<p>*Over 900 service learning hours on file, dozens (literally) of extracurriculars, mostly in leadership positions. In a district of over 20,000 I do consulting work for the various high school programs in technical theatre and related facilities/technology. Most all of the school staff knows me, and a good chunk of district staff. Needless to say I was quite hopeful. On top of that, several grade discrepancies were as a result of medical circumstances that have since been resolved. I’d love an appeals process.
*</p>
<p>Max…</p>
<p>While your ECs are commendable, I don’t think they will weigh in much here.</p>
<p>To me, the focus of your appeal needs to be a medical explanation of why you had a dip in grades at one point. If the dip in grades was over a set period and you can provide any medical records to back that up, that might help.</p>
<p>Thanks; I do understand that. My previous post was for reference, and somewhat of a vent. I’ll be sure to include only the points relevant to GPA.</p>
<p>It’s ok to put in a mention of your ECs, but put the greater emphasis on your health matters that affected your GPA for a short time. Again, provide documentation.</p>
<p>My son is a Junior and his PSAT score of 220 has been high enough in our state (FL) for him to proceed in the process. His current GPA is 3.95. Assuming he does well on the SAT, he should do well - except for the fact that he was suspended last year for a ridiculous incident at school. Does this totally disqualify him from being a National Merit Finalist? Commended? The National Merit website is very evasive on what disqualifies an applicant… but I’ve noticed posts that seem to indicate my son’s hard work won’t be recognized. Anyone know? Advice?</p>
<p>you will need to talk to your kid’s school. It will ALL depend on what THEY write. NMCorp isn’t going to know about the suspension unless the SCHOOL tells them.</p>
<p>Was this an " in school" suspension? If so, the school may choose to treat it like a detention and not report it (some schools do this).</p>
<p>Frankly, if this were my kid and this odd event was going to keep my kid from making NMF, I’d probably change schools or home school him. </p>
<p>None of this will keep your son from making NMSF. However, it could keep him from being a NMFinalist.</p>
<p>I am a very nervous NMSF. I need to make it to finalist to attend college. I have a 4.0 unw/4.5w, 14 APs, 12 dual enrollment classes, 2230 SAT, never suspended, class rank 1. I worked really hard on my essay. I hope my recs were good, I think they were. I am just so afraid I am not going to make it to be a finalist. When do you think we will find out? The waiting is so hard. I’m in AP country too, I can’t imagine not wanting to take the SAT to progress. This is a chance of a lifetime for me.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice mom2collegekids. It was an odd isolated incident and he was given an out-of-school suspension. Because we are at a private school, we found out the hard way that our rights to appeal a suspension are very limited. When it happened and we complained loudly, the school said that they would not require him to write about it on his college apps… which I guess means they will treat it like a detention (which is what he should have received in the first place). I just don’t know if I can trust them with something so important that we won’t have the ability to validate. I tried to pull him last year when it happened… but he is so very happy there (very popular, capt of football team, etc) and obviously doing really well - we decided to keep him there. We’ll make another appt to reopen the issue now that NMF is at risk too.</p>
<p>“It was an odd isolated incident and he was given an out-of-school suspension.”</p>
<p>What was the incident? Why don’t you trust school? The incident must be important enough in order for the school to take your son out-of-school for one day. Parents in this forum can you a lots of advices but it is up to the NMSC to make the decision.</p>
<p>I got my rejection letter a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t expecting to get in because despite good test scores (35 ACT, 2290 SAT) my grades are not fantastic. My unweighted GPA from freshman to junior year is 3.4. I got a D in AP Calculus BC and I’ve had three Cs. However, this semester my grades have skyrocketed. I’m in AP Psychology, AP European History, AP US Government, AP French, Chinese II, German II (skipped German I), a double-enrollment English class which doubles as AP English Literature, and no lunch. I don’t take my finals until this week, but I am very likely going to get all As (except gym… but that isn’t factored into our GPA). I have pretty consistent extracurricular activities (debate four years, math team four years, GSA three years, founded a philosophy club this year).</p>
<p>Do you think the upturn in grades this semester will make appealing worth it, or did I already ruin my chances with my past grades?</p>
<p>I’m not sure how this works, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a forum before. So hopefully I’m doing this right.</p>
<p>Last week I received a letter of rejection from finalist standing based on my grades. I believe I have sufficient test scores, I slacked off during the first three years of high school, and unfortunately paid the price with three C’s, and a gpa of 3.00. I started caring about my grades over the summer this year when I found out I had a chance at becoming a national merit scholar. However, doctors discovered shortly before the beginning of the school year that my mother had developed cancer, and she passed away in October. School kind of lost its importance during that time and for a while afterwords, and my grades dropped further. So I am wondering if it is worth it to appeal. I was always more on the hopeful side than the certain side of becoming a finalist, and it’s only a 1 C difference, so does anybody suggest I go for it?</p>
<p>I’m sorry if this is too long, like I said, I’m new to this :)</p>
<p>I just got mine today =/ the reason given was unsatisfactory grades.</p>
<p>I received a “D” in the first semester of Algebra 2 (freshman year), and I have some C’s in my transcript as well. But my PSAT was 234, SAT 2350, and I think I wrote a really good essay. I also got a suspension once, but it was isolated with no other discipline problems, and I explained it thoroughly in the essay. My EC’s are limited but very present (~6 hours a week for three years, not counting pre-high school credit and soup kitchen stuff).</p>
<p>My family has some prominent issues (serious stuff) that my school has acknowledged and attempted to address. My counselor is very kind, and also has access to all this information. She’s good at writing letters of rec.</p>
<p>Do you think I have a chance for an appeal?</p>
<p>I am so nervous about this, I need to be NMF to pay for college. I haven’t received a letter yet, and I live in Washington, is that I good sign? I have a 4.0 unweighted (5 AP’s, junior and senior year full time dual enrollment) , got a 224 PSAT and a 2260 SAT. The only problem I can think of is that I am not an American citizen, just a permanent resident. I did apply for citizenship in on my 18th birthday (December)
Do you guys think I’ll NMF? Crossing my fingers and toes!!!
I apologize, but I am just so anxious!!</p>
<p>^ These anecdotes make me nervous. I have a 2370 but a 3.6 unweighted GPA with a C on my transcript. I’m not so sure I’ll qualify. </p>
<p>SharadSun: In what state do you live? I’m just curious, because you got your letter somewhat late, considering NMC started sending them out a while ago. I don’t exactly know how they decide the order in which they dispense with rejection letters, but maybe geography plays a role, like with AP test results. ? </p>
<p>And by the way, I would answer your question about appeals, but I am entirely uncognisant of their general efficacy.</p>
<p>@twobirdsonewire Not receiving a letter is a good thing. I’m pretty sure the only people getting letters now are the ones who were rejected. I can’t guarantee you got in, but it’s looking good. And they certainly wouldn’t disqualify you because of your citizenship status.</p>
<p>What was the incident? Why don’t you trust school? The incident must be important enough in order for the school to take your son out-of-school for one day.* Parents in this forum can you a lots of advices but it is up to the NMSC to make the decision**. *</p>
<p>Gongho…I think you missed my point. If the school doesn’t mention the suspension in the NMSF paperwork, then NMCorp is never going to know about it.</p>
<p>so, it’s important to find out NOW how this will get handled by the school. If the school says that it will mention the suspension, then I would probably pull my kid out of that school. I would not let an issue that should have been a detention keep my kid from becoming NMF.</p>
<p>*I got my rejection letter a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t expecting to get in because despite good test scores (35 ACT, 2290 SAT) my grades are not fantastic. My unweighted GPA from freshman to junior year is 3.4. I got a D in AP Calculus BC and I’ve had three Cs. However, this semester my grades have skyrocketed. I’m in AP Psychology, AP European History, AP US Government, AP French, Chinese II, German II (skipped German I), a double-enrollment English class which doubles as AP English Literature, and no lunch. I don’t take my finals until this week, but I am very likely going to get all As (except gym… but that isn’t factored into our GPA). I have pretty consistent extracurricular activities (debate four years, math team four years, GSA three years, founded a philosophy club this year).</p>
<p>Do you think the upturn in grades this semester will make appealing worth it, or did I already ruin my chances with my past grades? *</p>
<p>I think the C’s and D’s are probably not going to be appealable. It’s unfortunate that you got the D in AP Cal BC since that is not a required class. It’s too bad that NMCorp doesn’t consider that…after all, if you had just taken high school Cal, you probably would have had a B or better.</p>
<p>What schools have you applied to?</p>
<p>What is your WEIGHTED GPA on your transcript?</p>
<p>Is anyone else noticing a pattern here? The only real criteria NMF seems to use are decent grades/SAT scores. I bet they’d take someone with no ECs and the most boring essay imaginable as long as they had straight As & Bs and a 2000 SAT. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids
My school actually uses a 5.0 scale, so it’s 4.7 (before my first semester finals). Using the (GPA/5) * 4 scale, that’s 3.76, but I think I heard that weighted GPA’s don’t convert properly like that? The 3.4 I listed earlier IS my grade converted to 4.0.</p>
<p>I’ve been accepted to Beloit and Kalamazoo, but I also applied to Middlebury and Denison. I’m about 90% sure I want to go to Beloit, though, and they’ll give me another $20,000 if I’m a finalist. I think hume15 is right about them mainly focusing on grades, but I suppose it can’t hurt to appeal, right?</p>