<p>I had a bad day the day of the PSATs so i didnt get recognised (i was actually pretty close none the less). On the day of the REAL thing, though, i did great (2200+) so like what does the national merit really say? not much. Will a college hold it againt me that I didnt do well back in Oct even though i did well when it counted?</p>
<p>Nope, I think, as PSATs are totally optional.</p>
<p>but then its somthing to put down under "honors" on the common app</p>
<p>So many people have it, that I get the feeling that colleges pretty much ignore it. If your actual SAT scores are great, I doubt that admissions counselors will care or even notice that you don't have any national merit stuff.</p>
<p>My sister was a NM finalist and got a full ride to USC in '04. Some schools care and others don't. But then again, that was before SATs were out of 2400 so it might have been weighed differently.</p>
<p>Being a NM finalist does help with getting colleges to notice you. It is NOT a common thing as barely 15,000 out of over 1 million students taking the PSAT end up being a semifinalist, and even fewer of that 15K are finalists. My D has been getting LOTS of attention from schools who are aware of her high score as they know her score is high enough to make the cut.
Congrats on your good SAT score as that is definitely helpful too</p>
<p>hope4freeride, everyone gets those letters from college that say "we were impressed by your psat score!" yea its sorta getting tiring now because i got a 147 out of 240....</p>
<p>you got a 147, some colleges may say they were impressed, but you weren't NMSF. The lowest cutoff for NMSF in any state is like West Virginia/Mississippi, where even they need about a 203-205 to make it. So hope4free ride is right: 50,000 make NMSF, out of those 15,000 make finalist.</p>
<p>Actually, I think there are 16,000 semifinalists and 15,000 finalists.</p>
<p>50,000 commended students not NMSF</p>
<p>does being a commended student help your application? i know you get to recommend yourself to two colleges, but do the colleges really consider you?</p>
<p>"On the day of the REAL thing, though, i did great (2200+) so like what does the national merit really say? not much."</p>
<p>You shouldn't be upset that you didn't get any recognition from the NMSC, but your attitude toward the competition is a little immature. </p>
<p>Of course a bad score on the PSAT doesn't doom you to a bad score on the SAT. But the truth is, for people who aren't having "bad days," the PSAT is a good predictor of their SAT performance. The tests have the same sections, the same type of questions, they really just differ in length. I think the NMSC is justified in using the PSAT for their awards. And even if they weren't similar, people still study for the PSAT so that they can get good scores and a chance at a scholarship. It's not fair to tell those people that the award they worked for doesn't mean much. You certainly don't think your "great 2200+" SAT score is meaningless.</p>