It was projected by Art Sawyer, a guess. He still doesn’t know even now how many took the January PSAT, let alone how many scored 1400+. The only figures he has at this point are the October 2020 figures.
No dispute about the possibility that more kids could qualify for NM, but it’s qualifying at the same level, not at a significantly reduced level. That’s the difference. Bottom line is that the alternate entry for NM was done specifically because of COVID, and it’s one-time only. In contrast, the CBNRP changes look to be permanent, and there’s no explanation why the standards were reduced.
@joelatte It is addressed to the school principal, but we are homeschooled so it was mailed to our house. I’m assuming other student notifications get sent to the high school.
I think you are confusing PSAT with SAT. You only take the PSAT once to qualify for NMSF…but then need to have a qualifying SAT score as well. Basically to show it wasn’t some fluke that you got the qualifying PSAT score. So you need to submit an SAT score…and so could take the SAT multiple times to achieve this score (which probably isn’t normally necessary since it’s not a very high score you need).
He’s not. This year, and this year only, there is an alternate path to NMSF/NMF via the SAT for juniors who were unable to take the PSAT. Registration was due by April 1, and the qualifying SAT has to be taken by June. Details are linked so that you know what he’s referring to.
The fact that the Texas recognition for Hispanic students threshold from last year to this year went from 1270 to 1110 underscores the difficulty that minorities have taking this College Board tests and preparing from them. The pandemic made it difficult for all kids to learn but more so Hispanic kids. Covid attacked minorities more. In fact in Austin Texas more than half of all positive tests were Hispanics for a long time. Only in the last 3 to 4 months have whites caught up to about the same number of positives. With regards to the status of a recognition because the score is lower that is secondary in purpose really. The goal is to identify minorities who manage to do well in spite of it all. Colleges need a list of kids to recruit in order to balance their schools an bring a minority kid to share their experience. This program allows them to reach out to some.
The reason the threshold went from 1270 to 1110 is because the threshold went from top 2.5% or 3% to top 10%. There was going to be a big drop in score threshold regardless of COVID. IOW, COVID was just laid on top of what was already going to be a big drop.
The program for 2020 class called for about 5000 kids in the program and I think the threshold for the region that included Texas was about 1280. Are you making the 2.5% 3% calculation based on that? For 2021 class the program changed and the threshold was 1270 from what someone posted here. Did the % change with this class or was it kept at 5000 kids? I’m not sure but for sure new recognition categories were added for the 2021 class. Then for 2022 the threshold becomes 1110 and like you said its clearly 10%. However this time you only have 400K overall test takers in the fall. How many kids is this? Does anyone know? Using some rough percentages 400K test takers. 18% of the US is Hispanic now your 10% is 7200. Now if they are going to add January PSAT test takers and do this you could have potentially 15K. But for now I have not heard of anyone getting recognized from January. I could be wrong on some of this. Do you disagree that minority students were not more affected that affluent folks in this pandemic?
I live in what I believe was the most highly affected area of Texas, along the Southern border. So I’m very aware of what you are describing.
It appears to me that the expansion to 10% is on a going-forward basis, not just this year. I do not know how that will affect the overall numbers this year (Class of '22), although 44% took the October '20 test as compared to the October '19 test. Further, we have already been told that the January '21 PSAT/NMSQT will count (see above for details), but let’s be conservative and say this year’s numbers were overall down by half (and it almost certainly was far less than that when January '21 gets added in). That means that the top 10% this year are equivalent to 2x, or nearly 2x, the 2.5%-3% who qualified last year. Moreover, and more importantly, in future years it will triple or quadruple eligibility numbers. That is my larger point.
Finally got an answer back from CBRP. Below is the information for Florida and their response. I am not sure what my CAP advisor was talking about when she said invites would be sent in May since this says they were sent on April 16th (as everyone has confirmed):
> Invitation emails were sent to students on April 16th (please note, some emails may have been blocked or sent straight to spam). Students who sat for the Jan 2021 PSAT are eligible for the program. The minimum cutoff scores, for students from the state of Florida, are the following: National African American Recognition Program: 1060 National Hispanic Recognition Program: 1140 National Indigenous Recognition Program: 1100 National Rural and Small Town Recognition Program: 1080 If you feel you are eligible for the program, we highly encourage you to create a profile and submit an application by Friday, May 28, 2021, 5:00PM PT. Students who self-nominate must submit their test scores and a copy of their current high school transcript.
@EsAhoraDeComer note that Jan PSAT is eligible, we will just have to self submit
for all of you wondering the cutoff for an African American in AZ was, here you go
“The minimum PSAT score for the National African American Recognition Program, for students from the state of Arizona, is 1160. If you feel you are eligible for the program, we highly encourage you to create a profile and submit an application by Friday, May 28, 2021, 5:00PM PT. Students who self-nominate must submit their test scores and a copy of their current high school transcript.”
I got a 1330 and listed myself as an African American and still got no message, so just know that even if you didn’t get an email you could definitely still qualify and should self apply anyways
Maybe colleges will say getting recognized not as relevant or think there are too many kids recognized. But what are recognized kids loosing? Reality is that its hard to find any substantial scholarship money for Hispanic Scholars. There are a couple of schools that make a significant effort but that’s about it. Even National Merit kids do not get much. Colleges still require applications, transcripts, letters of recommendation and sometimes being listed as the top school of choice. Rarely this turn into guaranteed money. Its not a free for all and if you go for an academic school because you have an excellent student its all about need and this program does very little. This is more about outreach to minority kids who are good students and schools want kids to consider them. In my case my standardized tests were horrible, yet I graduated college with honors, got a masters and worked on the space program. There are plenty of kids who will do great with a 1110 and even lower. Getting recognized is exactly that, recognition.
There are (were) a few colleges that offer(ed) substantial merit scholarships to Hispanic Scholars in the states of Alabama, Arizona, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Carolina and Texas. They might not do so in the future. Those merit scholarships might not have been useful to students that were priced out due to need anyway, but certainly were useful to students that were expected to pay more elsewhere.
Schools join this program and schools leave. My point is that having more kids recognized may seem to dilute the recognition and maybe schools will drop the program as some here think. I do not think the number of those recognized plays such a big role as schools throttle their awards anyway. Many require more that just the recognition. My guess is that on the average the same kids will be able to get their awards. Thankfully many schools still desire to have a diverse student population. This program helps them achieve that goal.
It would be nice if CB plans to keep the threshold this low moving forward to create a tiered recognition program like NM offers. I am very surprised at how low the threshold is now. If I’m to assume that Indiana is somewhere in the 1100 minimum, then my older son could have qualified. And there’s a huge difference in the level of academic commitment between my two kids. I can hear my older son upstairs right now video gaming while he should be in class, while his younger brother who scored 250 points higher on the PSAT is far more dedicated and focused and more deserving of this recognition. So it would be nice if they had something similar, such as Hispanic Commended Scholar, Semifinalist, etc. Obviously, that’s just based on our family’s experience and my own personal frustrations. It just seems like such a wide net was cast and so hard to set the high academic achievers apart.
That’s a good idea as well. Colleges can do that also by looking at more details in addition to the recognition. They look at GPA, look at recommendation letters, look at activities kids do and so on. The Recognition opens the door but the award can be given upon closer examination. Many schools do that already.
Your experience mirrors my family’s as well. My older daughter scored 1410 on the PSAT but then 1550 on the SAT because she was motivated. Now she will graduate with her BS at age 19. My son scores 1280 on the PSAT. He is very smart but not really motivated. He certainly won’t graduate college at 19.
My daughter self nominated also but did not get any sort of confirmation email. Did your son get any sort of acknowledgement that confirmed his application had been received?