<p>Pretty sure my screen name makes me captain of the whine bar. <filling glasses="" all="" around…=""></filling></p>
<p>^That’s a bar I can belly-up to any day of the week!! Prost!!</p>
<p>SlackerMom & Maxwell - I am still hoping Maryland’s cutoff will come down from this year’s score of 223 by a couple of points. If your child is anywhere close to 220, keep encourage them to give it a shot. It doesn’t take too many problems to gain 10 points or more.</p>
<p>Well, since the bar appears to be open, we’ve uncorked this for everyone. </p>
<p>[UB40</a> - Red Red Wine - YouTube](<a href=“UB40 - Red Red Wine (Official Video) - YouTube”>UB40 - Red Red Wine (Official Video) - YouTube)</p>
<p>Good luck to all in the run up to the PSAT, but keep in mind that NM isn’t a “must have” for almost anyone. We are still awaiting homecoming here, and that is probably more front of mind than yet another standardized test.</p>
<p>*We are still awaiting homecoming here, and that is probably more front of mind than yet another standardized test. *</p>
<p>As it should be, really.</p>
<p>Seriously, I think this one sums up how I feel about October: [The</a> Ramones - I wanna be sedated (Official Video - HQ) - YouTube](<a href=“The Ramones - I wanna be sedated (Official Video - HQ) - YouTube”>The Ramones - I wanna be sedated (Official Video - HQ) - YouTube)</p>
<p>Excellent choice. I think you’ll find it linked in the 2013 thread sometime during the cruise of the USS Indecision back in April.</p>
<p>@FromMD, I just saw your D’s ACT. OMG Congratulations!!!</p>
<p>MD folks, that’s the score my international boarding school son has to hit, too. It will be a small miracle. The last time he took the PSAT (2011) he scored 207. But I figured it was worth a try even though they don’t encourage the test at his school and few take it. I’m sure he didn’t open his first care package with the prep books very enthusiastically but I did throw in some junk food. His bd care package should arrive next week! Thanks for the recommendation about the Trader Joes peanut butter cups. :D</p>
<p>And a word of encouragement - my D13 was never a NMSF but is a Stamps Scholar. There are still wonderful opportunities and scholarships for those who don’t have phenomenal test scores.</p>
<p>Pass the wine this way please!!</p>
<p>So it’s college week at our HS. Guidance came in to AP English to talk to the kids about the PSAT. Not once did she mention National Merit, not once!! She just talked about how it is practice for the test they will take in the spring. <em>Sigh</em>. Tomorrow they are having the college fair during school. There is a discussion for senior parents in the evening about the Common Application. Since I plan on being almost done with that by this time next year, I am sneaking in to the discussion ;)</p>
<p>Joining in the wine fest, my username isn’t as wine-y as Pinot’s, but savory crepes do go well with wine.</p>
<p>There’s no Homecoming at D’s school so there aren’t any real distractions from PSAT right now. Yes, NMSF isn’t that much of a “must-have” but it is nice to have. And hopefully the high cutoffs will not get any higher next year! If D gets a borderline score I can see myself needing a lot of meditation / yoga / sedation between now and Sept 2014 when the cutoff scores are announced, so Apollo6, your reassurance is very welcome.</p>
<p>suzy100, the Ramones link reminds me of their lobotomy song–sometimes I feel that maybe that’s what I need.</p>
<p>shmluza, my D’s school did the same thing, sans the locker decorating. They had fun with it and it wasn’t too hard to manage with things we had on hand. The hardest thing was “Throwback Thursday.” D was disappointed that I didn’t have any clothes that I had saved from the '80’s. (Really??) I had a *****in pink velour dress that my mom wore in the 60’s, but she decided it was too good to waste and is on a hunt to find white vinyl boots to wear with it for Halloween.</p>
<p>Ha! CC doesn’t let me say b<em>i</em>t<em>c</em>h<em>i</em>n. But really, it is.</p>
<p>I suppose it’s too late to move to West Virginia or Wyoming, or maybe North Dakota or Arkansas. D has a lot on her plate right now, and those extra 20 points because of where we live are quite unlikely.</p>
<p>Would it be worse to have an obviously-below-the-NMSF-cutoff score, or a right-at-the-cutoff score and spend almost a whole year fretting?</p>
<p>Suzy that is a great Ramones song to go along with our whine bar! Maybe we should have picked our state based on NMF numbers LOL. Maybe realtors need to be telling us this info. </p>
<p>So I was reading the 2014 thread last week and one mom got upset because after she paid there was nothing indicating her payment was received, so she paid again and the same thing happened ( common app payment). When we submitted our common app payment with my older one two years ago I clearly remember a payment showing up right away- or something indicating that we did it correctly. </p>
<p>Well I was talking to a friend at work who has a son applying now, and she told me that there are a lot of common app changes. One of the changes is that it takes 2 days to indicate that there was a payment made. She says that it is written in fine print somewhere ( that it takes 2 days). That stinks because it leaves you wondering if you made a mistake. </p>
<p>I think I would rather be just at the cut off score. I think that at a certain level it is more about luck. There are so few questions that missing just one or two can mess things up. </p>
<p>My daughter has a college day tomorrow. They get a copy of their unofficial transcript, learn how to sign up for the PSAT ( I got the mailing from them) and get their Naviance code ( parents have their own code). The letter that we got about the PSAT describes it as a practice test but it does mention that some students may want to study if they think they may have a shot at being a NMF. </p>
<p>They had spirit week last week and at 10:00 pm she decides to ask me if I have any superhero clothing for the next day. Really? Perhaps I will pull my Batman outfit from the closet. She rummaged through her sister’s closets and found nothing. The funny part is that she figured it out and pulled together something at the last minute. </p>
<p>Got a text from her that was sent late last night. Seems she went on line to her grades and discovered that her " participation" grade in Spanish is a 95. She is not pleased with that grade because she is the kind of kid who ALWAYS has her hand up in class and she is the kind of kid who gets very very involved in classroom discussions etc. She feels that she deserves a 100 or close to it. She is planning to ask the teacher today how she arrived at the 95. oK… That is her battle to fight as I am staying out of it. I told her to ask once but please do not make it a huge issue. She has a great relationship with her teacher and I would like it to stay that way.</p>
<p>That’s it for my morning report. I will check in later!!</p>
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<p>For D2, she’s hoping to either be “comfortably” above our historical highest state cutoff or obviously below the range. Since this year’s upcoming spring break in April is the only time I’ll have available for true OOS campus visits, a clear cut read on whether NM is “in play” or not will help her develop her list of schools to visit. </p>
<p>Song wise…“I Wanna be Sedated” so I can be “Comfortably Numb” for the next 18 months or so.</p>
<p>Does the whine bar have Mug Night?</p>
<p>twogirls…I’m ALMOST tempted to attend our school’s College Night just to see if they’ve actually changed it to provide useful information. We attended one for D1 (Class of '11) and basically got a sheet of paper with the web address for FAFSA and a list of web addresses for most of the IS universities. Seriously?? Thankfully, I found CC and learned more in 15 minutes of perusing the threads here than I got from the school’s presentation.</p>
<p>We’re also used to the last minute “Oh I need xxxxxx for school” (I’m sure all of us have experienced it). We’re happy if they happen to remember the night prior since Walmart is only 10 minutes away and open 24 hours. We’ve had to scramble more than once to round up materials and bring them down to the school office. Just a few more examples of how the graphed lines for “intelligent” and “smart” often don’t intersect until WELL past high school age. Ugh!!</p>
<p>We could’ve handled the superhero costume part though. I’ve got a Batman costume and Mrs Wolverine has a Little Bo Peep outfit that we put on when the kids are gone to school and we chase each other around the house and…er, I mean…they’re old Halloween costumes. Yeah…that’s it!! :)</p>
<p>mihcal1, D is so far below the cutoff score (seriously? 223?) that the PSAT is a nonissue. I kind of like it that way (my username apparently reflects my parenting style). There’s no pre-PSAT stress. The emphasis is on the afterschool driver’s ed class and going to the Renaissance Festival next weekend. </p>
<p>I can see why counselors don’t emphasize the NM scholarship but it is a pity that they don’t at least mention it. D said her school pulled selected kids out of class to talk about the PSAT and NM; she had a couple of friends who went. They said the session was weird and didn’t help at all. They all knew the cutoff score already. One (URM) felt singled out because her scores weren’t all that high (she didn’t know why she was there) but I guess there are awards for URM?</p>
<p>Our school does that too, Slackermom. Kids who scored fairly high sophomore year (even 30 points below the cutoff) are pulled into a presentation with the principal, who tells them about NM and so on. He said that they’ve figured out that just by telling the kids that it matters, the scores go up. He said the first year he did it, the number of NMSF’s almost doubled, and they’ve stayed there.</p>