<p>I have three questions pertaining to the wording below which is from the Official PSAT Guide.</p>
<p>In April 2012, high-scoring participants from every state will be offered the College Plans Reporting Service. These students will be invited to name two colleges or universities to which they would like to be referred by NMSC.</p>
<p>First, will the participants be notifies through the school or by mail at home? If at school, has anyone been notified by their school yet?</p>
<p>When you name the colleges should you be naming only schools that are generous to NMSF and NMF?<br>
For example, my sons first choices as of right now are NC State and UMass. He is keeping an open mind though and will also apply to a few schools that are generous to NMFs. So if he submits his real first choices is it a waste considering that he may not make it past commended? He has a 221 in NJ. </p>
<p>My last question, are the schools that the commended name told about these students this spring or next fall?</p>
<p>The guidance counselor in charge of anything pertaining to PSATs has told my husband that becoming a NMF is not a big deal. Obviously he does not know how valuable it can be and I dont think he will be too helpful throughout this process if my son does make semi-finalist. Thank goodness for everyone on CC. I have already learned so much.</p>
<p>*So if he submits his real first choices is it a waste considering that he may not make it past commended? He has a 221 in NJ. *</p>
<p>He has a good shot.</p>
<p>the whole “naming a first choice school” at this point is meaningless. It just puts your child on a mailing list. Schools don’t take the info and think, “this kid wants to go to our school, so let’s make special note of that.”</p>
<p>It’s really meaningless at this point, so don’t worry. Just send in the choices. Kids change their minds over and over and over again.</p>
<p>I dont think it’s a waste. It puts your son on their radar. We sent ACT scores to 2 schools and have received one special “invitation only” tour for academically talented HS Jrs.
I am hoping the other also responds as I have been told they might.
I think a high PSAT would do the same.</p>
<p>“In April 2012, high-scoring participants from every state will be offered the College Plans Reporting Service. These students will be invited to name two colleges or universities to which they would like to be referred by NMSC.”
To clarify, this includes Commended too right? And since I’m not a NMF or NMSF, is the naming a school part essentially worthless?</p>
<p>Hi, Longhaul, saying hello from the parents of 2013 thread. I have same question. We got the letter today. Older S did not qualify so this is first time I have seen letter. D has a definite TOP 1 and TOP 2 school right now. Should we just send it to those two?</p>
<p>I have a similar problem, where should we send the recommendations? To our top choices (Most top schools being simply commended means nothing, so is it a waste?) To school know to be generous to NMF (not going to be a NMF or NMSF, just asking for others) To match/safety school to cement(yes i know this will not guarantee anything i mean like to increase your odds to get a likely admission to match schools) an admission?</p>
<p>I am new at this too … but we will send to a reach and a safety. My ds knows he has to go to school with the best “package” - reputation & financial incentives.
One school has rolled out the red carpet with his ACT score, others not so much.
I was told this school “loves” our HS - which sounds kind of crazy with so many good HS in our area?!</p>
<p>It’s looking like the cutoff is 200, as we have reports of people with 200 scores that have received letters. I know of two people with 199 scores that have not received commendation letters this week. There is still a chance that they could receive letters in the next couple of days, though. If either doesn’t get a letter by next week, I think we can conclude that 200 is the minimum score to be a commended scholar. We’ll have to wait a few more days to be certain.</p>
<p>I was wondering if it makes sense to check the Common Data Set for each school D is interested in, and at least use her 2 choices for schools that consider student interest in the school (some schools indicate that student interest is NOT a factor in their admissions decisions). Then she just needs to decide for those that consider it whether she should go for reach or merit aid schools. As others have done, maybe one of each. But it doesn’t seem worthwhile to use them for schools that say they don’t even consider student interest.</p>
<p>I’m detecting a potential amount of confusion here. The opportunity to name two schools for the reporting service is not the same as the requirement that an NMF report a school as first choice in order to qualify for a scholarship.</p>
<p>As was mentioned, this is simply a chance to indicate an early interest in a couple of schools. It has the chance of being the kind of contact that warrants increased priority from a school because it flags interest from a student with validated evidence of high ability. Thus I don’t think it ought to be inferred that a school that usually pays no attention to demonstrated interest will ignore this means of contact, too. On the other hand it is likely that a school that pays little attention to NM awards in general (e.g., very selective schools) also will not respond to this.</p>
<p>IMO, it easily is possible to over think this. No school is going to put a lot of stock in preliminary interest signaled one year in advance of a decision.</p>
<p>That strategy is what was done at our house – Selected 2 schools that “interest” is a factor and that my son may not be able to visit. Don’t know if it will help, but it certainly can’t hurt :)</p>