<p>Sorry, haven’t read all the posts in this thread so don’t know if someone already addressed this. Part of the reason for the ‘high scorer’ notification is to give kids a heads up there is a chance they might be NMSF so that they make sure to take the SAT and send scores to NMSC. Here in ACT country, plenty kids don’t take the SAT. When you do take it you might not have a good idea where to send the scores for free. If you follow CC you already know if your score has a real chance of making NMSF in your state. But not everyone is on CC. Probably someone already mentioned that in the past you’ve need a 1960 not counting the effects of the essay on writing score? Have to say that notifying those 2 colleges made absolutely no diff for my D. Neither of them (U of AZ and UMN) even contacted her, though she later applied to one of them so was in contact because of that.</p>
<p>@ILfather - so, so sorry! I didn’t mean to come across as critical because the link didn’t work! Thanks for updating it though!! :)</p>
<p>I am truly grateful for all the information gleaned on this site!</p>
<p>@Hoggirl : No need to apologize – I posted a bad link (due to my using the Preview Post feature one too many times I think). Thank you for posting your comments here. I, too, am grateful for all the information shared on CC.</p>
<p>@mr68gto, I read your post (copied below) with interest as that is the first I had heard about the lowest state NMSF score being the commended student cutoff. I’m not sure that’s accurate, though.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I believe the lowest state NMSF scores for the Class of 2012 (PSAT taken in 2010) were North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming with 204 each. From what I can tell, the Commended Student cutoff score for that year’s class was 202. Please chime in to correct me if anyone has better information or insights.</p>
<p>ILfather, you’re exactly right. Commended has nothing to do with NMSF cutoffs.</p>
<p>NMSF cutoffs are calculated as such: (16,000 / TOTAL TEST TAKERS IN NATION) x (Number of Graduating Juniors in State) = Number of NMSF in state. Then the score is cutoff to account for those students.</p>
<p>Commended cutoffs are calculated as such: Top 55,000 scorers, regardless of state. Then the score is cutoff to account for those students.</p>
<p>Thank you PSAT321 that makes this process much simpler.</p>
<p>Is anyone else still waiting to hear from his/her school about being a high scorer? It looks like the letters went out 2 weeks ago on Wednesday…</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the cutoff is for NY? I know it was 215 last year and that was the lowest number it ever has been. My daughter hasn’t mentioned hearing anything at school from her friends,
thanks</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the cutoff is for NY? I know it was 215 last year and that was the lowest number it ever has been. My daughter hasn’t mentioned hearing anything at school from her friends,
thanks</p>
<p>I was wondering the same thing, disneydebk. My son scored 221 in Alabama and we still haven’t heard anything from his school.</p>
<p>pokemonwhite and Mundee, you might want to read the last couple pages of the thread and also the sticky/FAQ for the topic. The cutoffs for individual states will not be known until the end of August/early September. All you will hear at this point is that your student is a “Top Scorer,” if they scored 203 or above. The “Top Scorer” cutoff is National. Top Scorers will be further distinguished as Commended or Semifinalists in August/Sept. Those cutoffs are state cutoffs.</p>
<p>This is the first year that NM Corp has sent the Top Scorer notice only to the schools. Most schools will be unaware of this change. If your student has not heard anything by now, your student might want to chat with the counselor and let them know of the change. </p>
<p>While we have various posters with educated guesses about the Semifinalists cutoffs, that’s all they are – guesses. Nobody knows, yet.</p>
<p>Thanks, KvotheFan. I knew all that, but was just wondering why my son hadn’t heard from his school yet since he is should be a “Top Scorer”. I guess I’ll have to contact them to see what’s up.</p>
<p>D asked her guidance counselor and he told her that they would not find out until September… they must not know that the process has changed…</p>
<p>^ The school would not know who would be semifinalist until September, but they would know who are the high scorers (commended) in mid April. That has not been changed. The only change is the NMSC no longer notifies the students individually but only to the school.</p>
<p>My son’s GC just e-mailed to let us know the school got the letter from NMSC. Not like I didn’t know, thanks to the informative folks here at CC…</p>
<p><a href=“16,000%20/%20TOTAL%20TEST%20TAKERS%20IN%20NATION”>quote</a> x (Number of Graduating Juniors in State) = Number of NMSF in state.
[/quote]
I don’t think that is correct, PSAT321. The equation you give would mean that the top 1% (approximately) of scorers in every state would be NMSF. Instead I believe the NMSF slots are allocated according to each state’s proportion of graduating seniors in the previous year. In other words:</p>
<p>16,000 x (# of Graduating Sr.'s in State / # of Graduating Sr.'s in Nation) = # of NMSF in State</p>
<p>which explains why state’s differ in the the relative number of NMSF slots they get with respect to the entire set of high school juniors in each state.</p>
<p>It is true, however, that the “top-scorer” count is a national cutoff which is determined by where ever the top 50,000 scorers fall each year.</p>
<p>
Although the lowest state NMSF cutoffs sometimes correspond to the Top-scorer/Commended cutoff, it isn’t always true. In some years the lowest state NMSF cutoff is higher than the national Commended cutoff. I do believe (based on inference from past history), however, that the NMSC does not allow a state NMSF cutoff that ends up lower than the Commended cutoff even if the formula cited above calculates that it should. In other words a state is not allowed to fill any of its NMSF slots with scorers who have not at least exceeded the Commended cutoff.</p>
<p>Re 2014 Top Scorers…DS has heard nothing directly from the GC. Last Friday, however, his school posted a top scorer news release from NMSC on the school website. It seems we’ll have to be content with that until the Commended/SF notices come out in September.</p>
<p>dowagercountess: You might be able to do a little better than that if you check back here in early September. Someone is sure to be compiling a list of state cutoffs in advance of the NMSC official notices. You might learn your state’s cutoff from that.</p>
<p>Thanks Descartesz…DS is actually in good shape for NMSF I think…+/- 12 points clear of recent cutoffs for our state. I originally was thinking more about the early notification service (picking 2 colleges to notify) but I see that’s moot anyway.</p>
<p>thanks for the heads up.
my daughter’s GC was the one who said she would find out what the NY state cutoff was in the spring; so that’s why we were waiting for that number.
however, she did score well in excess of the “203” or what is being talked about as the commended cutoff in these posts and she has not heard anything (nor her friends) from GC.</p>