<p>Do you still send you something in fall of your senior year telling you that you did not make it?</p>
<p>Hm, I have absolutely no idea, I would imagine not... you let the schools know, but... you didn't get any further? </p>
<p>I know I'm in that position, I just made my state cut-off by a few points so I know I'm out next round. =P</p>
<p>Is that what that astrics on the PSAT report was? I didn't think a title came along with it. Wish i had known that i would have told colleges</p>
<p>and they didn't tell me</p>
<p>The asterisk next to your score on the PSAT means that you did not meet the qualifications to be considered for National Merit (not related to the score), such as sophomore standing when taking the exam, not a US citizen, etc.</p>
<p>In late August/early September, semifinaists will receive notification letters from their schools. Commended students will receive notification about one month later, also from the school.</p>
<p>You sure? My friends had lower scores than me, and they didn't get the astricks, and we all took it as juniors</p>
<p>If you have an asterisk next to your score, it means you do not meet the entry requirements for National Merit consideration. If you look at your score sheet in the box under selection index and percentile, it shows the answers you provided on your score sheet for entry requirements. To be eligible for National Merit, you must be a full-time high school student, take the test during your junior year (as determined by the year you will complete high school and enroll full time in college, and be a US citizen. Check your answers to these questions and make sure they are correct.</p>
<p>How do you know the cut-off score for your state?</p>
<p>Are you sure you have to be a US citizen? Because, I'm not (permanent resident only) and when I got my scores, there were no asterisks and I was told that I was commended.</p>
<p>I had no asterisk but my school did not commend me. Do the schools have any input regarding advancement? Also, my school was using the PSAT as an indicator of SAT performance and college placement, ie. where THEY thought you should go. If you had other ideas they pretty much dropped the ball on you! My SATs were way above my PSAT. I even had one perfect score. My school could not have cared less. (There were NO other perfect scores, either!?) Anyone else facing racketeering practices in their college counseling office?</p>
<p>To clarify - in my previous post, I was just looking at the score sheet, which only asked about US citizenship. To quote from the National Merit website:</p>
<p>A student must:</p>
<ol>
<li>take the PSAT/NMSQT® in the specified year of the high school program and no later than the third year in grades 9 through 12, regardless of grade classification or educational pattern;</li>
<li>be enrolled full time as a high school student, progressing normally toward graduation or completion of high school, and planning to enroll full time in college no later than the fall following completion of high school; and</li>
<li>be a citizen of the United States; or be a U.S. lawful permanent resident (or have applied for permanent residence, the application for which has not been denied) and intend to become a U.S. citizen at the earliest opportunity allowed by law.</li>
</ol>
<p>So permanent residents may enter the competition. </p>
<p>Lost in Space, there is a national cutoff for Commended. Your school has no input in that. I believe other posters determined it to be 203 for the October 2005 testing (please correct me if I am wrong). Everyone who was at least commended should have received a letter in May (sorry, can't rememberif it is mailed or distributed through schools). We won't know state cutoffs for semifinalist until September (there are some schools which post this information on their websites - just wait, someone will post it here).</p>
<p>i'm pretty sure you find out about commended and semifinalist at the same time :/</p>
<p>They send a small Commended certificate to your school. If your h.s. is like my sons', they'll award the certificate to you at the end of the year award ceremony. Some high schools, however, just call you into the guidance office and give you the certificates when they arrive.</p>
<p>If you want to note the award on your college apps, you are free to do so once the cut-offs for semi-finalist are announced (around Oct.) because as long as you were in the top 50,000 students on the PSAT, if you didn't make semi-finalist, you know you made commended.</p>
<p>Hey, does anyone know about where the cutoff was for Semifinalists last year?</p>
<p>It depends on your state. Some states (like NV) had a cutoff score of 207. Other states (like NY and TX) have higher index scores. Search the forum for scores because I remember a post where the list of previous cut off scores was posted.</p>
<p>for details, see post #202 in this thread:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=74297%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=74297</a> </p>
<p>It also includes a link to last year's Semifinalist cutoffs (the prior post gives the cutoffs for the year before that).</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>