<p>Of course there are plenty for the finalists, but does anybody know of any colleges that offer decent scholarships for commended students? Have tried to google it without much luck.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>There are a few schools that offer scholarships just for being a commended scholar, but typically the awards are small ($1,000 or less) Some of the schools that I am aware of that offer (or have in the past) something to commended scholars include Lawrence University, Wright State, Coe College, and (I believe) Willamette. There may be others as well.</p>
<p>With that said, keep in mind that students who do well enough on the PSAT to make commended typically will do well enough on the SAT to fall into the eligibilty range for more substantial merit scholarships from many schools. In most cases, however, they'll need 3.5+ UW GPAs for the larger awards along with the high test scores to get larger awards. There are also some schools where a slightly lower GPA, high test scores and other factors might result in merit scholarship eligibility for students who end up with SAT scores in the commended scholar range. So, rather than spend too much time and effort on searching for scholarships specifically for commended scholars, I'd focus on searching for those sorts of more general, and likely larger, scholarships.</p>
<p>What kind of score on the PSAT do you need to be NM commended? I think NM Scholars are in the 210-225 range. Where do the "commended" students fall score-wise. Do they send you something????</p>
<p>The cutoff for commended is typically somewhere around 201-204 (it varies from year to year). It's a national cut-off, not state by state like for semi-finalist. If you have made commended, you and your school will receive notification next fall. Hope you made it!</p>
<p>I tis not true that one normally needs a 3.5 UW to qualify for substantial merit aid. My S, who had a 31 ACT but was at about 3.0 unweighted (3.7 weighted) was offered $16,000 at College of Wooster, $12,000 at Randolph Macon, and $12,000 at Northeastern.</p>
<p>You're absolutely right, EMM - As your son's results clearly show, there are plenty of opportunities for merit money for students who fall below the 3.5 GPA I mentioned! Often, however, there variations and other criteria for scholarships besides GPA -- at some schools, weighted GPA is used, at others students have to have other qualities the school desires in order to receive a merit scholarship. At some schools, everyone above a certain GPA and test scores receives something, at others, not everyone does. So, as you point out, it is difficult to talk in hard and fast universal rules.</p>
<p>Just out of curiousity, which merit scholarship did your son receive at Wooster? As I recall, on their website, they list the highest merit scholarship as requiring a 3.5 GPA - perhaps that is weighted GPA? Or your son received one of the other awards that requires an essay? </p>
<p>In any case, congratulations to your son, and thanks again for reminding everyone that many schools will offer money to students at many GPAs. :)</p>
<p>Sorry, I don't remember the name of the scholarship. It was last year, and he is just finishing a PG year now. He will attend Wesleyan in the fall (he is a basketball player, but the three scholarships were offered even though his applications made no mention of playing at the school.) Full price, unfortunately.</p>