<p>I got a pretty decent score on the PSAT last October (238) and will most likely be a semifinalist. Right now, I get to report 2 colleges to </p>
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be referred to two colleges or universities of your choice by the College Plans Reporting Service (CPRS). THis service is offered to encourage college officials to communicate directly with you about educational opportunities that may be available and we hope it will help you a syou plan for college.
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CPRS will provide your name, home address, birth date, high school name and address, 2005 PSAT/NMSQT scores, and tentative college major and career choice to the two colleges that you name.
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<p>My top three choices, Stanford and Yale/Princeton (I need to decide which one is #2 on my list), don't give National Merit Scholarships. However, they are definitely at the very tip of the top of the list of colleges I am interested in, and I am 95% sure that I will be applying EA to Stanford this fall.</p>
<p>Now, I will also definitely be applying to two schools that do give out National Merit Scholarships: Rice and Northwestern.</p>
<p>I was wondering whether it would be more advantageous to report Stanford and Yale/Princeton that don't give scholarships or Rice and Northwestern which do. Any advice would be much appreciated. Also, if you believe it would be better to report Rice/Northwestern, can you please tell me if it would give me any edge at all to report Stanford and Princeton/Yale? Thanks!</p>
<p>I'm wondering if my son should send his to the Ivys he's interested in even thought they don't really care (all their people are NMSF) simply because his major may be attractive to them. But his PSAT score was actually pretty low (218) just high enough to qualify for NM in brain dead Cali, so will they actually be turned off?</p>
I'm wondering if my son should send his to the Ivys he's interested in even thought they don't really care (all their people are NMSF) simply because his major may be attractive to them. But his PSAT score was actually pretty low (218) just high enough to qualify for NM in brain dead Cali, so will they actually be turned off?
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<p>How is a 218 low? Isn't that in the 99th percentile?</p>
<p>Once you qualify for NMSF, it doesn't really matter whether you got a 238 like chillaxin or a 218 like your son BurnThis, as long as he/she has met the score cutoff for their respective states. So, list down whatever schools you're most interested in on the CRS and don't worry about your PSAT score lol.</p>
<p>Chillaxin's dilemma is one that I share as well unfortunately so we would greatly appreciate if a parent or another student who has gone through the NMS process could shed some light on our situation.</p>
<p>I just thought that relative to a 238, a 218 wasn't that impressive. Plus, since my son's looking at HYP, I didn't think a 218 would knock their socks off. Sorry, didn't mean to be insensitive or just plain stupid.</p>
<p>I have almost the same problem! My score is 238 as well, haha, and I'm wondering if Harvard/Princeton/Stanford even want to hear about my scores, when many of their other applicants have the same.</p>
<p>Two questions related to what chillaxin is saying:
1) I second what she's asking, is it worthwhile to send these scores to money-giving 2nd choices?
2) Do the top schools even care if you send them your information? Will it give you any sort of edge (maybe "interest"-wise if applying RD)?</p>
<p>(Caveat: I know this is how it works at MIT, and I'm only assuming that it's the same for other top schools. But I think it's a safe assumption.)</p>
<p>MIT doesn't give merit money, like other top schools, and is therefore completely uninterested in who you put as your first choice school for National Merit. When I was a junior, I put Ohio State as my first choice because they gave a full scholarship to NM kids; the "first choice" is more of a financial manipulation tool. Use it if you've got it! :)</p>
<p>MIT (and I assume other schools) doesn't track applicant "interest", and putting another school as your first choice for National Merit won't cause you to be disadvantaged in any way during the MIT admissions process. (As I understand it, they don't even know if a student doesn't put them as the first choice.)</p>
<p>Use your "first choice" to snag some merit $$$. It won't hurt you or help you at highly selective schools.</p>
<p>Is there a difference between "first choice" and the other school chosen? If there is, what is it because the letter i got saying i was one of the 50,000 selected said neither school I choose, i if i select two colleges, will be aware of the other.
Also, when are we notified if we qualified for another nmsc program, like national achievement?(i'm still waiting...)</p>
<p>I listed a school that gives NMS merit awards (a sponsor institution) as my first choice. I figured, there's no point in listing a school that does not award merit scholarships based on NMS standings as my first choice...it'd just be a wasted opportunity. However, I ended up getting awarded the one-time $2.5k award, which I've decided to take with me to a school that doesn't award merit scholarships. They said I can use $2k to purchase a new computer, and they'll take the remainder and cut the same amount in grants from their institutional award. So, all is good!</p>
<p>what I mean is, how do you indicate a "first choice"? On the site where we choose our two schools, there are just two blanks. Does the order which we name the schools in matter and can they tell if they're first or second?</p>
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<li><p>Do colleges see if they're your first or second choice? Or is that only for reporting in spring of senior year?</p></li>
<li><p>Where can I find a list of schools that offer merit scholarships for NMSC?</p></li>
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<p>I guess the quesiton right now isn't which would hurt, but rather which would help. Then again, you need every bit of help you can get nowadays for college admissions.</p>
<p>Theoneo, there's a link to a list of all the NMSC schools in my first post (except for the fact that UC's don't give NMS anymore), but I'll post it again here:</p>
<p>Well, I actually went in to talk to my GC about this predicament, and what we ended up deciding on was that it could never hurt to send my scores in to Stanford and Yale/Princeton. What I would be missing out on at most would be an advantage on appying to NU and Rice, where my chances are triple (statistically speaking) what they would be at my top schools even without any advantages. Thus, the only thing I'd be missing out on would be $120 in waived application fees, but I mean, $120 or possibly helping you get in to Stanford... Not too difficult of a decision in my mind. :]</p>
<p>Anyways, he advised me to talk to some seniors from my school who got into Stanford and ask what they did, but I still have to do that. I figure asking CCers who would know from personal experience is pretty much the same thing.</p>
<p>Another thing I'm wondering about is if schools give you NMS for sending their names in now or will accept them later when you've become a finalist...</p>
<p>My advice is to CALL the admissions offices of the colleges you're interested in and ask them. I called MIT last week after my D received her NM letter. The admissions office indicated that there would be <em>no advantage</em> to putting MIT down on the College Plans Reporting Service. So, call Stanford, Yale, Princeton, etc. and ask them. If I were you, I would put down NU and Rice.</p>
<p>The only question I can really answer here is that there is definitely a difference between the "first-choice" school and the two schools we (Juniors) are reporting now. We do not have to indicate our first-choice school until end of next year after we become Finalists. This, like said before, really gives way to Merit $$ as some schools require this before rewarding it. However you do not have to do this until the end of next year, so it's not something to worry about. For example, if I get rejected from all my schools and just decide to attend the University of Florida (I'm already in Gainesville), I have to indicate that they are my "first-choice" to NMS before attending on a very generous full-ride.</p>
<p>Of course this is assuming we become NMFs :)</p>
<p>My suspicion is that this Reporting Service offered to 50,000 is rather insignificant. We will probably just get information about the school, etc. Another guess is that it makes no difference putting Stanford/Yale/etc as they simply do not care. I went ahead and put my second-place schools for the Reporting Service so I will get a head start perhaps in recieving information about NM money which really only comes when we are deemed NMFs.</p>
<p>Btw, ty for the list of schools that offer Merit money.. I have seen it before but was just looking and could not find it again. Keep in mind, guys, that a lot of these schools just give a couple thousand one time vs. some that are closer to full-ride.. so more research needs to be done on our part.</p>