Im a current junior. Im fairly confident ill make the score cutoff to become a semifinalist, but im a little concerned about my GPA. I have a 3.4UW from a couple of Cs and many Bs for the year. Would this result in me getting a rejection letter? What can i do to ensure that i am in the 15000/16000 that advance?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20640445/#Comment_20640445
As I understand it, they want a specific number of NMF in each state based on the previous years number of graduating seniors. They use the cut off for your state to get as close to that number as they can and then use grades to “fine tune” to get to their target number for your state. Some states some years ONE C could keep you from progressing to finalist.
thank you 3scoutsmom. Do you know if grades are the first thing they look at to eliminate semifinalists?
@lexington555 I think they may look at serious behavior issues first but I’m not sure. I do know if your school uses Naviance they automatically upload your grades and they will only look at grades after 8th grade even if they were taken for high school credit. I also believe they only look at semester grades. Another thing I’ve heard causing a NMSF not to go to NMF is a rude or snarky essay.
thank you again @3scoutsmom . Could a high SAT score offset my bad grades? Also do you know if they look at highest score from each section or only use the highest single sitting score?
@lexington555 in going from nmsf to nmf they only look at the SAT score to make sure you get the ‘confirming’ score which it’s very high but I don’t recall what it is, and for that they only look at the highest single sitting score. Unfortunately having a high SAT will not mitigate grades.
90% of SF become F. Do you think you’re in the top 90%?
@pineapple86 thats what im asking you. Am I in the top 90 percent in your opinion?
Reasons kids don’t go from NMSF to NMF:
don’t bother to turn in the application
don’t take the SAT or score below the confirming score (very unlikely)
a rude/snarky easy
have major discipline issues on their record
have semester C grade(s)
The C thing is the biggest mystery because it varies from state to state and from year to year and there’s nothing that can be done about it at this point, maybe you can make it in your state with C’s this year, maybe not. I hope you will make it but realistically you need to a have a plan B. It’s just the way it is.
FWIW, my DS18 has an unweighted GPA of 99 on a 100 point scale and a 1590 SAT score (single sitting) but he over thought the math on the PSAT and if they raise the cut off in our state by more than one point he will not make the cut to NMSF. NM is one of those things where you have check of all of their boxes. Excelling in one area won’t help in another area.
the commended cutoff is going up by 3 points so good luck to ur son i hope he makes it!
@lexington555 Thank You! We are in a high cut off state (TX) and we are pretty sure the cut off will go up by at least one point, but two points is ify so we have our fingers crossed and 3 points would be crazy.
Given that, we have a plan A, a plan B and a plan C for his top choice school, I would strongly advise you to do the same and not put all your eggs in the NMF basket.
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you know if grades are the first thing they look at to eliminate semifinalists?
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Grades are one of the first reasons to eliminate.
No, a high SAT score will not compensate.
Are your C’s semester grades or quarter grades?
ask your GC if you can see a transcript that would be sent out. That may only include year end grades, depending on the school.
@mom2collegekids the C’s are for the year and the transcript only shows year end grades.
So, your transcript shows TWO year-end grades of C?
If so, that will kill your NMF chances. That indicates 4 semesters of Cs.