We got my child’s PSAT results on Wednesday - He got 760 (R&W) and 740 (M), his selection index is 226, is safe to say he has a chance to qualify NMF?
Yes
Yes, the highest ever in any state was 223. I’d be surprised if anywhere got up to 224, 226 is practically impossible.
We are in Minnesota, 2019 cutoff is 220
Congrats, he is sure to be a semi-finalist! Pay attention this fall for the information that will be coming out regarding the finalist application process. It would be absolutely heartbreaking for a kid to have all the qualifications - no C’s, acceptable confirming SAT score - yet miss out on all the merit opportunities because he missed the application deadline. Also head over to the threads on NMF and Florida schools for more chat about UF, UCF, etc. And there are so many other threads discussing Arizona, Texas, Alabama, and on and on. Welcome to Team NMF DS21/DD21!
He is National AP Scholar(8 already taken in the 9th & 10th grade, taking 6 now) together he will complete 14 APs by end of 11th grade. He is also qualify to go to TOC( Tournament Of Champion) for National Debate, and many more honors, will those increase his chance to go to a dream school such as Columbia or UC Berkeley… big name school?
He sounds like stellar applicant and will have a good shot at those schools, but they are reaches for anyone.
My S21 also scored a 226 so we are feeling confident about NMSF, but he’s having a rough semester. Will likely end up with a C in AP Spanish, 3 Bs in other AP classes, and 2 As (6 AP classes total plus band and speech/debate). He’s had nearly straight As the last 2 years. Also very active and successful in band and speech/debate and a 1580 SAT score. Is it likely the C will throw him out of the NMF competition, especially given how much he took on this year? He has a tutor now and we hope next semester he will pull his grades up.
It is possible the C will be disqualify him, but it’s not assured. It seems like I’ve generally read that “one C” is borderline/unpredictable in results. And, surely, a C in AP Spanish should be more forgivable than a C in an easier course. For sure, if there’s anything that can be done to ramp up tutoring/extra credit/teacher ass-kissing that might push that C into a B . . . that’d be well worth the effort.
My son is also having rough semester. He is taking 6 APs, most likely end up with B in AP Calculus, 5 As in APUSH, CS, Biology, Micro/Macro, English and A- in Latin. Is the B throw him out of the NMF competition or future college app? I know a kid got rejected in every big name school because a “B” in his grade, even with outstanding records, NMF, national debate winner… he ended up going to state university.
Personally, I wouldn’t want my child to attend a school that would reject someone for a single B (or even a few Bs), so I wouldn’t worry about that for one moment.
Realistically, the big name schools could easily fill their classes with straight A valedictorians with perfect ACT or SAT scores. They don’t want that, which is why they don’t do that. The Ivies (and similar) are all a crap shoot to some degree, because there are simply very few slots for very many extremely well qualified students.
@yy1012 He’ll definitely be a NMSF. My oldest had 226 too, and when the school gave him his score, they went ahead and congratulated him on getting NMSF.
But for getting into selective schools, you just never know. One of my son’s friends was NMF, perfect ACT score, class officer, Varsity Athlete. He must have taken more than 15 APs with straight As because he was top 10 in his class (and the class had 16 perfect ACT scores).
For reference, my son was top 10% but not top 10 because he “only” took 14 APs. It was a super competitive graduating class.
Anyway, this kid who is pretty much close to perfect didn’t get into a super selective school ED, and everyone was shocked. So keep that in perspective when applying to selective schools. Even kids that seem perfect may not get in.