<p>First of all, this was a big surprise for us. When he took the PSAT as a sophomore he did very well - 215. But this time he did amazingly well - 234 - with no prep. </p>
<p>So what can we expect over the next year or so? What kinds of offers does something like this lead to? We're interested in hearing any stories about how the colleges react to this. How much recruiting, etc., can we expect?</p>
<p>Of course, if this has been answered before, please link to relevant threads. Thanks.</p>
<p>It’s not a big deal. If he ends up a finalist he will receive …<em>drum roll</em>… ONE THOUSANDS DOLLARS!</p>
<p>Congrats!!</p>
<p>My son also got pretty good score - 230. I just hope that he can get 2300+ for SAT. Other than that, I expecting him become a finalist… really that’s all.</p>
<p>tell him to take the SAT. like now. so there won’t be a chance of him “losing” it.
After that, your son is free 
FREE I TELL YOU!! FREE FROM THE CLUTCHES OF CB!!</p>
<p>Some schools will offer full ride scholarships solely based on NMF.</p>
<p>of course there will be loads of mail but not much actual “recruiting” like recruiting athletes. The next step is to achieve the same feat on the SAT reasoning test.</p>
<p>Congratulation to your son’s good PSAT score. In the coming months he shall receive a lot of materials from schools that are interested in recriting National Merit Finalists. Seach for threads about full rides for NMF and you shall find a lot of information. If you are a middle or upper middle class family that might not qualify for much need base financial aid, NMF status will give you options with several good schools and good honors program that will almost be free due to their great merit NMF scholarships.</p>
<p>Pay attention to the mail - some will be generic, some will be more NM related. As you research the colleges which offer NM scholarships, be sure to check deadlines - some colleges may want you to “declare” them as your top choice by a certain date. Your son may find that he wins the NM-sponsored scholarship (which is $2500, NOT $1000). Some colleges will add in their own scholarship and extend it for the remaining three years, but some colleges will not.</p>
<p>What next? Head on over the the 2010 thread on the parents forum, that’s what! Loads of answers, loads of fun. :)</p>
<p>He’ll get a nice little TASP invite I bet</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses so far. WRT the merit-based financial aid, I found the following link:</p>
<p>[National</a> Merit](<a href=“http://homepage.mac.com/l_j/secondhome/National_Merit.html]National”>http://homepage.mac.com/l_j/secondhome/National_Merit.html)</p>
<p>congratulations to your son! yes, expect lot’s of mail. Look over the paperwork he receives from National Merit very carefully. It will have a list of schools that give “full rides” and “half tuitions” to National Merit finalists and semifinalists. My son recvd a full tuition to several schools and also recv’d $24,000 from National Merit not $1,000 as a previous poster stated. He’s now at Harvard and LOVING it! </p>
<p>the $24,000 was through my husbands employer who uses National Merit to select their recipients. Best of Luck, this is an exciting time in his life (and yours)</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son! Mine is a Semifinalist this year. Your son should take the SAT sometime between now and next October, and submit his scores to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.</p>
<p>Here’s what you can expect:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>For the next year, he will receive more junk mail than you do. Email too, if he supplies an email address to CollegeBoard.</p></li>
<li><p>He will receive a letter at school next April, congratulating him on being one of the ~50,000 commended-or-above students. It will include a reply card he can use to notify two colleges of his interest and merit status. This just puts him on their radar, which can be helpful.</p></li>
<li><p>Next September, assuming he qualifies (and I don’t know of any state in which a 234 wouldn’t qualify), he will receive a Semifinalist letter and a Finalist application packet at school. He will be one of ~16,000 Semifinalists. Then the junk mail will begin in earnest.</p></li>
<li><p>Assuming he submits the application (which is mailed by his school and includes some basic information, an official transcript, and an essay) and his SAT score and GPA are commensurate with his PSAT score (SAT > around 2100), he will probably receive a Finalist letter in February 2010. Only 1,000 or so of the 16,000 Semifinalists do not become Finalists.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>For more information on what happens after that and what goes in the application, visit the NMSC’s official Web site: [National</a> Merit Scholarship Corporation - NMSP](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php]National”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php)</p>
<p>If your son’s ambitions favor Tier 1 colleges, Semifinalist status will be noted but not very unique, not worth a great deal of money if any, and certainly not a guarantee to admission (1/3 of students at geek_son’s chosen college were NMSF or NMF). However, many good schools (public and private) offer very large scholarships, “select” or “priority” applications, and/or special honors perks to NMSF or NMF students.</p>
<p>The scholarship from NMSC is not that great, as someone sarcastically noted here, but there are many substantial scholarships to be had from corporations and/or colleges. And NM status can open doors elsewhere. Any way you slice it, this is a milestone and your son has done a great job. Give him a big hug!</p>
<p>Omg i studied and I improved by 2 points, how are these people so smart…=P</p>
<p>Anyways, doesnt matter, now what? Congrats on the high score, but his next step should be taking the SAT…your son will probably be guarenteed NMF and scholarships to instate schools (unless he had like 2.5 GPA or got suspended) but besides that, PSAT dont matter now.</p>
<p>FYI, I got a 219 on the PSAT back in the day, and I ended up with a 2270 on the SAT (with zero prep).</p>
<p>So, at least if your son is like me, he should score just as well on the normal SAT (or better) as on the PSAT. And a 2340 would be a realllll nice score to have in one’s pocket come application season.</p>
<p>IMO, if he worked even moderately hard, he could have a more-than-decent shot at a 2400.</p>
<p>Great work!! That’s an amazing score by itself. And without prep? Insanely good.</p>
<p>I just wanted to take a moment to thank those who responded so kindly to the OP. This is especially meaningful, because for obvious reasons, we are telling no one about it.</p>
<p>Also I wanted to clarify one point, if it matters at all. When I said my son did no prep that was a bit of an exaggeration. He did do the QOTD, but I didn’t mention that because I was thinking that it’s so minimal. Maybe I should also mention that occasionally we made a game of QOTD by competing for who got the correct answer faster. Also, he did a couple of extra math practice subtests. But altogether what he did amounted to brief refresher/warmup much more than real prep.</p>
<p>^^^
“Also I wanted to clarify one point, if it matters at all.”</p>
<p>No I think you just went off on a serious tangent. Your son has been preparing for the SAT since the day he stepped into grade school- if he studied for an algebra test, he studied for the SAT.</p>
<p>“This is especially meaningful, because for obvious reasons, we are telling no one about it.” </p>
<p>Um. You posted on a public internet forum, it can’t get any more open than that. </p>
<p>“But altogether what he did amounted to brief refresher/warmup much more than real prep.”</p>
<p>You probably think “real prep” undermines the purpose of the SAT. Let me ask you this, if doing QOTD’s isn’t “real prep”, then what is? QOTD is as real as SAT prep can get. I think you need to get off your high horse, stop emphasizing the “no prep”, and realize that the SAT is designed for english speaking students- so immigrants who have English as their second language have no choice but to do “real prep”. You need to also remember that not everyone is taught by the same teacher throughout their educational career- there are great teachers, and there there are the crappy teachers. I could go on, but I think you get the point.</p>
<p>Zenbadabing, first of all I have to compliment you on your creative user name. One of the best combos I can imagine!</p>
<p>Sorry if anything came out as offensive, or opinionated in any way. </p>
<p>Let me briefly address some of your concerns. I definitely agree that my son has been preparing since he started grade school. I’ll even raise you; prep started in pre-school or even when we read to him before his first birthday.</p>
<p>By saying we’re telling no one I’m saying that none of the 100 people who know us best have any idea how my son is doing on these tests. And we’ll keep it that way.</p>
<p>And I’m not against people prepping for SATs or any other test, whether it’s because of immigration or anything else. If I have any opinion at all, I guess I’d say I’m for it in that it’s one form of education and I think education is a good thing. My point was just that the QUANTITY of specific test prep he did was close to nil. On some of our head to head contests it was less than 15 seconds a day. But after reading hinyaun’s and HiPeople’s responses I just wanted to clarify.</p>
<p>Again sorry if anything came across as hurtful - back to SNL</p>
<p>“My point was just that the QUANTITY of specific test prep he did was close to nil”
Again, a tangent. </p>
<p>I am in no way offended- I’m just tired of seeing people categorize studying grammar and memorizing vocab as “SAT prep” and differentiating “real prep” from “warm-up preps”. </p>
<p>Have fun.</p>