<p>Our first was a NM Scholar, and came away with >$600K total in merit–not need-based-- scholarships from 8 schools (including 3 top 20 Universities and one full tuition from a top LAC). I know the PSAT triggered letters because the letters usually started by congratulating kid on outstanding performance on PSAT, then went on to describe all of the college’s merit scholarships in addition to the college’s NM scholarship, which did tend to be much less by comparison. It was as if the NM scholarship was teaser money to get kids to apply. We weren’t sure whether these larger scholarships were indeed within reach (other than those from colleges with guaranteed scholarships to NMSF/F), but several colleges did deliver their biggest awards. Oddly, some equally accomplished kids from the HS (but with lower PSAT scores) did not experience the same level of recruitment. Because of distance, without these teaser letters or outright promises, my kid would not have visited or applied to some of these schools. In fact because of the letters, the kid did apply and in fact now attends one of them (turned down some Ivies). </p>
<p>What I am now wondering is what kind of money might be out there for kid#2. But if colleges don’t determine their scholarship money until the summer, then I guess the pressure will still be on senior year…</p>