<p>i got a 220 in CA and i dont think i got notified? what was the cutoff for california</p>
<p>^your school could just be slow or something. I have a 235 in CA and haven’t received any notification yet either.</p>
<p>it was 2190</p>
<p>^It could be 218; that’s what’s listed in the thread near the top of the forum. I know that a 217 in CA didn’t make it (I have a friend who got a 217…so close!) and that 222 is definitely above the cutoff (my friend showed me his packet with a 222). </p>
<p>Even though I scored a 218 as a sophomore, I’m curious as to whether or not I would have made the cutoff.</p>
<p>JW why is it a state cutoff? Seems dumb to me a person with 215 might notget in but someone with a 210 still could.</p>
<p>State cut-offs vary, Nuclear, because they are based on the top percentage (it may in fact be the top one percent) of test takers in each state. The states with bigger populations (like New York and California) have higher scores as do the states with higher education levels (like Maryland and Massachusetts).</p>
<p>Yeah I know that, but I feel like it should be top 16,000 (I think that’s the right number) in the nation, instead of by state %. I’m not complaining I got in but some of my friends aren’t too happy that somebody in AL is getting a lower score and still getting semi finalist status.</p>
<p>Nuclear- Lots of very intelligent students in rural areas of this country do not have access to AP or advanced classes of any kind or for that matter, have anyone in their school to push them to new academic heights. I am sure that you will learn this in time, as you begin to meet them in college!</p>
<p>^surely you’re not implying that there aren’t rural areas of MA, CA, or NY?</p>
<p>Furthermore, many inner-city schools in decidedly urban areas are in worse shape than some rural schools… I think the whole state thing is baloney (I’m not bitter; I qualified–just think it’s rather unfair to punish students for where they live).</p>
<p>Both of your points are true. In many “top” scoring states there are awful schools and it is unfair but in poor states there is so little money spent on education. Teachers are not drawn there, there is no AP options or money spent on educational materials. Even if it was on a national level it would just mean more genius prep kids getting the scholarship not the less fortunate inner city kids you mentioned. By the state system, all states are represented and more demographics are represented. That being said it is certainly not a perfect system.</p>
<p>The good news is that NMF status isn’t some golden ticket; it is part of a whole. my daughter’s scores would have qualified her anywhere in the country (Maryland is always one of the highest scores anyway), but she was not really interested in the the schools that gave great scholarships to NMFs.</p>
<p>A professor at Georgetown told her that her that the NMF would get her a pat on the back. She ended up being a corporate scholarship winner, so it was a little better than a pat although not at Georgetown.</p>
<p>I wonder if some of the reason for lower cutoffs in the middle of the country is SAT/ACT bias. Where we are in Illinois, deep in the heart of ACT territory, there did not seem to be much push at all by the school to have students take the PSAT and I can’t help wondering how many who might have qualified didn’t take it. Since the cutoff is, as I understand it, set so that it’s the top 1% of eligible juniors, whether they took it or not, anyone who doesn’t take it essentially counts as having received a minimum score and NMSC has to go lower with the cutoff to get 1%.</p>
<p>^^MD Mom, how exactly does the corporate scholarship process work? I mean, I’ve read my son’s paperwork and saw that some kids get the corporate scholarshps. But do you know which ones or why “the ones” are chosen?
Thanks!</p>
<p>I really doubt Maryland and Massachusetts “have higher education levels.”</p>
<p>Nuclear, I think it’s a fair system. In the Midwest the PSAT is not promoted; the ACT is far and away the preferred test. Wisconsin, which is in the bottom 3rd per the cutoff at about 208-209, certainly has a higher level of educated citizenry than many of the states with higher cutoffs.</p>
<p>My school still has yet to notify semifinalists. They’ve had the information for at least two weeks (I went to the guidance department on Friday to ask).</p>
<p>I’ve heard finalist status is given more in schools in “needy” areas and “wealthy” area high schools are passed over. Does anyone know if this is true?</p>
<p>^Definitely not true. Almost 94% of Semi-Finalists become Finalists. There’s no need-based element.</p>
<p>Do the people complaining about the system really think that students in states like Maryland, New Jersey, and New York (or wherever) are simply SMARTER than people in other states? That those states’ higher scores reflect a more intelligent, superior population?</p>
<p>College prep, test prep, priorities placed on education, money spent on education … those things do tend to have “regional borders.” </p>
<p>A top percentage from each state is much more representative of our country’s top-scoring students than the top 16,000 scorers in the country. By taking the top percent from each state, NMSC levels the playing field and accounts for differences in educational standards and opportunities.</p>
<p>I personally think it’s a fair system.</p>
<p>*I’ve heard finalist status is given more in schools in “needy” areas and “wealthy” area high schools are passed over. Does anyone know if this is true? *</p>
<p>Absolutely NOT true…who told you that nonsense?</p>
<p>The students who don’t make finalist are the ones who cause the problem themselves…by not doing the paperwork, by being a discipline problem at school, by having some poor grades, etc.</p>
<p>Income and zip code have NOTHING to do with it.</p>
<p>The truth is that poor areas rarely have any NMSFs, so few NMFs either.</p>
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<p>It wouldn’t be the National Merit Scholarship if it were based on need, would it?</p>
<p>(We will avoid the issue of whether or not a high PSAT score constitutes “merit”.)</p>