@JBStillFlying I got a 1500 on the PSAT and only used free prep materials (Khan Academy, free blogs), so not necessarily both. I’ve always scores 99th percentile on standardized tests though.
Meant no offense to anyone. Only meant to make the point to those who said they got nothing out of this that NMF creates a tremendous opportunity for EVERY NMF. And if you choose to pass on it for your own reasons, as I said that is totally fine. If you do, you are privileged. Either you can afford to pay your own way, or some other school has given you something as good or better.
@JBStillFlying DD acheived 36 act 790/790 sat after reviewing free samples briefly to b familiar with format.
No paid tutoring here either. Princeton Review book for ACT, Khan Academy for PSAT and SAT.
why are we comparing what time/$$ spent on test prep? pointless
Was there any date on when we could tell people outside the family on the family letter? I remember there was a date for the media release on the semi finalist letter.
No one said anything about paying for prep - my kid’s year NO ONE had access to paid prep :). If you scored well enough to be NMSF you are privileged - period. So is my kid. It doesn’t matter how you got there. My point was to point out to @LOUKYDAD that he should follow his own advice; however, as he has apologized (sort of) all is well. And anyone complaining about “not getting anything out of this” is too bricks short of a load.
Still flying, you said: no one denies that scoring in the top 1% of PSAT is highly correlated either with intelligence or access to good tutoring - in fact, most likely both.
I take issue with the “most likely both” portion of your post. I cannot believe the number of hours and $ spent chasing higher scores. This insanity is fueled by score choice lining the pockets of the testing services. I appreciate Cornell and Stanford and others not contributing to this waste. I think the time and money could be far better spent.
“It doesn’t matter how you got there”
That’s a state property 
No paid prep here either. After NMSF was announced, classmates kept asking my kid to recommend prep classes and tutors!
Back to today’s main issue - STILL WAITING IN VIRGINIA! Anyone in NoVa hear yet?
“I take issue with the “most likely both” portion of your post. I cannot believe the number of hours and $ spent chasing higher scores. This insanity is fueled by score choice lining the pockets of the testing services. I appreciate Cornell and Stanford and others not contributing to this waste. I think the time and money could be far better spent.”
It’s a sad reality. BTW, add CMU to the set because they require ALL your scores.
CB introduced Kahn in part to address the inequities in prep access. Based on the CC posts the first summer it was introduced, my hunch is that it increased score discrepancies by income level rather than narrowed them! Being free didn’t keep the richy-rich kids from utilizing it (especially that first year when pretty much nothing else was available). Haven’t looked into the overall impact but wouldn’t be surprised to find a Sesame Street effect *
- This has been documented. CTW was introduced to give poor children w/o access to decent early ed. a chance to learn their 123's and ABC's and how to read, etc which would, it was hoped, give them a head start on regular school. The overall impact was to WIDEN the ed. gap by income, not narrow it. Turns out all the smart rich moms were plunking their little pumpkins down in front of the TV as well. In fact, it was discovered that kids of decent SES were watching - and soaking up - this early ed. stuff in higher proportions, and were consequently even better prepared for school, than kids of low SES. So much for equity.
@prodesse - your kid should do what mine did: tutor others!
From western Chicago suburb: NMF envelope in son’s mail today.
This makes no sense. Even our land grant public university, Purdue only gives $500/year for NMF
@skenbre, what part doesn’t make sense?
S was just notified by his GC in SoCal!
I have 2 NMF’s - $0 on tutoring or test prep. One of them does volunteer as a peer tutor at school. They attend a public high school in a medium sized city (5 other HS) in a largely AG community in Northern CA. They are the only 2 NMFs in their class of over 500. I do take offense to the insinuation that their accomplishment was purchased @JBStillFlying. We are hoping for some tuition help due to their NMF status, but to date they have been deferred for EA and not selected for any merit scholarship consideration. Based on the stats of the people who are in the merit pool at USC, my children are unlucky to have parents that attended college and unlucky that we are not an URM and unlucky that we did not have enough money to “save a village”. Their achievements are pure talent and drive on their part. Hell, one of them barely studied for the PSAT or SAT and still made NMF. I was nowhere close to that in the “dark ages” when I was a student.
Let’s all agree that if we are on this particular thread, our kids are bright & have some exciting opportunities they might otherwise not have.
Hooray for @DiotimaDM 's S!!
@usma87 - no one is saying that their accomplishment was purchased. Climb down off the ledge.
If your child barely studied for the PSAT and made NMSF then they have the privilege of intelligence or test-taking ability. Guess what - so does mine. That they went on to NMF - ah, now there’s where the hard work pays off. ;
No one should be ashamed or defensive because they have a smart kid. It’s what you do with it that matters.
@GertrudeMcFuzz - amen!
@usma87 congrats. Much to be proud of. Best of luck to you. I too couldn’t hold a candle to the achievements of this, my youngest. Enjoy the journey! Great things are in store…