Just a word of encouragement to those of you sitting on the NMSF edge: my D14 missed by a point. It all turned out fine. She landed a competitive full tuition scholarship (and had other full tuition or better offers), just started her fourth year, will graduate in 3 semesters with a bachelors and a masters, has kept the scholarship all four years. It’s been more than fine. 
But I so remember this time four years ago, obsessively watching the class of 2014 version of this thread, and then trying not to be too disappointed when the cutoff was one point over her score.
So with VA > 221 (which happens to be last year’s cut-off) we know that at least some of the higher-cut-off states are going to go up. Art’s prediction this year is 222. Let’s hope it doesn’t go higher!
Is anyone else obsessively refreshing this thread, the CC score results thread, and Art’s NMSF blog entry? Art, please, come back from vacation and help us out!
@precisionparadox Congratulations!! We’re sitting at a 218 here in South FL
I have a spreadsheet problem. By this, I mean, a sort of addiction to them. So yes, I am refreshing every few minutes to see what new data there is I can use to aid in predictions that were are in the midst of discoverig anyways.
Need. More. Data.
@3scoutsmom there were actually two envelopes. One just had two pieces of paper in there. The cover letter said something like “The following seniors are semi-finalists” and then the second sheet had my son’s info on it. The principal showed it to me and asked, “this is him, right? Is his birthday, etc. correct?” kind of being funny, because our school is very small. He was the only one on the sheet. Then there was a second big envelope that had a big book in it, maybe 3/4" thick or something. I don’t know what else was in there. I was just trying to breathe at that point and could hardly think straight. I said something dumb like, “I guess my husband and I can afford to go to the Bahamas for our anniversary now”. When of course we’ve never considered going to the Bahamas but that thought just popped into my head! HAHAHA! He was a good sport and said he thought we should go to Europe instead. So he had called the guidance counselor in and I think he gave it to her. I was just a ball or nerves and making a fool of myself and needed to get out of there, so I said something like,“let us know what we need to do!”. Of course as soon as I got outside I wished I had had them call my son down to the office to tell me where I could have got a quick video. I am pretty sure they would have done that - benefit of a small school!
Congrats @precisionparadox !!
Everyone is welcome to post results here, but please if you do so remember to swing over to the results thread and post there too:
Thanks so much for sharing your information, especially for those who are dealing with disappointment at missing the cutoff. It’s got to be hard to post that, and you are so kind to help others who are still waiting to hear.
Congrats to all who have made it, and hugs to those who didn’t.
@precisionparadox Congratulations & thank you! We had a 219 in Florida too!!
@collegework to you think you could ask for the booklet, say you want it as a memento or something? I believe that may be the magic book that list all the NMSF!
Congrats collegework!! If your son’s school hasn’t had many NMSFs, you may want to keep informed and stay in involved with the process for applying for finalist. My kids’ school had several every year so we pretty much didn’t need to do anything other than make sure the forms were completed. The school did everything else. I have seen statements from others here to the effect that their school did not know the process (maybe the first SF ever or recently or just not one every year) and there were some issues. Would be a horrible reason not to make finalist.
@happymags thanks! and congrats
comes back from running errands all morning
sees 74 new posts!!!
reads the first two pages and nuthin!
can’t take it; goes to Art’s for MORE nuthin
throws self on floor for a rager of a temper tantrum
gets up to read more posts
CONGRATS to our new Semi-finalists! Hearty commiserations to those who missed it. And as for the rest of us… :-SS
I’ll refresh the sangria, margaritas and brownies, plus there are Bloody Marys for the not-before-5 crowd. Pints of Haagen Dazs are in the bar fridge. Gift certificates for new manicures are pinned to the cork board.
Please note: The paper bags are for breathing into. The heavier foiled bags are for… messier things. Please don’t confuse them. 
Hang in there, everyone!
Homeschoolers here in KS. My DS got it!! SI of 219! Hope this helps other KS waiters! : )
@saillakeerie thank you for that info. I don’t think they’ve had a NMSF for a long time, and the counselor isn’t super-familiar with it. Good news is she is good at staying on top of stuff and keeping informed, and she REALLY wants him to qualify. But yes, all along it’s sort of been me keeping her informed (maybe she already knew the info I was passing along, but I wanted to make sure!) or checking into things. But yes, I am also going to make sure we are crossing all our t’s, dotting i’s and will probably check in with you all as well to make sure we aren’t missing anything.
@3scoutsmom - what is in the book? You mean all the kids’ names???!!!
Just got confirmation from another parent whose school gave her the book a few years ago (S was the only SF):
“Semifinalists, our GC got it with the mailing in September. She gave it to me at our school’s open house in late September. It has every state, and is split up by city, then school. Each kid also has their major choice listed, or some code for undecided.”
@DavidPuddy, I too love spreadsheets. And data. And statistics. And looking for patterns in data. I don’t have a problem though, I can quit anytime I want!
@3scoutsmom I told my son to ask GC for it. My guess is she might want to look through it or something??? I dunno. My son already thinks I’m nuts. I texted him to go see GC for some info, and then she told him. Here are our texts:
Son: She told me.
Me: Woooooooooo-hooooooo!!! I was like hyperventilating and practically crying when principal opened it.
Son: (3 emojis of rolling eyes)
Son: Not surprising
Son: Volleyball game tonight.
!!! How can he talk about a volleyball game at a time like this? WHO CARES?! You just saved our family a gazillion dollars!
@collegeworks YES! it lists the kids names I believe it’s divided by state and then by city and by school and it lists the NAMES of all the kids in every school that made NMSF. A kind soul got a hold of the book when I was in this with DD16 and they were able to verify that DD was on the list in the book. I gave them just school and initials and they reported back with her very unique name so I know they weren’t blowing smoke. The book is real!
Ok We have a NMSF in AL at a 217. (GC) I did not want to post in on results because I want to make sure to be completely accurate