<p>Like a lot of the ideas presented here. A few years ago FirstToGo had the highest score in the nation possible to miss being a NMF; she missed by a point in the state with the highest cutoff. We weren’t looking for a NMF scholarship so it wasn’t a financial loss for us … but to have such a high score nationally and not be a NMF was a bummer. These ideas would be more “fair” than the current system IMO.</p>
<p>My dd missed by one point last year. She told me a couple weeks into her freshman year that she was glad she didn’t make NMF - she said she thought she would have felt pressure to go to University X (one that had a full ride for NMF) and she was soooo happy at the university she ended up going to on a very good scholarship because her SAT and ACT were higher than her PSAT. If that makes anyone feel better for those that missed it by a point this year! Of course - she was very upset for a while when she missed it by a point.</p>
<p>ahsmouh, we could have ended up in same situation. Too soon to tell yet but that’s very likely. Since the costs of all schools will now be roughly the same, this will give the kid the option of going where they want to. They are currently leaning towards two non NM schools and in fact, most schools on their list are not NM.</p>
<p>CTL: one of the points of confusion is that the statistics posted in Jan/Feb are from the College Board; that’s who administers the PSAT. And they post a national percentile ranking, just not on the state reports. Agree that would be helpful. But that’s not an NMSC issue. </p>
<p>The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a separate entity from College Board (is there any connection? Besides the exchange of test info?)</p>
<p>“Question, you have space for 5 awards. Currently I have AP scholar, CAPT advanced scholar (CT thing, I was only one in my school), bausch and lomb, wellesley book award, and best math student award for two years in a row. Which one of these (if any) should I leave out to make room for commended? Should I just not mention it? (CT got a 220, missed by one point)”</p>
<p>You could always put the awards that do not fit in the additional information section. Some people use that section as another essay, where they elaborate on something they are passionate about, while others use it as a miscellaneous list of extra accomplishments or a place to describe things that weren’t exactly clear on your application.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think the system could use some fixing, but I am not sure there is a way to make it fair. I can see both sides with the way it is now. Why should someone who had a score higher than the cutoff in every other state but her own not be a scholar? Or if we have a national cutoff, won’t a majority of the finalists be from states with the best education systems?</p>
<p>It is quite amazing so much money is put out for being a finalist on a test that does not even influence one’s college application. But money is given out for high SAT and ACT scores, so I guess it all evens out somewhere.</p>
<p>Sorry to all of you who narrowly missed. I know that many of you would rather have missed the cutoff by a lot than come so close. I give you my sincerest apologies; I know exactly how sour that feels.</p>
<p>@RobD: I am sorry; I do not know the answer to your question.</p>
<p>well maybe I will send out 2 letters then, one to NM and one to college board. Gonna sit on it at least a month so I’m calm and rationale when i revise it. As i’ve noted in other posts, not as upset about just missing it (other than the full ride would be nice option) I’m more upset about the 11 month waiting period. For those on the fence, that has an impact on our college planning. and for those who waited til they in fact had an answer, this adds a lot to the plate during a very busy time. Apparently the paperwork is not too bad but the kids have to write another essay(unless they can use existing one) and for families who want to add NM schools to the mix, they are given little time to do proper research, much less visit schools that are a plane ride away.</p>
<p>ctl987, it’s true about the college planning. As the parent of a borderline scoring kid last year, I really empathize. Just couldn’t decide how much time and effort to put into those schools in advance of knowing D’s status. In the end decided to mostly just wait with them and concentrate on other schools in the meantime.</p>
<p>For those whose kids are considering the big NMF scholarship schools this year and haven’t been through it before, you need to check the timelines of the schools. Some are, or at least have been in the past, very flexible with deadlines for the NMFs. Others not so. </p>
<p>Eg, Texas A&M has early deadlines and they are for everyone, NMF included. They have a separate honors app. with its deadline. Then the deadline to submit big housing deposit is VERY early (mostly refundable.) If you miss that deadline, your honors app is summarily rejected and you are denied housing on campus. So if you are considering A&M stay on top of things.</p>
<p>On the other hand, some schools are more lenient with NMFs, taking kids who apply long after regular admission deadlines. At my D’s school, ASU (which gives kids money to fly out and see the school, do an overnight) there is an honors appwith essay, but the deadline is pushed much later for NMFs, 5/1, I think. So you can wait and do it at last minute if you don’t really think you’d go there, but change mind as 5/1 looms. </p>
<p>We couldn’t procrastinate on some things too much as D is in music which has its own timeline, but when we went to ASU the 2nd time, for orientation in late March and were waiting to hook up with her Barrett overnight host, we met a HS senior also there for a visit/overnight and started chatting. She was visiting a whole slew of schools that week-U of Arizona, Alabama, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and hadn’t applied to any of them yet, but they were all happily courting her. </p>
<p>For any schools which you decide to push paperwork late, make sure that you aren’t missing opportunity by so doing. At ASU, though you can apply late to honors, if you do then you miss the chance to apply for an extra Barrett scholarship that a few kids get. Also, kind of unexpected, so wouldn’t have even known to ask about this in advance, but Barrett somehow over-enrolled this year and they had trouble fitting kids in dorms.Some freshmen got assigned to upper class dorms and upperclassmen got pushed into nearby non-Barrett dorms which Barrett is taking over partly. Not sure whether applying early helped D avoid this or not, but you can cover bases by asking people what to expect if you apply late.</p>
<p>Good luck to all in your college hunt! Drink lots of coffee.</p>
<p>so everyone, sounds like kid will get his first college acceptance letter pretty soon 
I want to find out where the rest of you end up too!! </p>
<p>Kid from Ct(yasmitis? sorry if i messed up name), ddi you figure out how to list your honors on your app? Stay in touch everyone</p>
<p>I know it’s frustrating for those who’ve tried to come up with NM school lists and may have even visited some of these schools over the summer. </p>
<p>I think that NMCorp could release cutoff scores by May/June to allow people to use their summers more productively in this regard.</p>
<p>Last year my son missed the NMSF cutoff for our state by 1 point. I was bummed and even a little angry at the process, however over the next several months he received merit scholarship offers that were close or identical to those he would have received had he earned that extra point. </p>
<p>He is incredibly happy at his current college and I am thrilled we didn’t focus on primarily on schools that offered large National Merit Scholarships. There are other sources of merit aid out there and honestly, the best offers came from schools that read his essays, recommendations and list of ECs and realized how much more he had to offer than that single word (commended vs semi-finalist) in his award list.</p>
<p>Regarding where to put the award on your CA: make sure to remark on the Commended status either in your awards or your “additional” space, however I would use that award space to make note of the other awards, if they mean more to you. Admission Committees are not just trying to count your awards, but are truly working out a picture of who you are. In the words of one of the admissions officers I talked to about this single missed point: “… they [the National Merit Finalists] are not usually our best students, for a variety of reasons.” I heard that from more than one school.</p>
<p>Just my opinion. Congratulations on your accomplishments and good luck to all of you!</p>
<p>Just thought I’d pass along that today DD brought home her “consolation prize” - the Letter of Commendation certificate. The Principal and GC made a presentation to her and a classmate in front of a large group. (DS found his unsigned certificate on his chair a few years ago after his one point miss, so she was quite surprised.) She claimed to be annoyed by the to-do because other students were congratulating her all day. I hope the sting of being one stinking point away will eventually wear off for her. And for this momma bear too! : ) </p>
<p>At any rate, be on the lookout for your certificates. Congratulations for being in the top 50,000 in the nation!</p>
<p>So, I was getting back on here, after having taken a break from the heartache that went with my daughter’s barely missing out, to ask about commended letters. I knew they were supposed to have been sent already but wasn’t sure if they were sent home or to school. It seems they go to the school then? We have not heard a word yet, so I was trying to decide if I needed to ask the principal.</p>
<p>My D had a great SAT score 4 days prior to a not-good-enough PSAT in 2011. Today she’s a Stamps Scholar in a program that she loves. That one test score will not prevent a student from having great opportunities. Have courage! :D</p>
<p>214 in CO. :(</p>
<p>Ah well. I did much better on the actual SAT, plus the colleges I’m applying to don’t have any major scholarships for NMSFs anyway (even the safeties). It would have been nice to have that honor, though.</p>
<p>Lol 223 in Massachusetts.
Hi.</p>
<p>222 in CA</p>
<p>It’s terrible watching all the fanfare at school for the 3 friends of mine who made the cutoff.</p>
<p>I still think the highest cutoff ANYWHERE should be a 220. The idea that a 223 wouldn’t make it is just nutty.</p>
<p>Make the NMSF to NMF process harder if need be!</p>
<p>Not to brag about how great our high school is, but…maybe guidance counselors at other schools will see this. Our guidance department has a link to read about students who get scholarships, attain honors, etc. It listed by name each NMSF as well as every single Commended Scholar this year. They also listed the National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars and the National Achievement Scholar. It is quite an honor to receive any of these recognitions. I am very happy to see everyone listed by name and given the recognition that they deserve.</p>
<p>Hey guys.
I’m back, after a month of depression.
I have not received my commended letter yet, but its fine, because I don’t even want it anymore.
Nobody from my school district made it, so I don’t feel THAT bad.
However, it would have been nice to make it regardless.
That sinking depressing feeling in my stomach from this has yet to fully go away.</p>
<p>lonelynerd, I see from your other posts that you’ve taken a rigorous schedule.You are post-BC in math. Given your high PSAT score you should have fine standardized test scores for college apps. Hopefully your GPA is pretty good.There are lots of other scholarships besides the NMF ones. My D had several full tuition offers that had nothing to do with her NMF status. No full rides, but she didn’t apply to schools which offered those to more than a handful of applicants. There is no time to waste being depressed about this. Turn your mind to finding schools that are a good fit and that have scholarships for kids like you while there is still time, if you aren’t doing that already. Some schools have early app deadlines for scholarship consideration, as you must know. If getting out of Oregon is that important to you, you can do it. Though it is a particularly beautiful state, great place to live, have to say. Not making NMF is not the end. It’s the beginning of a different story for you. Good luck and keep us updated. I wish you well.</p>