<p>From prior experience I know that many merit scholarships are piggybacked onto NM recognitions. I think NMSC should move up its date for release of SF names (currently in August/Sept. of senior year), so that families can have more time to explore and schedule visits to potential scholarship colleges (like in April of junior year). Maybe if enough people lobby NMSC will consider making it easier for families who need time to explore merit opportunities. My kid is on the edge and it is frustrating not to know whether we should spend limited college visit budget visiting potential scholarship colleges if the score doesn't qualify. OTOH, we'd get these visits done during the summer, when travel time is easier to schedule, if we knew of the SF status.</p>
<p>Regardless of how busy a family is, it does help to have a longer time to research/ponder the choices. And to get over the fact that NMF may not be worth a lot if the student is looking at the very top schools.</p>
<p>For readers with Class of 2011 grads - you can use CC to find cutoff scores for your state in previous years. Typically it does not change more than a point or two. If it’s close, you still have to cross your finger…</p>
<p>My son got a 211 in RI which is a great score but based on past history in RI will not be enough to make NMSF. I won’t know for certain until we get the cutoff months from now but he probably missed by one question.</p>
<p>Too bad he went to public school and they don’t get them prepped to take these tests. In RI last year the vast majority of NMSF went to private schools.</p>
<p>It’s absurd the amount of importance one test can have on a child’s future. If I had realized how much the deck was stacked against him by not going to a school that gets them ready for this in their curriculum-as I have now learned all the “top” private schools around here do-I would have made sure I got him to a class to get him ready so the playing field could be somewhat level.</p>
<p>We will proceed with the assumption he will be a NM Commended Scholar and go from there. I am glad I found this site so I can get information that can help him in the future. I had heard the college process was confusing but until you get into it I had no idea how much you need to know. I feel he’s already been put behind the eight ball by me not knowing the importance of one test.</p>
<p>Oh well…this won’t happen with my daughter-if she doesn’t make it at least she’ll be more prepared.</p>
<p>Pepper03 - Don’t beat yourself up. It’s one test. It leads to one set of scholarships. There are lots of other options. A 211 suggests a very good SAT score to come , and that, along with good grades and some ECs certainly can lead to scholarships.</p>
<p>My older son made NMF and got two great scholarships which cover nearly all of his costs…</p>
<p>However…My younger son just missed the cut-off, but because he scored high on his SAT/ACTs, his scholarships (he was awarded 3 scholarships that stack) are almost equal to my older son’s. He has a full tuition scholarship, plus $5500 a year to put towards other costs.</p>
<p>So…there are still some great scholarships out there for high stats. Aim for at least a 32 ACT or 1400+ SAT (math + CR)</p>
<p>Thanks for the support-I guess life will go on even if he isn’t NMF! Easy to lose perspective. I feel bad for the kid because he came so close but will probably just miss it. I am sure there are a lot of kids just like him who just missed.</p>
<p>The important thing is he’s OK with it-he’s got a great attitude about life in general.</p>
<p>I will be checking out the SAT threads about how best to prepare-he took the SAT in December for practice and did well-630 Math, 660 Reading and 710 Writing-so with preparation he may be able to get to the 1,400 mark mentioned.</p>
<p>Also have your son take the ACT. Your son’s strongest score is in Writing, which doesn’t count for scholarships (in most cases) for the SAT. BUT…it does count for the ACT!!!</p>
<p>So, your son may end up with a higher ACT than this SAT (M+CR)</p>
<p>That’s good info-do you know why they don’t count the writing. I had heard that it wasn’t considered as much as the other two but not that they didn’t count it.</p>
<p>I don’t know why the Writing section of the SAT isn’t often counted for scholarship consideration. Some schools are looking at the Writing section for admission and for English placement, but not for scholarships (in most cases).</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s because just looking at CR + Math gives schools a better idea of how strong a student is. I don’t know.</p>
<p>But, it is what it is…LOL…so, if your child is strong in Writing, then take the ACT, since it’s included for scholarship consideration in the ACT. :)</p>
<p>Also, OP keep in mind corporate national merit scholarships. D was ill the day she took her PSAT and had a bad testing day for her. Got commended. However, H’s company does merit corporate scholarships to employees’ children. She got a great scholarship through them even as a commended student as they do finalist and commended. </p>
<p>We were very happy when younger son (who made Commmended) was awarded a scholarship from my H’s company. My older son had gotten the corporate NMF scholarship, but we were very happy when younger son was given it as well. </p>
<p>The company awards a certain of scholarships to kids who don’t make NMF, but have high stats anyway. There was a different form to fill out and transcripts/scores to send in.</p>
<p>Pepper03 - Yep, there are lots of good scholarships for students with good grades and good SATs. You’d be surprised how many students get NMF and end up going to schools where it counts for nothing or only $1000/year. </p>
<p>Have your son sign up for College Board’s “SAT question of the day” - he’ll get an example question mailed each day. It’s a fun way to prep. Also get hiim a book with sample questions. But remember… strong grades and class rank are important to colleges. At your school, the class rank may be easier to get than at the private schools.</p>
<p>I’ll look into the ACT. He will be taking the SAT in May after studying with either a book or an online prep site. We also need to figure out the subject tests-this really is way too complicated!</p>
<p>He has excellent grades and is top 5 in a small class of around 200. He stayed in the public school because he didn’t want to leave when we offered him the chance to go to the same private Catholic school his father did. It was a great choice for him but now I can see how it might hurt him test wise and admissions wise getting into the “right” college. However, the bottom line is he is happy and I have no regrets about our decision-except once in a while when I look up test results like the PSAT and realize what a difference it could have made if he had scored a tiny bit higher! I’ve got to let that go and move on…I’ll see you guys in the test prep section and other areas around here-thanks for the good insights.</p>
<p>Will your son have any AP exams in May? If so, it may be too much to also take the SAT that month (which typically falls on the Saturday between the AP exams).</p>
<p>There are earlier SAT exams and also a June exam (I think that’s the last test before Sept).</p>
<p>Also get the ACT prep book…it’s called The Real ACT Prep Guide…available at the test website or at Amazon or at bookstores. The ACT test is different from the SAT so an SAT prep book isn’t enough. The ACT has a Science Reasoning section, which isn’t really “science” per se, but looking at charts and answering questions and such.</p>
<p>ACT TEST ADVISE - Many schools require the ACT with writing. If you sign up for the writing portion too, PRACTICE AHEAD! Maybe even see a teacher or ACT coach for review. </p>
<p>There must be some kind of special criteria on the ACT essay scoring. My son, a fine writer (790 SAT writing) scored a 6 on the ACT essay in his Junior year. (That was 30th percentile. The pool of testers is smaller than for than the full ACT test… but still that 30% was a shocker. We didn’t submit those ACT scores anywhere, even though the other scores were ok. )</p>
<p>No AP classes-his school offers EEP instead which are the actual classes taught at Rhode Island College so he doesn’t need to take AP exams. He is a non-matriculating student at RIC and will need to transfer these classes in to wherever he ends up going-they are becoming more accepted around the country. I have no idea if he’ll get to use them where he ends up going though.</p>
<p>Maybe he’ll avoid the ACT and stick to the SAT-I think with a prep class he can get scores good enough. He isn’t going to consider the Ivies or any other school that doesn’t offer merit aid-he’ll go to URI if he can’t get a package out of state that can come close to the cost of URI ($100,000). </p>
<p>His parents are both CPA’s and have explained financially what we will do and what we think makes sense. If he wants to spend more than that he needs to keep up the good work and get scholarships and /or take out loans. </p>
<p>That’s why the NMF thing bugs me. I have seen in other threads here not only does it help get you into college even though they don’t use the scores but that many schools offer generous FA far in excess of the actual NM Scholarship.</p>
<p>Both tests have a graded essay. The ACT essay isn’t any harder than the SAT essay. </p>
<p>Colorado_mom’s concern could equally apply to the SAT.</p>
<p>I doubt there is any “special criteria” for ACT essay. My boys each took the SAT and the ACT 3 times and their essay scores were not noticeably different (scores of 10-12). I’m not saying that Colorado’s son isn’t a fine writer, but the SAT Writing score is not an indication of one’s writing ability. It’s more of an indication of copy editing ability (finding others’ mistakes, rather than composing one’s own essays).</p>
<p>*His parents are both CPA’s and have explained financially what we will do and what we think makes sense. If he wants to spend more than that he needs to keep up the good work and get scholarships and /or take out loans.</p>
<p>That’s why the NMF thing bugs me. I have seen in other threads here not only does it help get you into college even though they don’t use the scores but that many schools offer generous FA far in excess of the actual NM Scholarship.*</p>
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