@Redslp I didn’t look deep into the program. Students accepted seem to enjoy same perks as honor college students. The only thing I would have asked is about merit scholarship. Everyone defaulted to the 1/4 tuition scholarship which is nice. But how competitive are these students compare to freshman applicants for larger scholarships. I guess if the larger ones are very holistic in nature, the younger students might lose out on ECs, recs etc.
Edit: Good luck all SAT takers tomorrow!!!
DS just got home from taking the SAT and he walked in with a smile on his face! He says it’s the most confidente he’s felt taking a test. He thinks he only missed a few questions, one math question he figured out just after time was over so he knows he missed that one and another math question he said he had to guess on. Hope things go as well on Wednesday for the PSAT! Now for the long wait until scores are released on the 19th…
@3scoutsmom way to go!
DS took Math II today and missed two questions but felt good otherwise. Lol. Fingers crossed he is feeling correctly.
We created a separate e-mail account for the College Board so that emails from colleges don’t fill up the primary e-mail’s in box. For my older child, we created a third e-mail account that was only used on college applications. We knew if an e-mail was delivered to that account, it was related to an application and was important.
Regarding USC, '20 received the packet as well. My child is enjoying high school and has no interest in leaving early.
ive grilled the college email account into scattered-S20; but he doesnt always remember things.
He’s taking a 2–hr prep class tonight going over format of PSAT. S20 is a little stressed right now as it is the big week for XC state qualifying; wish PSAT wasnt in the middle of it. s20 is our “chill” child; we were so pleased he was named to the metro area XC all academic team the other day out of 500+ kids 
of course he didnt tell us about it so we didnt know to stay for pictures.
PSAT/NMSQT is finally taking place this time tomorrow. No one from the class of 2019 qualified. The other four high schools in the district had at least one. I’m guessing my daughter will probably be commended after a 210 last year. She didn’t study last year but this time they had a program at the school that helped her study. The district college night is tomorrow and we might drop in since all the big ten schools will be there.
@nicki20 I’m hoping for the best for your daughter! I was just looking at my son’s PSAT and SAT scores from last year and think he really has a chance but it will be very close, he’ll likely need a 221 for TX and last year he was at 218. Our school usually has 25-28 NMF but doesn’t offer any study programs. I’ve noticed some maturity in DS this year and think that will help with his test taking.
We’ll be having salmon for dinner tonight. When the kids were little I told them it was “brain food” and would make them smart and has become tradition in our house to have salmon the night before SAT/PSAT:-)
Good luck to your son. Illinois is 221 too. My daughter was 30 point lower in math than the ERW number and 20 lower than PSAT 8/9 which only goes to 720. IL just switched a couple years ago from ACT. She doesn’t like the SAT and is taking the ACT later this month. Like the salmon idea especially since she doesn’t eat meat. I think mine has gotten more since her senior friends are working on Apps
Good luck to everyone who will be taking the PSAT tomorrow.
DS’ school have everyone in 9-11 grade to take PSAT (half day for them), while seniors got a second day off of the week. I don’t even know the cutoff for our state. DS didn’t prep for it, since he just took the SAT in August and we are hoping that would be sufficient.
Well, this thread is timely for kids who prefer ACT while still want to try for NM scholarship, you can use ACT scores in place of SAT starting class of 2020:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/2104208-2020-national-merit-semi-finalists-can-submit-either-sat-or-act-scores.html#latest
@makemesmart here are the confirmed cut offs for all states for the past 3 years sorry the formatting is wonky copied from Art at Compassprep. In general, states with smaller populatoions tend to have more change from year to year.
Class of 2019 Change Class of 2018 Class of 2017
Alabama 216 0 216 215
Alaska 215 -2 217 213
Arizona 220 0 220 219
Arkansas 214 -1 215 213
California 223 1 222 221
Colorado 221 1 220 218
Connecticut 222 1 221 220
Delaware 222 1 221 218
District of Columbia 223 0 223 222
Florida 219 0 219 217
Georgia 220 0 220 219
Hawaii 220 0 220 217
Idaho 214 -2 216 214
Illinois 221 0 221 219
Indiana 219 0 219 217
Iowa 216 0 216 215
Kansas 218 -1 219 217
Kentucky 218 1 217 215
Louisiana 217 1 216 214
Maine 217 2 215 214
Maryland 223 1 222 221
Massachusetts 223 1 222 222
Michigan 219 0 219 216
Minnesota 220 0 220 219
Mississippi 215 2 213 212
Missouri 217 0 217 216
Montana 214 0 214 210
Nebraska 216 1 215 215
Nevada 218 1 217 214
New Hampshire 219 2 217 216
New Jersey 223 0 223 222
New Mexico 215 0 215 213
New York 221 0 221 219
North Carolina 220 1 219 218
North Dakota 212 1 211 209
Ohio 219 0 219 217
Oklahoma 215 -1 216 213
Oregon 221 1 220 219
Pennsylvania 220 1 219 218
Rhode Island 220 4 216 217
South Carolina 216 -1 217 215
South Dakota 215 0 215 209
Tennessee 219 1 218 218
Texas 221 0 221 220
Utah 215 -1 216 215
Vermont 216 -1 217 215
Virginia 222 0 222 221
Washington 222 0 222 220
West Virginia 212 1 211 209
Wisconsin 216 -1 217 215
Wyoming 212 -1 213 209
U.S. Territories 212 1 211 209
U.S. Citizens Studying Abroad 223 0 223 222
Commended Student 212 1 211 209
In Illinois it’s mandatory to take the SAT in April
@3scoutsmom thanks!
222 (VA)! Lol his PSAT10 was 219. I won’t be holding my breath over this. His EBRW is weaker than math, which makes getting high psat a bit harder.
@Nicki20
With this change (act can be used for NM scholarship), I wonder whether states will still manadate SAT now?
Good question. Illinois has no money but there paying for that.
My daughter was exactly the cutoff last year, so hoping she does as well and the cutoff doesn’t move too much! Unfortunately she didn’t really have any time for prep. She felt pretty good about the SAT on saturday though.
My D20 will be happy when PSAT is over. She’s been studying hard for it, she got 1350 last year, one of her friend got 1490.
I have anxiety and I don’t even have a dog in this fight. Praying and wishing all the best for class of 2020 kiddos tomorrow. May their PSAT scores exceed their expectations. Next year is the real deal for D21.
Our school doesn’t give the test tomorrow. Our Juniors will take it on Saturday. DD has been prepping for SAT which she took last week, so hopefully that was prep for this too. Her score was high but not high enough last year, but the score report predicted a score for this year which would give her national merit. It’s crazy high in NJ so I’m not counting on it, but definitely worth taking it. If they get commended does that help with anything??
@musicmom1215
FWIW, I know a girl who got commended and got into Stanford. I doubt it is valued as much in private colleges as in public ones?