Do Ivies, selective colleges view "National COMMENDED Scholar" as negative?

Applying to College
1

<p>I put down on the CommonApp as my last honor, "National Commended Scholar". I know Ivies don't care since most people that apply get above a 202+ anyways. But, I was wondering if it would end up counting AGAINST me since it indicates I had less than 214. Either way, do colleges view this as petty "space-filling". Its especially upsetting since I realized I have one more honor that I could have used in its place.</p>

<p>Also on a side note, what did current Ivy/selective college-hopefuls put down as your Honors? Did you use all 5? Did you put down things like "AP Scholar with Distinction" which doesn't carry anything meaningful in addition to the AP scores, etc. </p>

<p>Another question: Do these selective colleges look down on space-filling in general? Do they expect us to fill up the entire Honors list with meaningful honors?</p>

2

<p>I can’t answer the last two questions, but for the first one, it absolutely won’t hurt you. They care about your SAT scores way, way more than your PSAT, so as long as that’s good, you have nothing to worry about.</p>

3

<p>Why would they view you being a nationally commended scholar as negative? That’s ridiculous. No it won’t hold as much weight as a higher award would, but no way they’ll view it as negative. All it can do is benefit you.</p>

4

<p>It’s a benefit, not as much as a semifinalist, but a benefit nonetheless.</p>

5

<p>PSAT cutoff for national merit is different for every state. I got a 219 in WA state and the cutoff was 220… but who cares? I got a 2290 SAT.</p>

6

<p>Even NMSF probably has little to no impact on top schools, given that the cutoff is different for each state and the selection process is a joke based on one mini-SAT.</p>

7

<p>^ agree. In some states it hovers around 200 while others, like in Jersey, require scores in the 220s.</p>

<p>And anyway, SATs > PSATs.</p>