@JBStillFlying, thanks. Yes, I read about the timing on the NMSC website and that seems so strange to have SF notified before Commended.
Letter arrived today! 
If your child attends a public high school, can we assume that they have already been notified of those students who are commended? Just like homeschooled students are being notified? Then it’s up to the high schools to do with the information what they want?
Do I understand correctly from this thread that all commended students are notified by mail? I didn’t realize there was notification. Looking forward to mail-time here then! (We’re in California, so who knows how long a letter will take to arrive.)
@ttdd16 no, only homeschooled students
Thank you! I wonder if her school even notifies commended students. (My guess is it doesn’t.)
@TTdd16, official commended student recognition won’t happen until late September. What’s been going on now is that schools (and parents of homeschoolers) have been notified of the students who are eligible to move on in the competition. The list includes all commended-level and semifinalist-level students, and the letters request confirmation of student data. The commended cutoff has been leaked but no official recognition has happened.
I am not sure I knew or realized this April verification thing with the HS. All this waiting for this and waiting for that makes you kind of sleepy sometimes.
I am wondering how our HS will handle it. I don’t think they had many above the cut-off historically. One or two tops, and many years none. So no real protocol. If I am guessing DS is the only one this year but of course don’t know for sure. Curious if principal or his counselor will mention and congratulate him, informally at least, that they received the letter.
Just to be clear - no students (public, private, homeschool, other) are notified. Only principals. The homeschool families are usually the first to know anything which will come in handy for you all in August/September
The school should at least inform the students and/or parents about Commended Status at minimum. Some schools proudly display the names/pictures.
@gtd2010 as long as the school makes some announcement once SF vs. Commendeds are decided it should be OK. The competition is still in its earliest stages. Many schools opt to wait for the press releases (SF) and certificates (Commendeds) simply because it’s official then. It would be nice to give everyone a “heads up” on the status so far (they do that for post-season sports, right?) but it just may have more to do with how NMSC chooses to announce and when.
@traveler98 Thanks. That’s what I thought the process was. My daughter will be a semi-finalist because she has an SI of 227. But I heard about the letter and thought it would be a nice surprise for her in the midst of a tough junior year. So nice that home-schooled families receive notification!
I got a letter today saying that I got into the NMS competition (technically my dad got the letter).
What does 211 mean for the confirming score for the SAT? DS took March 11 and gets score this week. Will we know then if the confirming SAT score is high enough? (only took for this purpose)
@LOUKYDAD the confirming score was around a 206 last time (check previous threads for verification in case I’m misremembering); however, it’s not clear whether that will shift or not. Last year the PSAT commended was a 209 so it’s reasonable to think that the SAT cut-off will be a tad lower - will it be a 208 or remain 206 is the question. It will probably NOT be lower than last year’s index.
The PSAT and SAT are now vertically aligned so that a score on the PSAT is supposed to be what you would get on the SAT should you have taken it the same day. The SI’s are, of course, configured differently than the total score but ultimately uses the same subscores so you can probably make the same conclusion. When your DS gets his SAT results back, just calculate the SI the way you would for the PSAT to see what the number is. If 211 or higher then he’s probably going to be OK.
Edit to add: the way to calculate the SI is (V*2+M)/10, using the 800-scale test scores. Unlike the PSAT, the SAT result won’t include an SI so you need to calculate it yourself.
Has anyone actually been rejected from the competition for not having a high enough SAT score?
@NYhomeschooler - yes. But you can take the SAT multiple times. You only need to submit your highest score.
I’m sorry, not getting this. To figure SI double the ebrw score plus math score then divide by 10?
@Winky, that’s right. Go ahead and calculate your/your student’s SI this way and you’ll see for PSAT that you arrive at SI. (they take the 38-scale scores and add them, then multiply the sum by two, but it’s the same thing).
So the max SI for PSAT is 228: ( 760*2 + 760 )/10 = 228 = (38 + 38 + 38) *2
And the max SI for SAT is 240: (8002 + 800)/10 = 240 = (40 + 40 + 40)2
Hope that’s clear!
Got it, thank you@JBStillFlying!