<p>We thought this week we would know for sure if my son would advance to finalist so we could move on with college plans. He had one last chance to raise his SAT score. Well, we got his scores this morning and with the mc multiplier he has a 1950. In anyone's experience, is National Merit strict about the 1960 cutoff? He has pretty good grades. He made a C once his sophomore yr and has all A's and B's for the rest. He took a lot of tough classes and has a 3.2 unweighted and a 4.03 weighted GPA. He is a good kid and has no discipline record. He has a few ec's he stuck with for 4 yrs. He is at a strong school with lots of smart kids. They had 34 semifinalists this year. The guidance counselors are experienced with NM, so they probably did a good job with the paperwork. Should we keep our hopes up or mentally "move on?"</p>
<p>In January 2011, NMSC will send letter home to student who does not make the Finalist list.
All the Semifinalist students who make the Finalist list will receive letter in February.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I think there has to be a cut-off somewhere. The best thing to do is hope that more than usual were below 1960.</p>
<p>I guess it is only about 3 weeks until the rejection letters go out anyway. He did not mark a first choice college, but his first choice is a big nm school. Does anyone think nm would take pity on him since being a finalist would make such a huge difference in his life at that particular university? I’m grasping I know, 
but he could certainly officially make that his first choice if it would make any difference at all.</p>