Confirmed 213 in Alabama.
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While I think thatās a possibility, the universe of students that would do that is pretty small. I think if alternate entry was altering the cutoffs weād be seeing massive increases and so far weāre really not seeing that. Cutoffs seem to be within a point or two from their 2020 levels, which could easily be explained by random distribution or other factors.
Also, itās hard to get a 1450+ on the SAT. (Believe me, when I was a high schooler I tried multiple times and couldnāt do it.)
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Does anyone know when they notify us who got Commended status? Iām pretty sure I just barely missed Semifinalist (despite my score being in top 1%ā¦this state-by-state thing is totally unfair!!). Rant over. Anyway, do commended students find out in early September also? And is it worth anything at any schools or should I just let it go and submit my applications without it? My actually SAT speaks for itself.
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Deleted message
Commended emails went out the evening of August 31
I would say it is certainly possible that AE could impact state cutoffs. For example, Stuyvesant usually has 100+ NMSFs, but they were not able to administer the PSAT. The average SAT score at Stuyvesant High School is a 1490. . If half of these students (They have about 800 students) submit a 1490, NYās cutoff would be majorly affected by AE.
Commended emails?? I think youāre referring to National recognition.
Yea thatās what I was thinking. Aug 31 was recognition stuff. (CB screwed that up royally at our school. CB is a hot mess this year) Anyway, I know I made the commended cutoff but havenāt heard anything. Wondering if others did?
Yes if you live in OK. The letter was probably only meant for state students not entire US.
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so you think it doesnāt mean anything to anyone outside of OK who received it ?
Unless they increase the numbers, and some people would be unhappy with that, theyāre going to have to cut someone, and whoever is cut is going to be unhappy.
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When I spoke with an NMSC rep over a week ago, I was told that commended students will be notified on the 16th. Iām unsure if that has changed.
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Agreed this is not good and I am curious to know what went wrong. For those who havenāt seen it, this is what is looks like - certainly gives a strong impression that the student qualified! It is also signed by Hannah Rieger, National Merit Scholarship Coordinator.
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We registered for every SAT exam since learning we would not get to take the PSAT in October (January was not offered as well.) And, we were notified of cancellations ever single time until June. We then just decided to look much farther away and were lucky to get a spot (one of the last two spots available during registration.) So, I donāt think multiple SAT attempts is norm. At least, not in CA. We had a couple of parents fly their children to San Diego to test in June.
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maybe we should reach out to her and see if the mailer was sent to semifinalists
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Per NMSC, the letters will be mailed on September 15th to the Commended students.
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Has anyone heard anything for Colorado?
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Thank you for that information
Not withstanding the fact that Iām not sure the average SAT score at Stuyvesant is actually a 1490 (since thatās a self-reported average from Niche), letās assume that a larger than normal number of Stuyvesant students get NMSF this year due to alternate entry.
Remember what weāre talking about here is a cutoff, not an average. So if the number of PSAT test takers in New York was lower, it would make sense that some of those kids that would make the PSAT cutoff would have a lower score than a traditional year. So some of those alternate entry kids are taking spots from kids who wouldnāt made the cutoff otherwise.
And then the others might be taking spots from kids who might have just made the cutoff in a ānormalā year. Youād expect more students to score a 220 than a 221, and more to score a 222 than a 223, etc. So Iād expect that significant use of alternate entry probably would push the cutoff up a point, maybe two at the most.
Again, this is assuming a lot of things - primarily that thereās a giant swath of kids at some of these elite NY schools that even had the ability to take the SAT multiple times to get a qualifying score. If see 3-4x the number of kids from some of these schools end up as NMSF as we would in a normal year AND cutoffs are significantly higher than expected (like 2+ over last year), then sure, you can argue alternate entry played a role.
Until we see that happen Iām still of the belief that AE will play a modest role in determining cutoffs (if itās even being used at all) and that it was absolutely necessary to keep from penalizing students who didnāt have the chance to sit for the PSAT.
This really canāt happen, unless AE conferred a 10X advantage. Itās well under 2X at best.