<p>So I'm class 2010, took the test this october, got my scores back and such. but when do notices of semifinalist etc come? My school hasnt given back anything (and we're on break already) I've been reading about kids getting letters and such. Is something wrong?</p>
<p>Also, how does the semifinalist/finalist process work once i make cutoff?
Essays? Grades? Transcript?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>If you scored over 201(or is it 200?) you should have received a letter in April I believe. This means you are FOR SURE at least commended, maybe semifinalist. Either August or September we find out if we are semifinalists.</p>
<p>I got some letter about sending my info to two schools thats it. (btw i got 240), but no commended letter</p>
<p>With a 240, you’ll definitely be a Semifinalist. The official “release date” for notifying Semifinalists is mid-September, but NMSC does that through the high schools and schools sometimes jump the gun. Every semifinalist gets an application packet that explains what they must do to advance to Finalist. Basically, you have to fill out a detailed application form and return it to the high school by a certain deadline (usually in early October). The high school then adds info about your academic record (and also what courses the school offers) and also has to write a recommendation for you. You will also have to take the SAT (if they haven’t already).</p>
<p>Finalists are notified in early February, and those receiving NM Scholarships (roughly half of the Finalists will get one) are notified in the spring. There are several rounds of notifications, beginning in mid-March through late April.</p>
<p>You would be a finalist with a 240 in any state</p>
<p>^^^^^ Actually, you don’t make finalist just on the basis of your score. As stated earlier, you WOULD be named a semifinalist in any state with a 240. You should already have gotten the initial letter saying you’re one of 50,000 students, amongst whom NMSF and commended students will be named. In mid-September will come the packet with instructions on how to advance to NMF status (15,000 of the 16,000 NMSFs). You can get all this info on the NMSC website.</p>
<p>Why do they even have the final process? 15000 out of 16000 pretty much means that anyone that finishes the app gets in… Seems silly to me, and just more work for semifinalists.</p>
<p>So that kids with 1.8 GPAs dont get free money to community college based on some fluke test score…</p>
<p>Has anybody ever heard of a case of a semifinalist who applied and did not become a finalist? It seems to me that out of 16,000 semifinalists, there could easily be 1,000 who don’t bother to apply for some reason.</p>
<p>Yes, I personally know several students who did not advance from semifinalist to finalist status. In addition to not completing the paperwork on time, other reasons for not advancing are: grades (according to the NMSC, must be “consistently high throughout high school” so a bad freshman year knocks you out), not scoring high enough on the SAT (in other words, making the high PSAT score look like an anomaly), and not getting a strong recommendation from your high school (e.g., having a disciplinary action on your record).</p>
<p>the letters dont matter. i threw my away…you will officially get in august 2009.</p>
<p>worried_mom, did you actually know students who didn’t advance for all these reasons? I know all these things can theoretically prevent a student from advancing, but I can’t help believing that failure to apply is by far the biggest reason.</p>
<p>I tend to think that most students who don’t advance to finalist don’t have “a record of consistently very high academic performance in **all<a href=“NMSC’s%20emphasis”>/b</a> of grades 9 through 12 and in any college course work taken.” This was the case of the one student at DS’s school who didn’t advance to finalist. SAT shortfalls and not applying by the deadline happen, but are less common (bad school recs are rare). Just because one can do well on such tests doesn’t mean they’ve done well in school, though as the numbers indicate, the vast majority do.</p>
<p>Just as an analogy, there were 3000 students who were eligible to apply to be Presidential Scholars this year. 1800 applied. Now, there’s no money involved in that, but again, I really have to wonder how many of the 1000 semifinalists who didn’t advance simply didn’t apply.</p>
<p>I’ve always thought that most didn’t make it because of disciplinary problems and the next category would have been not turning in their application on time. The other thing is that you know you got 240 but nobody else does. As far as I know colleges get lists of kids in a score range but not individual scores. If you want the college to know you got a 240 you have to tell them somehow (sometimes it’s in your transcript). Also, as a finalist, most scholarship money is going to come from the school you attend and not from NMSC. S had a 240, got $1k/year from his participating (#1 choice) school (would have been $2k if he had qualified for FA) and $0 from NMSC. If he had been awarded the $2.5k his award from the University would have been reduced by the same amount since you can’t have more than one award.</p>
<p>Hunt, I personally know of several students from my sons’ high school who did not advance to Finalist – all due to their HS grades. I know that one got off to a slow start freshman year, one had a solid B+ average, and two others had at least one C each. </p>
<p>As for disciplinary action and/or the SAT performance being less than the PSAT score would indicate – those reasons come from CC postings in previous years. I would agree with you that those are probably less common reasons for a failure to advance than the academic one.</p>
<p>What is the true SAT cutoff expected/needed to justify your PSAT score? Has there ever been a concrete answer on this? I have read it should be within 100 of your PSAT score, or just over 2000, or over the commended cutoff… what’s the answer?</p>
<p>I remember back in early Spring, there was a thread about NMSF’s and some of those who didn’t make it to NMF had their GCs call up to lobby on their behalf. Don’t know if that worked.</p>
<p>Here’s a question: if a kid had an LD that didn’t get addressed until their Freshman year, and that is reflected in an upswing in grades, is that something that the GC letter should address? and would it be helpful?</p>
<p>213 on PSAT… is 2060 enough to “justify” this?</p>
<p>I’d say yes, if the Math and CR scores pretty much line up to the PSAT score-i.e. 78M=780M, etc. And if you took the SAT before or within a few months of taking the PSAT.</p>