<p>Hi, everyone, </p>
<p>About 50,000 members of high school class of 2010 will be getting letters today or sometime soon notifying them that their PSAT scores make them eligible for the College Plans Reporting Service (CPRS). So the question arises, what is the best way to use the CPRS to get on the radar screen of colleges recruiting students? What is your recommendation to a CC participant who will likely apply to more than two colleges on how to use the the two college names provided by CPRS? </p>
<p>Any been-there, done-that stories would be greatly appreciated. And good luck to all the many 2010 students who will be applying this fall for college entrance next fall.</p>
<p>This is not the same as “naming your first-choice” is it? Isn’t that done next year (for 2010ers?) I too would appreciate any helpful tips, so thanks for starting this thread.</p>
<p>Send it to the colleges that offer scholarship $$ for top stat students. Don’t bother sending it to schools that do not collect records re : student interest in their college[ Stanford is one of the colleges that could care less how much a student wants to attend, unless you are a DA or recruited athlete]</p>
<p>Take a careful look at this survey done by the NYTimes in 2006
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/01/08/education/edlife/data.1.graphic.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/01/08/education/edlife/data.1.graphic.html</a></p>
<ul>
<li>the colleges where interviews are “not considered” are those, for the most part, where “showing the love/ interest” other than an actual application, is probably a waste of time.</li>
</ul>
<p>Since colleges know that the ONLY name that really matters for NMF’s is the one a student decides to go to after acceptances have been received- the “first choice” college-, there really aren’t too many useful ways to use the free listing option. For those who don’t have an interest in trying to win big merit $$, which often means applying to colleges further down the “pecking order” from top 30 colleges, I would leave the card blank until the time comes to let NM know where a student will be matriculating, unless you wish to be inundated with even more pamphlets and mailings.
Save some trees instead.</p>
<p>copied from fireflyscout post in August of 2008, here are the 2008 NMF cutoff #'s</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/554901-psat-cutoff-scores-2008-national-merit-semifinalists-h-s-09-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/554901-psat-cutoff-scores-2008-national-merit-semifinalists-h-s-09-a.html</a></p>
<p>AL = 209
AK = 213
AZ = 211
AR = 201
CA = 217
CO = 213
CT = 217
DC = 223
DE = 219
FL = 212
GA = 214
HI = 213
IA = 209
ID = 204
IL = 213
IN = 213
KS = 212
KY = 208
LA = 206
MA = 223
MD =221
ME = 211
MI =209
MN =213
MO = 211
MS = 202
MT = 207
NE = 207
NV = 208
NC = 214
ND = 202
NH = 215
NJ =221
NM = 208
NY =219
OH = 211
OK = 207
OR = 213
PA = 214
RI = 212
SC = 210
SD = 203
TN = 213
TX = 215
UT = 202
VA = 217
VT = 216
WA = 215
WI = 208
WV = 200
WY = 200 </p>
<p>As NMF cutoff numbers rarely change more than 1-2 points for any state from year to year, these #'s above are the PSAT scores that parents and students need to pay attention to. On average each year, 16,000 students PSAT scores meet these cutoff numbers, and 15,000 go on to be selected as NMF’s, subject to comparable SAT scores ,the HS recommendation and the essay all semifinalists are required to submit.</p>
<p>I got a 234, so I’m assuming I’ll get a letter ;)</p>
<p>Would it be worth it to send one of my notifications to Caltech - currently my first choice? I’m sending one to Rice, because they often offer fee waviers for those who do (info from Rice forum). </p>
<p>None of my other schools (CMU, RPI, Case Western, MIT) offer fee waviers like Rice does, but sending them a notification would be demonstrated interest, right? It’s unlikely I’ll be able to vist many of them, so this might be my only chance for that. </p>
<p>Any input on where to send my second notification appreciated :D</p>
<p>I suggest that any NMSF apply to one or two of those big $$ schools if there is any chance their parents will be unwilling or unable to pay for them. Pick the ones you like best. Unexpected things can happen. If your parents lose a job, get divorced, get sick, or just flake out, you can still have an option. Don’t find out in April that you can’t go anywhere because of money.</p>
<p>Here is the listing of the colleges that offer $$ [ sponsership] to NM finalists. As you can see, many of the top colleges don’t offer $$ to NMF’s, so putting one of those schools on your card would be a waste of time.
[The</a> Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/01/merit_table.htm]The”>http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/01/merit_table.htm)</p>
<p>Does the letter come directly to the student or via their high school?</p>
<p>The listing above was for High School '08. </p>
<p>Below is a listing for High School '09 derived from input. It is on the thread posted 9/29/08:</p>
<p>= means a poster has either been told or has deduced (based on who gets notices and who does not) what the cut-off score for that state is. It reflects the best of our information, but sometimes that information can be wrong. If you get contrary information, please share it.</p>
<p><= means “less than or equal” and is used in connection with the lowest qualifying score that has been posted thus far. If you know of a lower score for a given state please share it with us!</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>State - Minimum Score - Post# Cited - (Change from '07)
AK =212 505 (-1)
AL =209 270 (NC)
AR =204 269? (+3)
AZ =209 488? (-2)
CA =217 281 (NC)
CO =213 564 (NC)
CT =218 300 (+1)
DC =221 381 (-2)
DE =219 564 (NC)
GA =215 504 (+1)
FL =211 27, 406 (-1)
HI =216 116? (+3)
IA =210 462 (+1)
ID =208 509 (+4)
IL =214 237, 332 (+1)
IN =213 172 (NC)
KS =211 228, 561 (-1)
KY =209 112, 340 (+1)
LA =208 419 (+2)
MA =221 252 (-2)
MD =220 423 (-1)
ME =212 468 (+1)
MI =209 460 (NC)
MN =214 207 (+1)
MO =213 447 (+2)
MS =201 224 (-1)
MT =208 564 (+1)
NC =215 452 (+1)
ND =201 381 (-1)
NE =206 567 (-1)
NH =211 564 (-4)
NJ =220 314 (-1)
NM =209 567 (+1)
NV =207 582 (-1)
NY =216 182,377,416,464 (-3)
OH =213 226 (+2)
OK =208 153 (+1)
OR =213 326 (NC)
PA =213 417 (-1)
RI =213 564 (+1)
SC =212 512 (+2)
SD =205 569 (+2)
TN =213 467 (NC)
TX =215 46+many (NC)
UT =203 564 (+1)
VA =219 476 (+2)
VT =213 564 (-3)
WA =217 445 (+2)
WV = 203 569 (+3)
WI =210 459 (+2)
WY =201 381 (+1)</p>
<p>US Territories =201 381
Internationals =221 381
Mid-Atlantic & New England boarding schools =221 471 (-2)
Note: boarding schools with large in-state populations will not be in this group</p>
<p>Commended =200 (nationwide, established last May) (NC) </p>
<p>I’m confused about the 2 colleges. Isn’t this something that is done in the fall?</p>
<p>The College Plans Reporting Service appears to be something different from the process for designating a college from which to receive a college-sponsored National Merit scholarship. Moreover, many more students than just future semifinalists will receive the letter (soon) announcing the College Plans Reporting Service possibility. The letter goes out to 50,000 students, but there are only about 16,000 semifinalists.</p>
<p>"I suggest that any NMSF apply to one or two of those big $$ schools if there is any chance their parents will be unwilling or unable to pay for them. Pick the ones you like best. Unexpected things can happen. If your parents lose a job, get divorced, get sick, or just flake out, you can still have an option. Don’t find out in April that you can’t go anywhere because of money. "</p>
<p>Yankee Belle is absolutely right. My son was a NMSF and got numerous mailings/offers from big schools (as in size) that love NM kids. We told him to pick one and apply. This was last September, just before the economy hit the skids. He looked over all the schools, including USC, Arizona, Arizona State, Oklahoma, UT-Dallas, Central Florida, Texas A & M, Michigan State and Alabama. He chose Alabama, thinking it would always remain a safety. Well, we went for a visit. He loved the campus, the honors prom and dorms, etc. The school even flew him back to interview for another honors program, in which he landed a spot. So, he will be saying, Roll Tide Roll, this fall. Sure, he got into some other great schools, but full tuition and room, along with lots of other goodies are too good to turn down – especially when you like the school so much.</p>
<p>I’m a little confused.</p>
<p>Is this in any way a useful tool to gain acceptance to a reach, or is it solely for getting merit money?</p>
<p>If you are a NMSF [ there are only 16000 each year, out of millions of students applying to college] then it wouldn’t hurt to let reach colleges know this. I suspect it can’t hurt, unless your actual SAT scores are not in the same range [95%] as your PSAT scores.</p>
<p>My 2009 student put down a safety to start- no point in including colleges that do not participate in NM. You will get lots of time to change your mind on the first choice college. Ultimately you have until late April of your senior year, so no need to stress out over this! Also on your applications for colleges say you are a candidate for NM, then they will all know!
Congrats & good luck!</p>
<p>book_worm RPI offered my son (NMF) pretty decent money and a priority application (which meant he knew he was in by Thanksgiving), so it might be worth letting them know. He wasn’t applying anywhere that specifically had scholarships for NMFs.</p>
<p>S1 used it to telescope interest to two schools that valued “showing the love” and also offered merit $$ beyond NMF $$. He had already sent his March of junior year scores to the flagship, so he was on their radar (they sent him a letter when they received his scores) by about this time as well.</p>
<p>Making sure 2 of your choices get the info is a good thing, as you will get their viewbooks, etc. sent to you and will assure you are on their mailing lists, but I don’t think it really does that much in terms of getting an “in” with the schools. From what I can tell, all kinds of mailing lists are generated (and sent to colleges for admissions propaganda people) from the SAT scores, and some from the expected major specified on the q and a part of SAT. Lots of the places that automatically give NMF money will be sending letters to those people, and then there’s a bunch to send to the next lower tier, etc. (hard to tell what the cut-off scores are). Just being a warm live body interested in college will probably get a bunch of stuff mailed to you from some lesser-known schools that aren’t quite as selective. </p>
<p>D1 is/was a self-professed math/science geek, and was NMF, so she got a lot of targeted mail, but much more from technical-oriented schools and not as many LACs (although Williams was one of her possible choices when it came time to actually decide WHERE to go). D2 plans to major in Environmental Science/Policy and she did get some interesting mailings from some “granola crunching, tree hugger” schools 
She was particularly annoyed, however, to get a letter, addressed to her, talking about her interest in physics. Uh…wrong kid!!! Don’t know how that happened!!!</p>