@vistajay Wow, didn’t know being a National Merit is worth over $100K at USC. Do you have a link at the USC website Tx in advance.
Based on the concordance tables… a score of approximately 1460 on this year’s PSAT would put you in the running for NMF in Texas.
Look at additional schools to USC. Some colleges offer full tuition, room/board, fees, and even money to do Summer programs overseas for NMF.
I think the trouble is most of the high scoring math kids are also strong in verbal just not as strong but they are unevenly punished.
I heard you, but since this is a brand new format of testing, why not they just use the two section’s total scores as the new NMSC index, instead of trying to map to the old index in a half-ass way (the max is 228 instead of 240).
NMF is worth 100K if you live in Florida and go to a state school or UMiami.
@PAMom Does you data show that actual 99% cutoff or just the cutoff for each state?
Thanks for the response
It should State-merit…not National-merit. Don’t really see how the “National” part comes to play. It’s literally all based on how smart the kids are in your state.
My son’s NMS ride was credited as $144,000 (all 4 years). He’s a freshman at UCF, and has had a great first semester experience.
@yonglu I agree with you. Couldn’t they have kept the same 240 max system? You would think if the max SI score went down to 228, the cutoff score would be MUCH lower. Maybe top scorers did better, so this may not be the case. Lol
Depends on how that 1460 is broken down, if its high on the verbal side yes, but on the math side maybe not so much. And we do need to step up our math skills as a whole in the country. Its sad that my junior, at a large TX HS, is out of math classes to take after this year. Nothing available past AP Calc BC.
@JuicyMango Alabama doesn’t just give an iPad. They have one of the most attractive National Merit packages around, with five years of both undergraduate and graduate school tuition-free, one year of very nice on-campus housing, $3,500 a year towards expenses and a one-time $2,000 grant for study abroad.
Alabama has a good honors college and 25 percent of the student body has an ACT of 32 or higher.
For Fordham University, a NMF scholarship is worth more than $170K
@SammieB, we didn’t even have BC calculus! My son was able to self study for that though, and also took a few math classes through Johns Hopkins’ CTY program. To be fair to our school, no other student needed this level. But they have a history of neglecting all bright math kids through most of elementary and middle school, 
.
Checked again–no score yet.
@Mathlover314 Although many of us, including Prepscholar, thought that the new state cutoffs would all be lower than the old ones (because the new SI range tops out at 228 instead of 240) we no longer think this is true. Many of us think that the very top cutoffs, like 223 and 224, will become a bit lower, but that some of the new lower range cutoffs may turn out to be higher than they were before.
@drshoema I don’t see a percentile score for the selection index. Is it somewhere. Maybe you should collect percentiles for verbal and math separately.
Like:
Lowest Verbal 99%ile reported: 7xx?
Lowest Math 99%ile reported: 7xx?
Lowest overall 99%ile reported: 14xx?
I know the overall score isn’t weighted the same as the SI, but it does give some information about percentile for students who do well in both vs. one area. That is, some kids are 99th %ile math and 75%ile verbal. It is likely somewhat more rare to be very high in both.
Note: Historically, I think CA (and likely the other high scoring states) award NMSF at about the 99.5%ile and higher.
Agreed with SammieB. Using the Concordance tables is only approximate. If you are close to 1460, you still may or may not be a NMF in Texas. If you are much higher, then you are probably going to be a NMF… and hence, much lower probably not.
My son, a sophomore, scored a 34 on Reading, 36 on Writing, and 38 on Math…1460 99th percentile, and SI of 216. We are in Texas. Not sure how that would do for NM Semi…dean thinks it will be solidly in the Semi range if he were to do it again next year.
If it helps with your calculations, my daughter said she is 99% percentile. 1480 total, 750 math and 730 verbal. She did not give me a percentile for the subjects.