<p>Does anyone know when the notify the students that took the PSAT this past Oct that they made the first cut? The web site says April, but I was wondering if anyone knows when. Also, do they send letters home or is it ent through the High Schools? Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>you should get a letter at home sometime this month asking you to pick your initial top 2 choices for schools....then your official notification will come through your high school next Sept. about being a semi or commended...timing varies - some people on here found out early in the month - our school was quite late - nearly Oct., but then our GC dept. is not the sharpest!</p>
<p>Are you saying that HS Juniors already need to pick their top two schools? This will send my D into a tizzy!!</p>
<p>This is not the number one choice that you need later on. You just pick two schools that you want NM to send your scores to. Good schools might be ones that give extra money to NM finalists, rather than the top colleges that do not give any extra consideration because so many of their applicants are NM finalists. This is a way to show a couple schools that you might be interested in them.</p>
<p>Is there a way to find out who gives top NM scholarships? I know UF here in Florida does.</p>
<p>right - these are just two schools that your D is looking at right now - NMSC will forward her name and score to those schools, so she will then be bombarded with propaganda mail from them over the summer and early fall, if they are interested in her - no final commitment on her part at all.</p>
<p>If you get this letter in April- does it mean you are a semi-finalist or possibly just commended?</p>
<p>The April letter just means you made a high score and MIGHT be commended or a semi-finalist. The semi-finalist cut-off scores vary year by year and state by state, so you won't know anything definite till school starts in the fall. This is just a chance to send scores to two colleges.
My S wound up choosing to attend UF and it wasn't even on his radar this time last year. So the sending of the 2 scores really didn't mean too much.</p>
<p>Thanks tabbyzmom- my Ds score is close to last years cutoff for our state and we really wish it would go down by a point or so but know that it is unlikely.</p>
<p>Hmm... this is an old post.</p>
<p>Anyways, I got the Finalist award, but so far it's an empty title. No dough coming my way from the general Mert scholarship, so it doesn't look like I'm going to get any...</p>
<p>April notice goes to those who will be at least commended and the high school gets the notification. In Sept High School also gets the notification about those who have made it to semifinalist. In Jan letter is mailed to homes of those not advancing to finalist. In February, High School is notified of students advancing to finalist about 1 week later, same notification is mailed to homes of the finalist. All in all, the entire process takes more than a year! From October Junior year to February Senior year just to find out if the student has reached finalist status. Then it's a bit longer to find out if any of the "official" National Merit $'s is awarded.</p>
<p>good luck momnipotent! (love your screen name) Who knows, maybe it will drop a point. My fingers are crossed for your D!</p>
<p>Thanks tabbyzmom! My D scored a 212 and is being realistic about the fact that she will be a commended scholar. I pray for the semifinalist though because it sure would open the door to a lot $$$ safeties for her. I realize the odds are slim but .......</p>
<p>It's April for general notification and September for semi-finalist notification right?</p>
<p>zxchen06, go to <a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php#progrec%5B/url%5D">http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php#progrec</a></p>
<p>We are pretty much in the same boat as tabbyzmom. The focus was Rice and Stanford this time last year. after visits, Stanford dropped out and Rice jumped into the lead. Coming down to the wire we found out about the great academic support available for UF engineering, so we asked ourselves whether Rice was really $36,000 better than the state school. As of now, it looks like our S is going to be a Gator!</p>
<p>Here is my question. Finalists have to identify your top school in February to qualify for one of the NM scholarships. What is the deadline for notifying them that you are going somewhere else?</p>
<p>Hi GatorOwl, I have not seen anywhere in the instructions about a February deadline. Many students are still sending in their top schools. My S just sent his last week!</p>
<p>Here's a link that may answer your question about changing your choice:
<a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php#finalists%5B/url%5D">http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php#finalists</a></p>
<p>Once there, SCROLL DOWN and click on the blue "College-Sponsored Merit Scholarship Awards" link. It will take you to an Adobe Reader document with all the rules and regulations on it.
Or, if it is still unclear, just call the National Merit folks and ask them any specific questions. They have been very nice to us. It is a confusing process.</p>
<p>So, what schools would it be worth to send to later this month?
Like - if I sent it to a school where probably most of the kids attending got PSAT's in the 99th percentile, would they ignore it?</p>
<p>Just put your current two favorites. I truly do not think it is a big deal. The schools my S sent his scores to did not even acknowledge receiving the PSATs, yet he was accepted both places and ended up going elsewhere.</p>
<p>Personally, I don't think Merit holds that much weight, except at schools that give large Merit scholarships. Even the ones that give small Merit (2-3k) scholarships - generally those have enough Merit scholars that it doesn't help admissions... so don't stress too much picking two colleges to send your recognition letter too.</p>