF package, if there is more, is not considered the “official” National Merit scholarship. NMSC itself awards 2500 scholarships worth $2500 each that can be used at any US university but not at the service academies. About 1000 corporate-sponsored awards are also given, most often to NMF who are children of employees. It is possible for a student to win one of the corporate or NMSC awards and still attend a school like OU that gives extra scholarships to NMF; in those cases the school might reduce its package to compensate for the NMSC or corporate award.
NMF who are awarded a college-sponsored scholarship are definitely included in the number of Merit Scholars that NMSC advertises, even though NMSC itself is not paying those students. There may be other colleges that have NMF-specific scholarships, but the schools that pop up frequently as big NMF schools (OU, Alabama, Texas Tech, OSU, UCF, UTD, UNM, etc) are included in the Merit Scholar list.
It seems silly to me that the paltry NMSF application is what they use to determine Scholar status. There is barely anything on there! How do they decide from that?
@amominaz, the application does include relevant stats (from the transcript and SAT report) as well as a writing sample and room to highlight key ECs and awards. Seems like enough for NMSC to figure out how to parcel out the awards. Plenty of other private scholarships have similar applications. The NMSC awards are only $2500; this level of detail seems about right for just a $2500 award.