<p>class size about 600, only 3 NMS.</p>
<p>Rainmama, I totally agree with you. Your children probably have a stress level ours do not, and that must be very hard to go through with them. It is just such a totally different world. Your kids aspire to go to HYPS and, since most do not get in (statistically), most must be terribly disappointed. OUrs are told they can’t possibly go there so they don’t even try. Our aspirations are your “safety schools”. Lot less stress.
Probably your students are going to beat our students on any kind of contest or test, as “happy to be a parent” implied. But they aren’t “better,” just better educated. I also know several of our kids who went to prestigious colleges and immediately panicked because of “how smart all the other kids were”.</p>
<p>I’m also not putting down any school system or parents who provide so much for their children. We all do the best we can for them. Would that everyone could. It just doesn’t seem fair sometimes, and I believe NM is trying, rightly or wrongly, to make it fair.</p>
<p>I sometimes wish for that happy, naive time when I went to college. Took the PSAT in jr year (because the school made you in NJ), then you took the SAT in Sept of senior year. Then you applied and waited for the envelopes. Maybe fortunately, I had no idea there was any possibility of going to a Harvard or Yale. My parents could never afford it even if I did get in. I just went to the school that gave me the most money, got the job I wanted when I graduated, and much later went to grad school and got a better job. No one ever asks where I went to school (except sometimes during football season). It is all so much more important now. They graduate with huge loans to pay and not so huge salaries. I hope for happiness for all of them, but I guess what I’m saying is it will NOT affect your entire life if you don’t let it. Do well on your other tests, your essays, your grades in school, and get good recs. Ten years from now no one is going to ask if you were NM (or valedictorian, or even football star). Sorry, but they won’t.</p>
<p>18 semi-finalists out of about 400 seniors</p>
<p>3 out of over 700! Public School.</p>
<p>My son’s class (last year) had 40 seniors - 3 were NMF and another 3 made Commended. I’ve heard that this year’s junior class has at least 3 that made NMSF.</p>
<p>bessie…</p>
<p>Is that 3 out of 700 seniors?? </p>
<p>Certainly there are a lot of factors that go into a school’s numbers. At my son’s school, all children come from rather affluent/comfortable homes and have at least one parent who is in a “professional-type” career. Those kinds of things make a difference.</p>
<p>5 in 150.</p>
<p>yeah, we rock.</p>
<p>17/~420 this year, 15/399 last year. I believe this is the same school that rcefn was talking about, and is the high school I went to. Surrounding private schools such as University, Hawken, HB, and Ignatius produced the usual high numbers, along with Solon. Surprisingly, Chagrin Falls and Medina were low, despite being schools in quite rich areas.</p>
<p>DVU1990:</p>
<p>My son is in the Lake Washington school district as well, and I was actually pleased to see that his school had 9 semi-finalists. However, I do think a good part of it is due to demographics. I also think some schools attract kids who are more serious. We varienced into his school because it had a better reputation than Eastlake (our home school). My son took classes at your son’s school in 9th grade, and the school as a whole did not have the same emphasis on academics (and they don’t offer as many AP classes), so I think that affects the type of student who attends. Congrats to your son. I hope he is enjoying the attention.</p>
<p>Addition to post #47. Last year (Class of 2007) had 25 NMSF out of 87. This year (Class of 2008) had 24 NMSF.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.smtexas.org/news/news/detail.asp?newsid=407768[/url]”>http://www.smtexas.org/news/news/detail.asp?newsid=407768</a></p>
<p>Private all boys school in Dallas, TX</p>
<p>WAMOM2 - Thanks for your reply. I agree that my son’s school definitely is not considered as premiere as the school where your S attends. But one certainly cannot make that claim regarding Eastlake, however. I was shocked to find that my S’s school offers more AP than Eastlake. We used to live in the Eastlake attendance area and moved over here 3 years ago. The instructors my S has had in his AP classes (he’s taking all AP this year) last year and this year have been fantastic. This year my S is attending your S’s school for one class each morning that they offer through NEVAC.</p>
<p>DVU1990 - I agree about the teachers. We liked the teachers he had at your school - especially his precalc teacher (who your son probably has/ had for AP Calc as I think she teaches that). So I don’t think it’s the teachers at all (or the quality of the education). I too was disappointed by the AP offerings at Eastlake. Which is why I think they didn’t so as well. Although it certainly has the same or better demographics in affluence of its student population (which cetainly ties to academic success), I think a lot of serious students varience out to our school because of what they offer. I was also suprised to learn that Eastlake does not have honors classes in 10th grade. That turned us off as well. What NEVAC class is you son taking?</p>
<p>Our school:
Class Size: around 150 or so
NMSF: 5</p>
<p>wvartsymom - Wow, you are on top of your D’s education! But, taking the SAT in 8th grade seems like a lot of practicing. Typical experience in our corner of the NE: take PSAT for practice in grade 10, take without additional prep in grade 11 because not many are going to get an award anyway, take SAT one to three times in junior/senior year after no prep or possibly some. Your view of the world outside of WV is bit skewed by the people who frequent this site.</p>
<p>Regarding your comment about top 1% showing disdain for those NM scholarships offered by some schools. I would not use this sounding board as a typical top 1% student’s opinion. None of the top 1%ers I know even look at this board. As I’m sure you know, finding a college is all about “fit.” It would be nice if students realized that they should not allow themselves to be caught up in the HYP… mania. The media, parents and high schools help fuel the frenzied search for the “best” college that will accept a student, and that “best” definition does not always means what is best for the student.</p>
<p>My own experience with the Ivy league - a PhD from one. Great place for graduate education and it helped me make money. I was so happy my children showed no interest in it for undergrad education. As an undergrad, I probably went to one of those places you said the top 1%ers disdain. There are so many places that provide an equivalent undergrad education but the Ivy names certainly do help with recruiting. First child looked at one Ivy and was so put off by the pretentious admissions speaker that she didn’t bother to apply. </p>
<p>My own goal with the college searches - help my children find schools where they will be challenged, comfortable (possibly after some initial adjustment and expanding the comfort zone) and successful. And one that will give them some money as a reward for their past success and the college’s confidence in their future success.</p>
<p>And that’s it for my OT rant.</p>
<p>Does anyone know the cutoff figure for Texas for the Hispanic National Merit?</p>
<p>No of Semifinalists - 14
Total Students - 420ish</p>
<p>However, all of the semifinalists are in the IB program, which has about 85 seniors. So it could be 14/85 or 14/420, depending on which way you look at it.</p>
<p>550- Class of 2008
31 semifinalists</p>
<p>Class size-320
semifinalists-28
20 boys and 8 girls</p>
<p>I was a bit disappointed that the cutoff score for CA wasn’t higher.</p>
<p>Hi, “happy to be a parent.” I’m glad you wrote back. I guess it’s true- “the grass is always greener, etc. etc.” D only took the SAT in 8th grade because it was tied to the Johns Hopkins CTY program, which is really terrific! Because we really have no gifted programs and no one even talks about college, I thought a Saturday at a fancy college a couple times a year would motivate her. It did. She never took any of the online classes, but we took advantage of all the “career days” and “college days” amd “discovery days” on different college campuses within driving distance. In a state where only 16% have any college, I felt it really important to physically visit colleges and see what people do there. She even discovered she did not like some very prestigious schools just because of atmosphere- and I agree with you that “fit” is so important. IN fact, she probably will not apply to HYPS, because, even though the chances are slim, she MIGHT get in and then would feel she HAD TO go. Being from such a small school where she knows everyone, she is looking for a place where she won’t get totally lost in the crowd.
I guess I’m “on top of” her education because here you have to be. We have “Promise” scholarship- free tuition for anyone in state who gets a 21 (I think) ACT and a 3.0 GPA. You’d be surprised how many kids I ask, so, did you take the ACT yet, and in November they say, No, maybe I’ll take the Dec. one. Makes me crazy, and they’re not even MINE! Mine took the SAT and ACT once each jr. year with no prep for either, and we’re content with the scores, so we’re sending them out- no tests senior year. YAY!!
Guess I’m also on top of it because I went through it. Had a music degree- useful for a few years 
Went back and got an ed. degree-- much more useful until I came to WV where there were no jobs, and when D went to school I went to school. So I got a JD at our flagship number one party school university only 8 years ago. My experience? NOT as much partying as you’d think especailly when you have to commute home every evening and make dinner, and pack lunches the next morning before ConLaw.
Seems you had a similar experience. Congrats on the degree. I think “we” parents are the best motivator our kids have. Anyway, we’re not so different, even if our schools and geographical location are. I just knew “we” were going to get lambasted for that 200- and it’s not our kids’ fault.<br>
I still feel I’m correct in assuming HYPS and other prestige schools know the difference between a SF from MD and one from WV, and will look harder at the actual SAT test scores they get.</p>
<p>1 semifinalist in school history, our school has had 2500 kids graduate from it so far. I was the only commended student ever.</p>