<p>I know someone in a small high school who had this experience last week: The high school did not receive anything from NMSC. The parent called NMSC and asked them to check if the school was notified, thinking perhaps the letter had gone astray somehow. She found out that they did not have an address on file for the high school, so hadn’t sent anything! NMSC then fax’d the Semi-finalist letter to the high school.</p>
<p>So - don’t worry about being helicopter-ish! If you feel pretty certain that your child qualified, you should definitely follow-up!</p>
<p>… and I add my thanks to you rockfishdg as well. Much appreciated!</p>
<p>Again folks, NMSC’s PR on Wednesday is all about announcing the semifinalists. They say as much. They know the cutoff scores by state such that each is proportionally represented is a hot button issue and while they are clearly willing to defend it, that is not what they will focus on. As others have pointed out, they will give you a cutoff score if asked on/after Wednesday, but that is pretty much pointless by the time such is available. We can all debate fairness and the like and I for one would be upset to say the least if I were in one of the high cutoff states and didn’t make it there but would have in any number of others. My only solace to those who realized this fate is that you are all great students who are likely to receive merit in another form that may be even greater, but at other schools. I consider for example that the state flagship in my state of Ohio only considers an NMSC finalist “crown” as but one of many feathers in one’s cap and gives it no particular regard to merit dollars. Heck, look closely at most schools that do give particular attention to the NMSC finalist tag … many of them have an alternative way to arrive at a similar award. In fact, I would even go so far as to point out my PSAT/NMSQT score somewhere on the application to bring awareness to the highly competitive state I hail from.</p>
<p>One rant … the fairtest organization. I know nothing about them and while clearly there is much to be debated any time testing and fairness are discussed in the same breath, how is merit confused with need? Read the history of NMSC (again, a private organization that cannot dictate what schools or anyone else does with their results) and understand their mission. Nowhere do they profess to make awards based on need and in fact their heritage seems based more on national security. I cite from their web site:</p>
<p>“National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) was established in 1955a time in which there was concern that the United States was lagging behind in the cold war scientific race, but the public was indifferent to rewarding intellectual accomplishment. In response, the National Merit Scholarship Program was founded to identify and honor scholastically talented American youth and to encourage them to develop their abilities to the fullest.”</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, especially Rockfishdg! It was fun to have others to stress with and watch the results roll in! Good luck on your college apps and hope you all enjoy Senior year!</p>
<p>Let’s look at a couple examples that might help with understanding their position. California is a <em>huge</em> state and comes in near the bottom in the nation for test scores. Yet, we have the Bay area and some wealthier/well prepped areas of LA and San Diego. These areas skew the state for the vast majority of students who, in no way, are going to be scoring a 223 on the PSAT. However, they might be scoring a 220 or a 219 or a 210-all excellent scores but won’t move them along to semi-finalist or finalist and thus, keeps them out of some schools that they might otherwise have been able to afford had they been able to have a chance at those scholarships. There are relatively few schools that offer excellent need-based aid; thus, some of those lower income but strong students will end up where most people do, in the community college or the local state univ. </p>
<p>I know from experience. My oldest was a top student who did get a national merit scholarship (225 on the PSAT in 2012) and in fact, his corporate national merit scholarship made all the difference in the world for him to be able to attend an excellent school, even with all the need-based aid we qualify for.</p>
<p>Fast forward to my middle son, a junior. If he does not qualify for national merit (and he’s simply not the standout student my oldest was, though his PSAT will probably be really close but will probably miss the mark), he will likely go to the local state univ. or just continue on in the community college because he’s not the student to get into the tippy top schools that offer the level of need-based aid that he would need to attend school. </p>
<p>NM scholarships really do help lower income students go to school but I think relatively few lower income kids get them.</p>
<p>Not sure if my logic makes sense in print but it does in real life.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all who made the cutoff. Looks like it was a record year for many states and everyone should be proud for having been in the race! Oregon hit an all-time high and my girl missed it by 2. This was one wild ride, and I’m glad it’s behind us. So many milestones and opportunities still to look forward to! </p>
<p>And thanks especially to Rockfishdg! You graciously managed to maintain a civil and informative thread.</p>
<p>While I have no particular knowledge of some things you cite (e.g., California being a low test score state except for prep communities among large cities?), neither do I have any argument with your perspective on how kids are affected one way or another with fortune and misfortune. You are correct.</p>
<p>My singular point is that if a private organization is upfront about their mission and it involves acknowledgment based on a single measure of merit, why should they be criticized for not measuring and meeting financial need? They make no claim anywhere to be anything but blind to a test score. I agree this one measure in no way is the best way to judge, but that is their process. Further, the large merit scholarships I expect my son to pursue are solely at a school’s discretion and not directly related to the NMSC. In fact, none would otherwise be his first choice school absent of such awards. Further, I expect him to receive nothing from any ohio state school on the basis of his national merit result with the exception of University of Cincinnati.</p>
<p>I digress from the purpose of this thread, but hopefully that is okay at this juncture.</p>
<p>Any word on the scores for Regions 2 and 5 for National Achievement? Seems as though they would be released by now since all NM scores have been released.</p>
<p>T</p>
<p>(and another Thank You to ROCKFISHDG for the hard work on this thread!)</p>
<p>Just for Confirmation purposes (not that there is much left to confirm): @I5OR217 (If you’re still out there):
Have you recieved anything? what was your score btw?
I apologize to all if i’m being annoying, but the bad news just has not sunk in yet.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for their contributions to this topic and congrats to all of you high scoring students whether you made the cutoff for your state or not. My daughter is safe on this cutoff but we do need to start with the paperwork and daughter’s school “hasn’t received anything.” Is there an alternative to receiving the paperwork from the school? There are a lot of great things about this school but organization is not one of them.</p>
<p>Very elated that I squeaked by with a 223 in California. Congratulations to all of the other high scorers! </p>
<p>On a side note, does anyone know if any CA press has leaked the names of NMSFs yet? I know the Oregon list leaked. It’d be nice to have the CA list so I can see my status officially. :)</p>
<p>hey lonelynerd. took me a couple of days to be at peace about a narrow miss. Just saying this to encourage you that accepting it goes quicker than you think. Down the road. please keep us up to speed your decision making process if you would like, let us know where you go to college and even while in college, keep us up to speed with how it’s going. Wishing you and everyone the best :)</p>
<p>Thanks for your efforts ROCKFISHDG - great job keeping everything organized and keeping us up to date along the way! </p>
<p>So glad Fairtest posted the cutoffs. Son’s school is still keeping quiet. He asked his guidance counselor yesterday, who said that he had not heard anything about semifinalists. Although son made the cutoff (and his score was high enough that I pretty much knew he would), for some reason I will not be completely reassured until he gets the official notification. At least he can call tomorrow!</p>
<p>Congrats to all who made the cutoff. And for those who missed it, remember that this is only one piece of the admissions puzzle (and for many schools, not a very big piece). The fact that you did so well on your PSAT is a pretty good indication that you will get an excellent score on your SAT and / or ACT which will make you a candidate for good merit aid at many schools. Best of luck to all as you apply to schools this fall!</p>