@disshar Does this help? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19903758/#Comment_19903758
@Ynotgo I just saw that. We must have posted close to the same time. And yes, HUGE help. Yay!!!
@carachel2 this principal is awful. It wouldn’t have helped anyway (she has taken it twice). We have been at this school a year and it’s not our favorite. DD is graduating after fall as hubby got transferred (again). Hoping I can make it until January without going full mama bear on her. Let’s just say, the principal is not well liked.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Congratulations to your D on NM! <:-P Thanks for the ppt, very enlightening.
@caroldanvers I’m so sorry about your pet. I’m sure it must be difficult dealing with that. Congratulations to your kid on NM.
Congrats to your children, @Mom2aphysicsgeek and @caroldanvers and others who made it!
And thanks for the Powerpoint, @Mom2aphysicsgeek. I am tempted to send it to my husband who thinks that the admissions process is still like 1999 when his older sons applied. But he might freak out and hire a consultant, so better not :O)
And all the best to your pet, @caroldanvers. We have an older cat who has diabetes and difficulty jumping. I dread the day when we have to take serious decisions. For now, the meds help and she has a good quality of life. I have built her little stepping opportunities for the window sills and such.
re: ** The essay.** I went through the CDS and noted rankings of very important or important for S’s schools and it’s a bit fascinating to see what is (or isn’t) important to the schools on his list. For his list…the essay is “more” important oveall than test scores!
Rigor-All (though not all list it as “very” which is surprising)
GPA- All (though not all list it as “very” which surprises me)
Test Scores 8/13
Rank 5/13
LOR 7/13
Essay 10/13
Interview 3/13
Level of Interest 3/13
EC’s 7/13
Volunteer 5/13
Talent/Ability 7/13
Character/Personal Qualities 8/13
Work Experience 2/13
So…yeah. The essay seems important! At least for S’s list as it stands today and most certainly everyones mileage will vary on this one.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek thanks for the powerpoint, very helpful! Well helpful once I figure out where S’s schools fall in that matrix but overall, very helpful. Congrats on the big news, very exiciting!
@caroldanvers congrats to you as well! Big day here. I am so sorry for your pets illness, it is so hard on everyone, they are family
@MotherOfDragons I SO want to see a picture of your finished college mail cranes. And of course to compare the bell curve that may have happened from the first one without wine to the ones after a glass or two! What a great college session you just had. I think my S is really starting to realize there is some work involved with these apps being far more agreeable about deadlines as a result.
@stlarenas did she do fIrst communion and confirmation? If at least first communion I’d say mark it
@Dolemite communion yes, confirmation no. I will leave it up to her, but I think I’ll advise her it may help slightly if she marks it. But if she feels uncomfortable about it I’ll tell her not to worry about it. It’s just weird because in our town tons of kids attend catholic prep schools who aren’t really practicing Catholics.
@eandesmom I agree about the essay. I described my thoughts in post 14609. I think without hearing the actual presentation that we are missing some of the key points that were being made. I really like your extrapolation of data. Interesting. I am not sure how evaluate dd’s “chart 2” Info in terms of what really matters, so that information leaves me wondering. The academic piece is easy for me to categorize.
For the 2nd chart, do all awards only count 1 time all lumped together? No idea, but if so, that really hurts my dd. I noticed on the description of some of the students, multiple academic awards were listed. I am hoping that those regional,national, and international awards will make up for not having some of the other categories.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek @Tgirlfriend @caroldanvers @lemetz @disshar Congrats on the NMSF letters today!
@paveyourpath thanks! No letter here quite yet but based on another’s post, we should be good. I can relax in a couple of weeks.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek it was really interesting to actually pull it out of the CDS, some of it surprised me quite a bit. I find the personal chart easier in some ways and where my child shines a bit more. But, Chart 2 is subjective, and I suspect subjective by college. Which matches what the CDS showed if you compare how much Talent versus Service Versus Work etc were weighted. It was all over the board for my S, from Very Important to Not Considered!
@disshar I was happy to see that post too just to know that something crazy hadn’t happened to throw the SI way off. Congrats again!
Congrats @Mom2aphysicsgeek and @caroldanvers and everyone with NM news! <:-P And sorry about your pet.
Welcome delurker @Aida
Glad you are on track with college stuff @MotherOfDragons
My D is almost done with her main essay. A little more tweaking and then she can finally catch up to all these kids on here who have applied to schools!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek good link. My SIL is an admissions counselor for a selective school and she explained the process to me last year for D16. Spot on
I imagine that those who are watching the NMF cutoff scores have seen this from Art at Compass Prep already:
The highest cutoff nationally has been confirmed at 223. I’ve personally received confirmation from the principal, but I’ve been asked to give no further details. For students with 223 or higher in any state or selection unit, you’ve made the NMSF cutoff.
RE: PSAT cut-off - A lot of people probably feared that the highest cut-offs would probably go up all the way to 226 or 227. Interesting that it stayed at 223. Wasn’t last year’s highest cut-off a 223 or 224 out of the 240? Can’t wait to see all the states reporting! I have learned so much about statistics by just following that thread.
@stlarenas - Even if she herself is not practicing, D17 should most definitely put Catholic for ND and BC (assuming that at least one parent is Catholic. If she had her 1st communion - or even if she was baptized in a Catholic church, she would be considered Catholic. It WILL make a difference for ND, where ca. 80% of the students are Catholic, and probably wouldn’t hurt with BC. She should comfortable going to mass and with Catholic theology.
@Ghibelline2017 – the thread just makes my eyes glaze over and reminds me why I did not excel at Stats!
I will admit that I wondered how high the top-scoring states would go, once I saw commended at 209 out of 228 vs historical 200-203 out of 240.
I sent Art’s latest info to my head of guidance. I just want to know how one starts on the next step, and I could see our guidance dept dropping the ball as two of the seven counselors are brand new hires as of this month.
Given the writing pace for essays for ONE college, I hope the NMSF essay is an easy one.
Congratulations @Mom2aphysicsgeek @Tgirlfriend @caroldanvers @lemetz @disshar <:-P <:-P <:-P
So sorry about your pet @caroldanvers =((
@Ghibelline2017 Last year’s highest was 225 (DC, NJ) based on Art’s.
No horse in the race but
http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/
So based on… all the Stat exercises (from when… was that January?..)
223 (2015 PSAT) corresponds between **219/b with 4,5 errors in Reading, 0 error in Writing, 3 in Math,
and **223/b with 0 or 1 errors in Reading, 2 errors in Writing, 2 in Math,
and **225 /b with 2 or 3 errors in Reading, 1 error in Writing, 2 in Math.
So, yea, no need to get the perfect score 228 for NMSF even in DC/NJ, but no good messing up in Writing section.