<p>sad to hear that lonely nerd. i remember seeing other posts from u so I know you were really hoping for this. kid was working on one of the NM apps too but since the cost jumped up $85000 
they probably wont apply. It was only a 3 point jump in our state but enough to knock him out. We had 2 lists going, the will apply regardless list and the will apply/NM list. Im hoping that you, like he, are still in the running for other scholarships. Maybe not full rides but he has def partial tuition at 2 schools he plans to apply to with one of these schools probably being full tuition, and at least has a shot at competitive merit aid at the remaining schools. Again, I am guessing you have similar options. My frustration and Iâm guessing yours was that if I could have figured out in Feb that his odds were worse than we hoped, we could have spent more time focusing on competitive merit options the last several months instead of learning about NM awards. and as Iâm turning into a broken records, I did not want to wait until now to start researching the NM schools as this is not enough time to research and visit the schools, get in the apps, etc. As you hopefully know, many applications for merit aid have deadlines that are considerably sooner than a regular app deadline.</p>
<p>Given that the commended cutoff jumped 3 points it was only logical that many (a significant majority it turns out) would have at least a 3 point jump over 2012. It should not really have caught anyone that much off guard.</p>
<p>KC, Respectfully, 217 was the highest score ever for our state and it happened once, in 2007, and it was the score this year. pretty sure my kid was in elementary school back in 2007. Itâs been awhile regardless. his score, 216, was the second highest score ever, and only occurred one time, in 2011. The rest of the time, the score in our home state has been either 214 or 215, BELOW my kidâs score. The score in record high 2012 was 215. So a 3 point jump for a state that was either 214 or 215 for approximately 11 of the last 13 years is a big jump for such a steady state. Additionally, I only became aware of the 2007 score about 2 weeks ago so I spent the last 11 months thinking his score was the high score for his state. You are lucky to have prognostic abilities considerably better than mine. </p>
<p>Also, using the commended cutoff was in some degree useless as it was a national score, and not reflective of our stateâs score and it was the state score that mattered.</p>
<p>You can claim the commended cutoff is useless but with 41 states reporting an increase of 3 or more I find the correlation very compelling⊠not lucky prognostic abilities, rather I just look at it objectively</p>
<p>A correlation that did not become evident until 10 days ago given state data over last the last 15 years. I believe the commended score in our state in 2012 was 202, and the score was 215 in our home state that year. That would suggest this yearâs score was 216, not 217. and one of my gripes is why could NM not release the selection indexes when the state data came out in the winter. if they knew 500 kids scored 75 or above in CR, 380 in writing, and say 700 in math in a given state, surely they knew 100 kids had a SI of 225 or above, another 200 with SI;'s between 200 and 225, 900 between 215 and 219, and 2200 at at least 210. Iâm throwing make believe numbers here but hopefully, my point comes across. I see no good reason to not include the SI score ranges in the state data info that came out earlier this year.</p>
<p>@ctl987 I now see your reasoning and understand better. I agree, when comparing to 2012 when the commended was 202 versus this year with a 203 it is difficult to know how any given state will fair. Our state stayed the same. </p>
<p>I agree, no reason for NM to drag this out so long.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if there is one media outlet that will have all the state semifinalists lists?</p>
<p>Here are two of the lists:</p>
<p>Ohio - <a href=âhttp://media.cleveland.com/plain_dealer_metro/other/Ohioâs%20semi-finalists%20for%20the%20National%20Merit%20Scholarship.pdf[/url]â>http://media.cleveland.com/plain_dealer_metro/other/Ohioâs%20semi-finalists%20for%20the%20National%20Merit%20Scholarship.pdf</a></p>
<p>Oregon - <a href=âhttp://media.oregonlive.com/education_impact/other/Oregonsemifinalists.pdf[/url]â>http://media.oregonlive.com/education_impact/other/Oregonsemifinalists.pdf</a></p>
<p>New York has a âdatabaseâ up at [83</a> National Merit Scholars named in Western New York and Rochester Area - Buffalo - Business First](<a href=âhttp://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2013/09/11/83-national-merit-scholars-named-in.html?appSession=254123530944161]83â>http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2013/09/11/83-national-merit-scholars-named-in.html?appSession=254123530944161) </p>
<p>But is there a one-stop shop for all the states? Does the nationamerit.org have all the press releases?</p>
<p>ILfatherâŠthere was not one place last year. I think itâs up to each school district to release the names to the local news outlets.</p>
<p>Am I correct in understanding that the letter contains information needed to apply for finalist? I know my score will get me into semifinalists, but I havenât got any letters yet, and my school seems a bit slow to get these things sorted out. When I go to the online application, it requires a temporary username and password that I assume are in the letter. If I never do get my letter, or it gets lost somewhere (I live overseas, so itâs could happen), does anyone know what can I do to get this information?</p>
<p>As promised, my vent. I am considering sending this to NM board too. Ilfather suggested I place this on another website too where I could collect additional signatures. If you have an interest in doing so, let me know and I will look into the logistics of doing so. Happy Press release date. My timing BTW on posting this had nothing to do with the press release date. </p>
<p>One, this process takes too long, and two, the National Merit Board needs to be more transparent. Regarding first issue, kids took the PSAT in October of 2012. Why does it take 11 months to figure out who is a semi-finalist? I understand NM board wants to use 2013 graduation data in running the numbers so I respect we wonât have answers until the class of 2013 graduates. However, when I was in school, national merit semi-finalists were announced in September. Technology has exploded since then. So assuming a gap between June and September was necessary back in my day, that is no longer the case. Numbers could have been crunched as soon as NM had the high school data and semi-finalists could be announced by July or August. As others have pointed out, put the darn info out on college board or something, so the information could be accessed by the families while high schools are not in session. </p>
<p>Second, more transparency is needed. Thanks to college confidential, we had links to access the state data as soon as it was available, which I think was either late January or in February. What was missing were percentages that went along with the selection index score. Had I been able to determine that say 600 kids at a minimum likely scored higher than my kid in our state, I would have gone oh, crap back in February and spent the last several months focusing more on competitive scholarships. What we were given in February was the breakdown for each subsection but no selection index. Although we all (and by all I mean by CC comrades) figured out the scores would be higher, I think most of us are surprised by how huge the jumps are this year when compared with previous years. Since we had no good way of narrowing down my kidâs odds as to which side of the fence they fell on, not only did we have the already daunting task of narrowing colleges down, our family ran 2 lists, the what if kiddo makes NMSF list, and what if they donât. Part of this narrowing included what turned out to be unnecessary research into schools with generous national merit scholarships and for us, the time in hindsight would have been better spent focusing on competitive scholarships with maybe a glossed over look at the NM schools just in case kid made it. For those who ask, why did we even bother researching schools until we knew for sure, see my first point. September of a kidâs senior year is too late to begin a frantic process of deciding which school to go to. We all have kids who have partial and if we are lucky, full scholarship options regardless of NM status. Many competitive scholarships have deadlines between October and early December and even schools with rolling admissions ,the general consensus is apply sooner rather than later to maximize scholarship options. Our kids are busy enough this semester without adding NM paperwork that has a much shorter turnaround than the 11 months we had to wait and for those who are just starting NM scholarship research, good luck. You and your kid only have a short window to get a lot done.</p>
<p>ctl987- CC is a great place to vent frustration. If I may make a suggestion, please consider waiting before you send anything to NMSC. Right now, your thoughts appear to convey both anger and hurt feelings. It is perfectly understandable to feel this way. I think you need to give it a little time before you send something that you may regret at a later date. I am not saying the points that you are making are not valid and should not be expressed, but that maybe how you present those words might be heard better when written after you have had a little more time to digest everything. So sorry for your loss of a dream that has not come true.</p>
<p>I set up the NMSF account and entered all the required info except the actvities and essay in about 30 minutes including setting up the parent account and providing the consent. Son already took SAT last year and alreay sent to NM. The perceived time crunch is not a reality other than our school set a 09/30 deadline so he will have to knock out the essay in the next 2 weeks.</p>
<p>Napermom, someone else suggested I send in letter to NM. My plan was to just vent. I am leaning with u I should polish it up more before it goes in but in talking with my friend, I do plan to send something. It will be more focused on the 11th month waiting period and Ill pull out a lot of the personal data.</p>
<p>KC, very much disagree with you on your points. probably depends on the kid. BUT this is still a very short turnaround for everyone in a very busy time. You probably have the classic NM kid who is super organized and on top of stuff. Not all parents, including those of other qualifiers, are as lucky. I am seeing other posts with people asking who even offers NM scholarships, when can kid take SAT, does the December SAT count etc. My kid also took SAT last year just in case and because they needed it or ACT anyway.</p>
<p>and napermom, we are actually ok with kid not making it despite how upset I may have sounded. some of that letter was written last week when i was still fuming. Actually, for us, this semester got easier because kid has less schools to apply to and visit, he is leaning towards starting at non NM school anyway and now he does not have to face the hard decision of should he turn down a full ride if his heart is set on attending school somewhere else. And we knew since December he would just make or just miss it. I thought he would barely eek by and was off by one point. Not having the NM option may come into play for one of his choices but the award was around the same amount of our EFC(it was not full tuition) so the costs may have been comparable anyway. And that school offers competitive scholarships too. Although they are hard to get, heâs still going to apply and see what happens.</p>
<p>Our local paper published the names of area semifinalists today.</p>
<p>I have a question about the essay. I think other people have said that they plan to re-use or re-tool their Common App essay. Do you think that would be enough, or should the kid write a new essay from scratch?</p>
<p>@ctl987 I would very much agree that it depends on the kid if you actually let your kid handle this, but I didnât. He has to write an essay and rank his activities/honors.</p>
<p>KCtaxâŠThe turnaround time for the application package is usually not an issue from the student/parent endâŠitâs often the school portion that becomes the long pole in the tent. Depending on the size of the school, their familiarity with the NM process, how bogged down they are with other issues at the start of the school year, etc. it can take a PAINFULLY long time for them to generate a Letter of Rec and get a transcript sent out.</p>
<p>Different families in different school districts will have vastly different experiences. Thereâs a good chance youâll see postings on here as Oct 9th approaches from nervous parents asking what to do about the school not having their portion complete. Luckily, NMSC is somewhat forgiving about schools being tardy with their requirements.</p>
<p>As ctl987 said, there are kids who have to âsemi-scrambleâ to get some requirements completed. Our D1 (NMF Class of '11) was one, simply because we were unaware at the time of the opportunities NM presented. She had never taken the SAT, and wasnât planning on it. Thankfully she got a letter in early September from Bama offering her their fantastic scholarshipâŠwhich led to a Google search about NM scholarshipsâŠwhich led me to CC!! God works in mysterious waysâŠsometimes even through Bama admissions!! :)</p>
<p>redacted wrong year</p>
<p>KCTax, TOTALLY with u on providing some push to make sure stuff gets in. they are 17 after all 
and mine really likes being 17 and laid back. I have forced myself very hard to let the kid be the CEO in the college app process (and see my spot as an admin assistant, unfortunately at the level of Pepper potts but is it what it is). We just had a recent talk that since college is approx a $100,000 investment, parents like to make sure everything is timely, and correct. Essays should be good, not slapped together. Thankfully, they got it when stated that way and understand where I am coming from better. and kc, if you could answer some other peoplesâ questions on this process, eg. one asked about using the common app essay, and another on getting paperwork, Iâm sure everyone would gratefully appreciate it as you all plow through these last few hurdles together. </p>
<p>wolverine, great points and one that jumped out at me is despite some insanity, it all worked out GREAT as I am guessing it will for most of our kids, regardless of whether they are NMF, NMSF, or commended. In fact, things will have a way of working out for every kid doing college apps who has the drive to succeed in college.</p>
<p>ctl987âŠYouâre exactly right. All these kids are winners, regardless of designation, and will be successful wherever their college process lands them. NM status definitely expands the pool of possible schools, but there are large $$ merit scholarships (automatic and competitive) that are within reach for all of them.</p>
<p>I always take exception to people who knock the NM program by saying these kids earned it by âonly doing well on the PSATââŠlike theyâre some kind of one-trick pony. Our kids are so much more than a PSAT score, whichever side of a state cutoff score they happen to fall upon. Good Luck to your child in their college search. Wherever they end upâŠthat school will be the better for it.</p>