<p>Last year, as a sophomore, my son scored a respectable 212. This year he only went up six points, to 218. Technically, it's 99th percentile, but it's nowhere near as high as most of the CC poster (and certainly not what I would have expected after last year). Now last year in Cali the cutoff for semifinalist was 217 so he should be okay. But, I'm freaking. I want to scream, I told you to study, I told you this was important, I begged you to take a practice test. He looks at the mistakes he made, oh, I didn't see that, or well last year they said every sentence was wrong so I wasn't going to bubble that the sentence was fine. People, I'm not going to make it to senior year if I'm already this freaked out. AHHHHHHH!</p>
<p>I checked last year's scores. He went up 6 points in CR, 6 points in Math (good so far) and down 6 points in Writing. Yet he got only one more question wrong in Writing this year than last. How can that take you from a 77 to a 71?</p>
<p>Sorry BurnThis...I thought from your title your son had actually done poorly on this exam. I guess everyone has their own 'criterion' for this, but I guess I can't really indulge the sentiment of 'he has to do better than 99%ile'.</p>
<p>As to how to not freak out so much. I suggest that you stop looking at CC for a while and reconnect with your son. He is probably bright and talented and great. Enjoy him during the upcoming holiday season. Celebrate miracles.</p>
<p>Cutoff is cutoff. No one cares if you're an NMSF by one point or many.</p>
<p>Rob,
I'll try, but the miracle I wanted for him was to get into the college he's been talking about forever. But not reading CC posts about kids with 230+ PSAT scores is probably a good first step! DMD, true, but we won't know about the cut off till September!</p>
<p>The cutoff in California has been 216 for the last two years. The cutoffs generally stay level in large states because the population doesn't vary much. </p>
<p>(If you stay at this stress level until next September, you will either be 50 pounds or 500, depending on whether or not you eat when you're stressed (I know both kinds of people), so you need to step back and breathe.) </p>
<p>218 is an excellent score. Really. </p>
<p>My daughter missed NM by one point and she's doing just fine. My son made NM by several points and he's fine too. It makes a difference, yes, but not that much, unless you really want to get a full scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas. My D was the only one to be offered a merit scholarship at a school she liked.</p>
<p>BurnThis,</p>
<p>If it makes you feel any better. S was a NMSF by one point and just graduated from UCLA. D did not make NMSF (commended) and she's doing very well also on the West Coast. NMSF is not a very reliable indicator of future success. I've known many kids who didn't make NMSF who went to Harvard and other Ivies.</p>
<p>BurnThis,
Not to add to your plate, and of course everyone needs dreams, but if he is a junior then hopefully you are spending time helping him to find 5 or 6 places where his dreams can come true, not just one. Start talking about this now, and by next year at this time hopefully he will truly feel that there are a lot of great schools just right for him...and then if the 'miracle' happens, so be it..Time spent now on thinking more broadly about school options is a much better investment than time spent worrying about a few points on one exam...</p>
<p>I love how parents try so hard to live vicariously through their children.</p>
<p>So what is he, like 75 points above the median, and 65 above the median for 4-year college-bound juniors?</p>
<p>Give thanks.</p>
<p>Little and Rob,
Thanks! The reason I posted this was because I knew I was being irrational and unreasonable, but that's what this process can do to an otherwise sane person. We are doing the college tour in the Spring and seeing 8 schools back East plus two in Northern Cali, so he'll start having to expand his horizons beyond Harvard. He hates the cold, anyway! And Gospy, I know, it's true, to some extent since I couldn't afford to go to Stanford and ended up at UCLA I do want him to be able to go to the best school he can. But he's the guy who reads books on Ancient Rome for fun, he's the guy who has taught himself about Latin literature, he's the guy who decided to take AP Calc BC even though he's not a math guy (and I told him to take the easier class instead). So it's his dream as much as mine that he goes to a top school.</p>
<p>The PSAT doesn't really matter; ignore it. I just sat down and took mine; I was one point below the cutoff (222). </p>
<p>Go get your son interested in more schools, and I'm sure everything will turn out fine. And get off CC if it's hurting the way you view your son. You need to have a gut confidence in him, incapable of being wavered by other parents or statistics or his friends or college information sessions.</p>
<p>BurnThis:</p>
<p>I, too, was disapointed in psat score, but son will be matriculating at an Ivy next year -- so CHILL.</p>
<p>Colleges aren't interested in PSAT scores - they aren't reported to them, they don't ask for them.</p>
<p>BurnThis,
One final thought. All over the world there are mothers who love their wonderful sons. All over the world there are wonderful sons who teach themselves obscure, interesting, intellectual pursuits or do other things that are unique and attributable to that child's style, intellect, and the passionate application of energy and their parent's support. </p>
<p>All over the world, even where I live, these mothers are talking with their kids about Harvard.</p>
<p>I am glad you are looking elsewhere with your son. Help him to keep an open mind and to get excited about lots of schools. He will be thrilled at how energetic and passionate and interesting and interested and bright the kids are at so many places...</p>
<p>Help me NOT freak out about PSAT scores</p>
<p>there there, don't freak out!!! </p>
<p>My son was a little disappointed with his psat score as well. He doesn't have a dream school yet. My dream for him is that he finds the right school, which could be a 40k student state university or a 1700 student LAC. In fact the only schools we have pretty much ruled out at this early date are HYPMS.</p>
<p>
Remember, the kids and kids of parents who post probably have the highest standardized test scores of any group this size....anywhere. A little impromptu study was done last year to find the average SAT score reported by kids and it was a 1460 old style (or extrapolated out, an SAT of 2190). Really stinkin' high. </p>
<p>BTW. This is our little community being helpful.;) Don't get ticked. LOL. I think you are being told that you shouldn't complain that a high scoring kid didn't score even higher. A mild CC faux pas. You've done a good job not getting defensive. Less civilized folks would have fled or fought. </p>
<p>It is now time to move you along to a major faux pas. Hmmm. I can think of a couple- how about you start with a thread saying you are thinking about sending your need-based scholarship legacy recruited athlete to Swarthmore in a Hummer registered in the "corporate name" of your business and that you snuck a peek at the teachers' recs while you were writing the why Swat essay for him. That ought to do it.</p>
<p>curmudge, has your post count passed your year of birth yet?</p>
<p>Hi there. Completely understand the good will with which you requested help. I have a D at Princeton. And an S who may not do the same. And if I can give you anything from what I went through in the angst over D before she got to Princeton ---- it doesn't matter all that much. </p>
<p>Smart kids are at Harvard. And at Duke and Smith and UC Santa Barbara. </p>
<p>And success and joy in life is not strongly correlated with where you go to college. Let your S enjoy and discover his being. And, if you want to set the values in your family for academic achievement - go ahead. It's between you and your son. </p>
<p>And one day he will bring you a grandkid and then what else will matter? But don't feel bad about your high expectations. It is OK.</p>
<p>You are experiencing the CC community swat against those of us who break the collective more against overt high achievement sweating. And you are experiencing the CC back channel telling you it is OK to freak out no matter how well your kid does. </p>
<p>Just enjoy your high stat kid. Like I said. It's OK.</p>
<p>the biggest favor you can do your son is to calm down. </p>
<p>he has excellent credentials. he will undoubtedly do well on his sat's which is what really matters for college admission - and when those sat scores arrive this spring and/or next fall - be prepared to appreciate how well he does (and the wonderful opportunities he will therefore have, which may or may not include harvard) and not aggrevate over the few extra points he may have been able to get (which may not make the difference anyway at a school like harvard). </p>
<p>the process can be aggevating, but if the result is that now, early in his junior year, you and he realize that you can't build all your hopes around harvard and use this next year to find schools where he can be truly happy (academically, intellectually, socially, etc.) you can consider it aggrevation well spent. look at the forums for the ivies as the ED decisions are coming out and you'll see how upsetting and frustrating it can be when a narrow focus on the ivies is allowed to remain until that ED decision arrives. (its sad to see how many kids talk about now scrambling to complete their other applications because they wanted so much to believe that they wouldn't end up having to complete other applications.)</p>