<p>What score must you have to at least be commended for the National Merit Scholarship? Does anyone know? Is 93rd percentile too low?</p>
<p>It's usually around 95th or 96th, I think...</p>
<p>Most years it's a 200 or so.</p>
<p>Dane's right the cutoff is usually a few points above 200</p>
<p>Oh damn, I think i missed it by 10 points then.</p>
<p>yeah you did miss it, it's usually around 201-203. it's like 96.5-97 percentile</p>
<p>a 201 is 97th percentile, so would someone with a 201 get commended?</p>
<p>for the record, my d. got commended a few years back with 99%tile overall. also, i just read on CC tonight that this cutoff seems to differ state-to-state, tho i have no idea if this is so.</p>
<p>the cutoff differs from state to state, normally California, and the northeastern states like New York, and New Jersey have some of the highest cutoffs, but most are in the low 200s</p>
<p>so that explains what the deal was with my d. thanks, danceluvur!</p>
<p>i thought that the commended was national, and did not vary by state and was a few points above 200. i know for sure that national merit semifinalist, which appears to be what the two posters above me are talking about, vary from state to state, and yes, nj and ny have some harsh cutoffs. but i really dont think that most states are in the low 200's. most are probably in the 210-216 ish range. the cutoff for nmsf for my state is about 216-7 ish.</p>
<p>^spot on. /<em>comment</em>/</p>
<p>Ditto what hpa said.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone this year! (I'm a SENIOR!!!)</p>
<p>i got a 202 last year and i ended up getting it...
i believe that was 96th percentile or something like that</p>
<p>
[quote]
for the record, my d. got commended a few years back with 99%tile overall. also, i just read on CC tonight that this cutoff seems to differ state-to-state, tho i have no idea if this is so.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The cutoff for commended is the same over all nationally, but semifinalist depends on the state. So if your state's cutoff is really high, then it's possible for someone to get a 99 percentile, but still only get commended.</p>
<p>so if a 198-200 is 96% do you think a 199 would get it??</p>
<p>no it wouldnt, or at least ive never heard of a 199 being commended. its really close though, its usually like 201-202ish.</p>
<p>i got commended w/ a 200 last year (96th percentile)-that was the cut-off point at the time.</p>