Because of the way the NM system is, schools have to do it by hand, too. But, they should only have to do it once per year - and possibly only do updates if they add classes in later years. I don’t know for sure on that.
Edited to clarify: School-wide, they have to enter all the classes offered and identify the top level classes for each subject area. For each kid, they have to hand pick the classes from the previous list & enter grades. So, still quite a bit of work.
Well that explains a lot. That is a lot of work. My kid is the only SF at our school. If it weren’t for him, the GC wouldn’t have to do all that work. That’s probably why she’s isn’t feeling congratulatory about it.
My daughter will be a lot of work, too. She hasn’t taken any classes at the high school. We did a combination of homeschool and dual enrollment for 9th and 10th grades and then full time dual enrollment for 11th and 12th. I don’t know how that will be handled and it makes me nervous. Our GC has never met D20 either. It’s ridiculous that the GC is so involved in this process.
That GC needs to be reminded that this is a SUCCESS STORY that she can contribute to. This should be one of the highlights of her job. Maybe celebratory coffee cake would help.
Like others already mentioned, I believe every counselor has to enter the classes (once per school) and then for each student create transcript based on the previously entered classes.
The instructions are generic but include a special note for homeschoolers, explaining that homeschoolers don’t have to enter all the classes per school and may instead add them per student. This makes me believe that the instructions were the same for every school (homeschool or not).
It may be extra work for GC, but they should be proud of their students’ achievements.
BTW Once student submits his portion of the application, he will be able to repeatedly check the status of the application and see if it has been submitted by the school or not. That way you can keep an eye on the deadline.
I actually asked our GC about this in the past and was told that NM uploads the transcript info and they don’t enter it by hand. I asked this when my first was going through this because there was an issue with a middle school class erroneously listed on her high school transcript. I was told that NM just uploads grades for 9th-11th and they don’t hand enter that. We use Naviance at our school.
Even if they do have to enter it, how hard can it be to copy and paste?
GC can simply add additional classes when she is creating your daughter’s transcript. DE classes can be added as regular high school classes (and marked as DE). If there are more kids in the school taking the same classes like your daughter, they may even be part of the high school curriculum.
I haven’t been through this process before…I see that of the 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 go on to finalist. That seems like very few kids proportionally to shave off. Does anyone know what kids are shaved off for? I’m rather hoping it’s just kids that don’t follow through with the application. (Son has a C one semester in 3rd year Spanish - but he has a high qualifying score, a high confirming SAT and a really rigorous course load, so I’m hoping one C won’t disqualify him.) Anyone been through this before and want to weigh in? Thanks!
@18katydid - no one knows for sure how many of the ~7% non advancers didn’t complete the application vs were cut by the NMSC. But definitely some aren’t interested or don’t qualify due to citizenship, enrollment status, etc. And some kids do get cut due to grades. There are old threads here from prior years, and it seems to me that it usually takes at minimum a full-year C, not just one semester, to get cut, and some kids do make it through with more C’s than that. Of course all we have is anecdotal evidence, but FWIW I think your son’s chances are still very good.
Joining this thread since my son made it as well, congrats everyone. I’m usually a lurker at the parents of HS class of 2020 forum. We’re from Oregon and I’m actually very surprised that DS made it because I was expecting the cutoff in OR to be 221 just like last year. So I didn’t pay attention at all until he came home with the letter There are 7 from his high school, out of 444 seniors. We’re pretty excited!
@“liz@robins” Hi We’re from Oregon, too. I haven’t been able to get any response from my daughter’s school… when did your son get notified? Congratulations!
@hm1101 Thanks! He was pulled out of a class and went in the principal’s office along with the other 6 kids. It was done on September 11, we as parents didn’t get any notification before that, so imagine my surprise when he got home. Have you contacted your DD’s school? I haven’t seen it mentioned in the Oregonian yet
Just curious for those of you who had kids who did PSAT test prep before taking the actual PSAT, may I ask what sort of at home practice SAT scores and/or actual SAT scores they got and what SI score they ended up with? Feel free to PM if that is more comfortable. My Junior son did More Than A Teacher SAT prep in August and has been taking at home practice tests/reviewing/actual SAT in August/ will take October SAT before actual PSAT, etc. He has improved from 187 (practice test in June) to 212 SI (actual SAT August) but he probably needs atleast 221 or higher for Texas. Not sure if he can squeeze any more out of the lemon in the next 4 weeks for test day. He has been working so hard but it still seems like quite a long shot. Please share…the good, the bad, and the ugly; no need to sugar coat it because we are mentally preparing if he doesn’t make it
@TXRunningMom check his timing, make sure he’s finishing with a bit of time to review his answers. Go over the practice tests and see what types of questions he’s missing and work on those. My favorite prep books are PWN the SAT (Math) and Erica Meltzer’s the Critical Reader and the Ultimate Guide to Sat Grammar.
Ultimately, luck factors into scoring too… I’m still shocked that one local, typically high scoring school (Lake Travis) only had ONE NMSF this year while another nearby school that usually has similar numbers of NMSFs (Westlake) had 49! I’m thinking that the 10/24 test issue might be the cause.
As for luck we have a tradition of eating salmon the night before big tests because when the kids were little, I told them it was ‘brain food’ and would make them smart;-) I figure it can’t hurt!
For actual scoring, two of mine scored lower on the actual test vs. practice tests and the real SAT and one scored higher. The one that only missed one question on the real SAT only had a 221 one the PSAT the same month and that was the year it went from 220 to 221 in TX.
I recommend at this point to just take as many practice tests as possible. Also it depends on what areas he is making mistakes. Math or Reading. If Math are there specific areas he is making mistakes. Narrowing down to those areas and learning any gaps in concepts might help. If Reading/Writing it will be all about spending time on the mistakes and analyzing the right vs. wrong. Basically doing well in the test is all about eliminating mistakes. Also just taking English in one setting and reviewing the mistakes and then do the same to Math in other setting keeps the review fresh.
I heard a confirming SAT score has a SI at or greater than the commended SI is good enough. It doesn’t have to be at or above the NMSF cutoff SI from your state. Is that true?
There are 7 from his high school, out of 444 seniors. We’re pretty excited!