<p>HELTAHIR, I am a Democrat, and I am not from the south, but to say that people in the south are less intelligent is blatantly untrue and rather prejudiced. The semifinalist cutoff difference is due to several things, none of which I know for certain, but I doubt that any of them are even remotely related to inherent intelligence in southerners vs. northerners.</p>
<p>I don't mean to get off subject, sorry.</p>
<p>i don't get it
if 16,000 out of 1.3 million is clearly over .5% of students who took the psat. </p>
<p>and semifinalist are awarded to top .5% right?</p>
<p>When did i ever mention the south specifically? you are missing my point sarazlig. I'm talking about areas like Idaho and North Dakota. You are completely correct when you say that it is blatantly incorrect that people in the south are less intelligent. However, to believe that areas in the west, like Idaho, do not lag behind the northeast is to completely ignore the statistics. Just look at the cutoff indices:</p>
<p>LOL I am from the South, and I can tell you one thing that almost certainly plays a part in the fact that the southern states have a lower NMS cut-off: few southern states emphasize and properly fund education. One cannot say anything about the inherent intelligence of Southerners and Northerners, but it is undoubtedly correct that Northerners are more educated on average.</p>
<p>hey do you think the commended cut off went up because it's now the top 50,000 out of 1.3 million (it used to be top 55,000, i believe)?</p>
<p>An odditty about the South (especially Alabama): Usually only the smarter/richer kids take the PSAT/SAT/ACT down here. So, our state indexes are higher than they really should be if the tests were administered to the state population. </p>
<p>What lola-cho says is true: precious few states emphasize public education like they should. This accounts for the relatively low southern cutoffs... However, the strange Alabama cutoff of 210 is a sneaky bugger... (New Hampshire, a much northern state, has a cutoff of 215)...</p>
<p>Sorry, HELTAHIR, to assume things from your post that you didn't mean. I didn't really mean the south in particular, I just meant that I disagree with the assumption that there are less intelligent parts of the country.</p>
<p>Sorry if I misconstrued your words.</p>
<p>I think West Virginia had it at 202... and its not that far down South :p.</p>
<p>Remember, anything below the Mason-Dixon Line is "south"... </p>
<p>(On topic) It's 4/18 and I still haven't gotten a letter... Nor has anyone else that I know.</p>
<p>I thought they were supposed to come out in SEPTEMBER?</p>
<p>The college choice notifications are sent out in April. According to National Merit's website, these letters are sent to all 50,000 or so people that make the top 5% cutoff--202 this year.</p>
<p>202 cutoff, u sure?</p>
<p>I got 201. This sucks?</p>
<p>Yes, 202. I called the National Merit office today.</p>
<p>Russ, that does suck. But it's still a very good score and a great place to start for your SATs.</p>
<p>What was the commended cut-off the year before?</p>
<p>Because if it's gone up, that's bad; I'm borderline for semifinalist (219), and last year, CT had 220 as the cut-off. I've got my fingers crossed that it'll go down this year. I'm so screwed.</p>
<p>Last year's cut-off was 201.</p>
<p>It might go down in an individual state, but I'd be surprised if it went down in CT...</p>
<p>I got a 224 and I live in Virginia.
Last year's cut off was 219. Please explain to me though: why do cut offs vary state to state? Why don't they just take the highest scores overall, and not do it state by state?</p>
<p>I don't understand their logic. sorry.</p>
<p>Some states have lower averages. So its the statewide average. Basically, some places like the New England states/Cali/etc. are super competitive, while other places are a bit less... :p.</p>
<p>I believe, though I haven't checked, that they take the top x% from each state, so depending on the score range in the state, the cut-off varies.</p>