<p>fireflyscout - 199 did not make commended. It’s not much but it’s a start.</p>
<p>203…letter received from NMS</p>
<p>I got a 219 on my PSAT but haven’t received any letter yet. Is that bad?</p>
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<p>As I understand the cut off score is 202 this year (could be 201 like last year but so far only those with 202 have responded that they received the letter) so anyone above 202 should be commended. If anyone with 201 PSAT score has received the letter, please post, else we would have to assume that 202 is the cut off.</p>
<p>Let me clarify a few things:
[ol]
[<em>]Everyone above the cut off (202 at this stage) is commended and has the option to notify two colleges that they are in the top 50,000 from among those who took the PSAT test in 2010.
[</em>]Except for home schooled students, the letters are sent to the High School. So if you have not received the letter, talk to your Principal or GC first. I have heard stories of the Principal etc. not knowing what to do with the letters, and hence you may have to remind them.
[<em>]All the letter says that you are in the top 50,000 and if you wish to nominate two colleges, those two colleges will be informed that you are very interested in them.
[</em>]Some colleges take that interest seriously, many especially all the top ones do not. To be cynical, all that means is you will get more mail from some colleges. On the other hand, even if you do not nominate a school, they still obtain your name and address and send you junk mail, except it is unsolicited. If you name the school, the school can claim it is solicited.
[li]What happens if you do not get the letter or your Principal throws it into the trash can, or the Principal gives it to you and dog eats it up? Nothing. Not filling out those two names has no bearing on if you make it to Semi Finalist or not. My S did not even bother to give the note to me and it lay in his back pack for months and he did just fine.[/li][/ol]</p>
<p>So please do not sweat it if you did not get the letter. Time to sweat is if your cut off score is higher or equal to the state cut off for Semi Finalist and you do not have the letter at that time.</p>
<p>It depends on the school. My son hasn’t gotten his letter yet. I checked with the school and I was told they’re holding the letters to give out at an assembly later in May. It’s a little aggravating because I know the letters are sitting in an office at the school right now, but that’s their policy.</p>
<p>^ the deadline to reply is May 25th, so hopefully the letters will be given out before then.</p>
<p>My younger son did not get a letter yet (228 in CA), but I seem to recall my older son received a package that he needed to complete with his application, transcript and other items. That was just 2 years ago.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if they did away with that package? Or does that come later in the process when they try to go from semi-finalist to finalist?</p>
<p>bobmom…That sounds like the package the Semi-Finalists will receive in September. They will have to write an essay, get a recommendation from the school, official transcript, etc. and that’s when they’ll have their first opportunity to name a “First Choice School” if they wish or list “Undecided”.</p>
<p>Thanks Wolverine! I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t missing anything important now and I couldn’t remember the time frame of everything.</p>
<p>^No worries bobmom. He may want to touch base with his GC as they’re probably in possession of his letter and possibly unaware of it. I just spoke with our D1’s GC (she’s a Finalist and Scholar this year) earlier this week to see if he was aware of all the OUTSTANDING scholarships available to NMF’s and he didn’t have a clue!! I printed off the list of schools from the CC thread and left it with him, and I’ve since heard he’s giving a copy of the thread to this year’s letter recipients for planning purposes. Kinda scary since he’s the NM coordinator at the school, but hopefully it’ll help any of the kids here that make NMSF in the fall.</p>
<p>got one. does anyone know if a school like swarthmore or Amherst would care on being informed?</p>
<p>We did ask the guidance counselor and they hadn’t seen anything. They even checked around the school and couldn’t find anything. So, they’re going to call college board and see what they should do since they don’t seem to have it. </p>
<p>They’re a newer school and I don’t think they look out for anything for NMSF. I know when they received the package for my older son, they had no idea what it was for since he was the first one in the school that had ever received one. Thank goodness for the internet or we would have had no idea of how helpful it could be.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your D1 Wolverine!</p>
<p>I talked to the counseling office today and the secretary said that our letters were mailed three weeks ago. I still haven’t gotten mine, ahh!</p>
<p>225 in Hawaii. (: I got my letter a while ago, actually. I’ll be the first in my school to make semi-finalist.</p>
<p>Also, not about the commended cut-off; since my principal just ended up giving me the principal’s letter too, the commended cut-off is 202, not 201.</p>
<p>I got my letter a week or two ago. I live in California and got a 231.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your reply!!! She did retake the SAT and scored another 90 points higher. We are keeping our fingers crossed since any amount of merit aid will be very welcomed!</p>
<p>I just saw this and am a little worried… I scored a 229 on the PSAT in Washington this last fall and am going to be a senior this next school year. I took the SAT in May and got a 2320. I didn’t get any letter though. I should be something special, right? Commended, semifinalist, anything?</p>
<p>You should probably be a semifinalist. The initial letter from this year doesn’t make a difference; it’s just designating your first choice school as a National Merit Finalist that could matter for scholarship money at certain schools. Don’t worry about it. You should get a letter saying you’re a semifinalist in fall.</p>
<p>@MotherNerd, I scored similarly (230, 2360) and didn’t get a letter either. I called National Merit and asked about it; they will check on the status and see if a letter was created for you…which means that you made the cutoff (which you undoubtedly did).</p>
<p>Phew, thanks. I was worried I had missed the first step and so wasn’t going to be able to be anything.</p>