<p>theSATmaster, I can assure you that the cutoff IS 200. In fact, my counselor gave me the letter addressed to our principal, in which it states, </p>
<p>"With a Selection Index score of 200 or above, each of these students is among the 50,000 highest-scoring participants of some 1.4 million program entrants."</p>
<p>Also, I was wondering which colleges I should choose to be referred to by NMSC. Does anyone have any suggestions on colleges that will actually respond to your referral (either from first-hand experience or just speculation)?</p>
<p>It isn't "national merit" if you need a 202 in Arkansas and a 222 in MA (or some such numbers). Completely ridiculous. These are state tests then, and it is unfair that a student will receive the same honor in certain states for scoring 20 or more points lower than kids who will receive no NMF status at all.</p>
<p>And yes, I will have a commended scholar, who would have been NMF in every state but four. We happen to live in one of those four. Grrrrr.</p>
<p>I don't want to offend anyone but all this cynicism about the varying levels for semi cutoff from state to state is a bit over-cooked. The people who came up with this NM system considered many more issues than what's being presented in this thread. I think if the 222 scorer in MA had gone to public schools in AR for his/her entire life he/she wouldn't have achieved the 222 score. The reverse is quite likley to be true, as well. I think the state leveling was atleast something they could do to recognize the variance in the quality of the school systems across the country. Even this doesn't go far enough, though, as there is much variation from school district to school district within the state. They have to be practical, though.</p>
<p>Acutally, the differing cut-offs is what DOES make it National Merit. Otherwise, it would be "MA, VA, NY, IL Merit". And yes, I come from a state with a VERY high cut-off, and would have Semi- in other states.</p>
<p>somebody mentioned whether or not they should send in the letter to colleges or not.. i always planned on it but was too worried about where to send it that i never actually did haha but i dont think it ended up mattering because all of my schools knew i was a commended scholar because my counselor mentioned that on my reccomendation. i think it might have been somewhere on my transcript too? but basically dont worry about it. congrats on getting commended.</p>
<p>and i am from ma. and feel the pain of the kids who arent semi finalists or finalists because of where theyre from haha good luck guys</p>
<p>It seems to me being commended scholar is no biggie. It's not even semi-finalist. It's a new thing they're doing, isn't it? The 2 grand sounds a lot better.
Personally, I don't think the varying cut-offs for differnet states is very fair, either.</p>
<p>Ofcourse, it's not a real biggie. 50,000 people get atleast that standing. But, some universities track every little bit of interest an applicant shows.</p>
<p>Does anyone have a guess as to what California's semi-finalist 2008 cut-off will be? Is it reasonable to think it will go down from 219 to at least a 218? Thanks for any thoughts on this.</p>
<p>3 of my colleges offered me scholarships for being a commended student in addition to the other merit aid i got so being commended does get something depending on where you go</p>
<p>Do you guys think that its too optimistic to hope that the PSAT cut-off for a state will drop by 4 points (given the harsh writing section scores)?</p>
<p>If IL drops from 218 to 215 I will be ultimately dissapointed (i got 214 :( )</p>
<p>I know she had over 200, just don't know the exact number, but for sure 97%ile. If commended, do colleges look into this? I thought colleges look for SAT's and GPA, does this matter much?</p>
<p>From everything I've read, SAT's and GPA's are more important than Commended status. Commended is great to put on the resume but you need the SAT and GPA to back it up (for that matter, the same applies to Semi if you want to make Finalist). I am not sure how much merit money, if any, will be awarded based on Commended. I know some colleges will give full rides based on Finalist.</p>