<p>This is the situation I'm currently in. I'm trying to sound as unemotional and rant-y as possible, but I'm very confused at the moment.</p>
<p>Last November/December, my school made an error with my PSAT scores where my testing forms were sent in as either a sophomore (I am a junior) or as a non-full-time-highschool student or something else. Either way, my score report was asterisked with a "not eligible for NMS this time" message. I told my career counselor about this problem, and after meeting with her a few times, she told me that the assistant principal and she had fixed the issue with the College Board, and sent me away.</p>
<p>Recently, the "Top 50,000" letters were sent out to those NMS Commended, but no letter was sent to me. My score was 210, and two days ago, when I found out that others scoring lower than I did had received letters (as I understand it, this years cut off was around 200), I brought this up with the career counselor. She pointed out that I had not met the 99th Percentile mark, my name was not on the list, and dismissed me. However, the NMS Commended is based on top 50,000 and not percentile, correct?</p>
<p>I don't often have a chance to meet with her, and I want to make sure she understands that something about my scores are incorrect.
What can I do?
Has anyone else had a similar situation? What was done to resolve it?
Is it possible to be recognized for my NMS Commended status? I know that such a minor recognition is relatively small, but I feel that I have been cheated, especially since I was planing on appling for corporate scholarship.
Am I just overreacting/crazy/delusional/under some kind of bizzare misunderstanding?</p>
<p>We had an error on the eligibility section (where they ask about full time status, grade, graduation year). When the scores came back it says on the form to contact National Merit if there is an error. I called and they advised us we needed to send in a letter. After they received the letter they fixed it and sent us verification that it was fixed. However, this was back when we first got scores back.</p>
<p>At this point I don’t see what you have to lose by calling the National Merit Corporation. They were very helpful when we called. You can explain you were aware there was a error but were advised by your counselor that it was resolved. Here’s their contact info: [National</a> Merit Scholarship Corporation - Contact Us](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/contact.php]National”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/contact.php)</p>
<p>As I read the website ([National</a> Merit Scholarship Corporation - NMSP](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php]National”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php)), if your score was above the national index for Commended, you should automatically be Commended. I agree, call them; and if necessary, get your parents to complain to the school and insist that they take any action needed as well.</p>
<p>I believe commended is actually something like 96.5 percentile or something of the sort, not 99%. Maybe someone can confirm that? You should definitely call as soon as possible.</p>
<p>I just checked the NMSC website and it says that commended letters are sent out september of senior year. I don’t know where the OP got his/her info about letters being sent out.</p>
<p>Regardless, you should definitely contact them and get the recognition you deserve if all does not go as you expect come september!</p>
<p>Thanks for the contact information. I’ll call up NMS as soon as possible, as well as follow up further with my school.
Should I also contact College Board?</p>
<p>Also, just a word, the letters that were sent out aren’t the actual NMS commendations. It’s the letter that was sent to all the people who will be commended, instructing them to send their commendation to two colleges of their choice. Sorry for the confusion.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the advice and information.</p>
<p>These are not commended letters - they are letters indicating that the student will be recognized in the National Merit scholarship program. In other words, they are at least at the commended level.</p>
<p>The “asterisk” is the key word here. All it means when you get your score is that you are not eligible at this time, usually because you are not a Junior. You need to contact NMSC and ask exactly what made you “earn” the asterisk. Then you get your school to provide the necessary paperwork to correct the error. Make sure to check back with NMSC to see if the error was corrected and the asterisk was removed.</p>