PSAT Scores for National Merit Semifinalists 2009 (H.S. Class of 2010)

Test Preparation
341

<p>YES! Thank you so much for the info nkl811! (Also have a 217 from Illinois, but hadn’t heard from GC yet)</p>

<p>Alabama <=208 (post 328)
Arizona <=212 (post 315)
Florida<=211 (post 327)
Kansas <=212 (post 317)
Kentucky <= 209 (post 309)
Maryland <=234 (post 308)
Michigan <=209 (post 331)
Missouri <= 216 (post 294)
Nebraska <= 211 (post 292)
Ohio <=215 (post 311)
South Dakota <=205 (post 320) - received word from GC (packets with letters to be distributed Monday)
Texas <= 216 (post 319)
Washington <=218 (post 313)
Illinois <=217 (Post 340)</p>

342

<p>Just tucking Illinois into its proper place…</p>

<p>Alabama <=208 (post 328)
Arizona <=212 (post 315)
Florida<=211 (post 327)
Illinois <=217 (Post 340)
Kansas <=212 (post 317)
Kentucky <= 209 (post 309)
Maryland <=234 (post 308)
Michigan <=209 (post 331)
Missouri <= 216 (post 294)
Nebraska <= 211 (post 292)
Ohio <=215 (post 311)
South Dakota <=205 (post 320) - received word from GC (packets with letters to be distributed Monday)
Texas <= 216 (post 319)
Washington <=218 (post 313)</p>

343

<p>Congratulations to all who made semi-finalist. Start looking at those schools that are offering free rides and find one that you could enjoy attending. Apply to at least one. It’s nice to have a place paid for if something goes wrong financially or with family dynamics. </p>

<p>The saddest posts on CC are the ones in the spring from NM finalists whose their folks won’t or can’t pay for college, and now they have nowhere to go. One application to one of the “lesser” schools would have prevented that heartache.</p>

344

<p>S received his packet Friday. His counselor told him to bring in the printed essay and she would cut it out and tape it on. I guess she doesn’t trust us to use non-glare tape. She gave him a personal deadline of 9/11 but the official packet deadline is 10/14.</p>

<p>There is a section for EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES</p>

<p>ACTIVITIES: List the activities most significant to you
6 Lines(Boxes), 4 Column headings</p>

<p>Activity… Positions held, honors won, or letters earned… Approximate Time Spent… Grade Level(s)</p>

<p>OTHER HONORS OR AWARDS: List one-time honors or awards received and academic year, e.g., Academic Gold Medal, grade 10 There is one line for this!</p>

<p>EMPLOYMENT: List employment held, academic year, and hours worked per week, e.g., lifeguard, grade 9, 10 hours/week There is one line for this also.</p>

<p>COLLEGE MAJOR: half line INTENDED CAREER: half line</p>

<p>There are 3 pages to be filled out by the counselor or principal including a 1/2 page letter of recommendation, the transcript written in, school curriculum info written in, and another section.</p>

<p>Please mark the description that best characterizes the Semifinalist in each area. The choices are Below Average, Average, Above Average, Very Good (top 10%), Excellent (top 5%), and Outstanding (top 1%). The 3 areas are Academic Achievement, Extracurricular Accomplishments, and Personal Qualities and Character.</p>

<p>This section is going to be a tough one for S. He is not in the top 10% of his class.</p>

<p>The SAT they consider must have been taken between October 2007 and December 2009. They “urge you to take the SAT no later than November 7 and not wait until December.” </p>

<p>NOWHERE DOES IT SAY WHAT SCORE IS REQUIRED TO MOVE ONTO FINALIST STANDING. </p>

<p>One very interesting thing is that of the 15,000 Finalists, 8,200 will be “Merit Scholar designees (notified March-June 2010)” and the others will be “Finalists not selected as Merit Scholarship winners (notified May 2010).” So just over half of the finalists will be scholars. That surprised me.</p>

345

<p>Alabama <=208 (post 328)
Arizona <=212 (post 315)
Florida<=211 (post 327)
Illinois <=217 (Post 340)
Kansas <=212 (post 317)
Kentucky <= 209 (post 309)
Maryland <=234 (post 308)
Michigan <=209 (post 331)
Missouri <= 216 (post 294)
Nebraska <= 211 (post 292)
Ohio <=215 (post 311)
South Dakota <=205 (post 320) - received word from GC (packets with letters to be distributed Monday)
Tennessee <= 227 (post 344)
Texas <= 216 (post 319)
Washington <=218 (post 313)</p>

346

<p>Is there anyone else in Minnesota even paying attention to this? That might be to my advantage… no CCers from MN took the PSAT this year :)</p>

347

<p>MaryTN, I talked to the National Merit office last spring about what score would be needed on the SAT to advance. The reason I called them was because my son’s PSAT was above last year’s cutoff, but his SAT was below the predicted score. That National Merit office told me: last year’s Texas PSAT cutoff score was 215 and then she told me the SAT cutoff. I think what she said was to take the PSAT cutoff, subtact 20 and multiply by 10. (I didn’t write it down because I figured my son was probably safe). So a 215 state cutoff would require a 1950 on the SAT. And she said there would be time to retake the SAT after receiving the semifinalist packet.</p>

348

<p>Thank you everyone, especially jml for the essay prompt and MaryTN for the form details.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Interesting how this is worded, with the percentages given. I also have a S who is not in the top 10% of his class and not knowing the GPA cutoff has been bugging me. After searching on CC and asking elsewhere, I still do not have a good idea what GPA he needs to advance to finalist. Is “Above Average” good enough? If ECs and Characters are top 10% or higher, will that balance out a lower GPA? Our GC would only tell me that the determination is “holistic”.</p>

<p>Oh well, first I have to see if S made it to SF.</p>

349

<p>anyone else in Texas with a 215 sweating this out?</p>

350

<p>I received a 214 and my buddy received a 213 (in Tennessee) and we both got our packets yesterday. The guidance counselor told us she believed the cut-off was 213, so I got lucky. You can update that, kindredspirit.</p>

351

<p>Formertarheel, I would bet money on you.</p>

<p>As the charts below show, the last two years TX has held at 215. I read recently the SAT scores went down in TX. Of course that doesn’t necessarily correlate to the PSAT, but it doesn’t look likely the scores went UP. :)</p>

<p>[National</a> Merit Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.collegeplanningsimplified.com/NationalMerit.html]National”>http://www.collegeplanningsimplified.com/NationalMerit.html)</p>

<p>Best of luck to you.</p>

352

<p>Updating TN</p>

<p>Alabama <=208 (post 328)
Arizona <=212 (post 315)
Florida<=211 (post 327)
Illinois <=217 (Post 340)
Kansas <=212 (post 317)
Kentucky <= 209 (post 309)
Maryland <=234 (post 308)
Michigan <=209 (post 331)
Missouri <= 216 (post 294)
Nebraska <= 211 (post 292)
Ohio <=215 (post 311)
South Dakota <=205 (post 320) - received word from GC (packets with letters to be distributed Monday)
Tennessee <= 213 (post 350)
Texas <= 216 (post 319)
Washington <=218 (post 313)</p>

353

<p>Yay about the 213 in TN; DD has a 221 (but no packet yet)</p>

<p>MaryTN, I believe the 8,500 refers to the number of students who will get the official scholar money from NMSC, not the total of NMF students. You can still get a NMF scholarship from an institution (say University of Alabama or UT) and not be one of those 8,500 students. The NMSC scholarship is $2500 and will “travel” with your student to whatever school he goes to. And if I remember correctly, if offered the NMSC scholarship, you can’t also have an institutional (school) NMF scholarship. So if you’ve got a full ride NMF somewhere, you need to turn down the NMSC scholarship.
Someone please correct me if I’ve misunderstood :)</p>

354

<p>The $2500 one-time NMSC scholarships go to the kids in each state (2500 nationwide)that are deemed the top of the pool (by what criteria, who knows). S1’s two top choices offered NMF scholarships which would have yielded more $$ than the $2500 NMC, but he got hte NMC instead. </p>

<p>There are a number of schools (Ivies, MIT in particular) that do not offer NMF scholrships. That’s where those $2500 NMSC awards become useful. </p>

<p>There are some schools where if you designate them as #1 (UT, etc.) you will get their package and whatever sweetener they offer to NMFs. If you get a school-sponsored NMF scholarship, you will not get a NMSC award as well. </p>

<p>Yes, it’s true that not everyone makes NMF will actually get $$. DH was a NMF long ago – did not get a NMSC award and did not attend a school that sponsored NMF awards.</p>

355

<p>Anyone from Florida who received notification with a score of 210 or below?</p>

356

<p>If “full ride” = tuition plus room/board/travel etc, then its likely you cant make a profit from scholarships, but if “full ride” = full tuition, then yes, NMS can be combined.</p>

357

<p>I got my packet this week. I scored a 212 on my PSAT. :)</p>

358

<p>Matok, my daughter got a 214 and we are anxiously awaiting any word from MN. In our area I understand Iowa State, UW-Eau Claire and University of SD offer free tuition to NMS finalist students, do you know any other schools?</p>

359

<p>Come on USPS, get the stuff delivered to California. I wanna see if my low SAT score disqualified me…</p>

360

<p>I believe UW-Osh Kosh and Minnesota-Morris offer things as well, but I’m trying to get OUT of the area lol… USF would be so nice… If I don’t get this, I’m stuck at U of MN probably.</p>

<p>And amarkov, your SAT score has NOTHING to do with this letter</p>