<p>Youngest's SAT scores with Duke TIP (7th grade) just came back. 1640. And she hasn't even had Algebra I. Right after I sent my letter to NMSC saying I would not mention it to either of my younger children....</p>
<p>So, weigh in peeps. Try to design HS courses to be sure her GPA stays above 3.5? Forget rank and weighted grade classes? Try to walk the tight rope and bail her out of any "trouble" classes? Put her in expensive prep courses? Push hard, back off, or just let the chips fall where they may...</p>
<p>I know as much about this whole process start to (not) finish as I think anyone does, and I still don't know the answers....</p>
<p>Well, let her have her chance at it. Of my 4 oldest kids, 3 qualified/will likely qualify for NMF. Kid number 2 just didn’t make it on the PSAT–in spite of excellent practice test scores. She missed it by 2 questions and was heartbroken at the time. But she outdid her brother on the SAT, and still received a good merit scholarship. IMO, girls will often have less trouble with high school GPA than boys–because they are better at following the rules/directions, and want to please the teachers. Boys at this age sometimes get an “attitude” that certain things (homework, being on time, etc.) aren’t that important.
I’d make sure she’s on top of her grades. If that means advising her when to drop a class or which classes to avoid, so be it. Forget expensive prep classes. Just do lots of practice tests from the Blue Book, Kaplan, etc.
My 8th grader isn’t quite the student that her older sibs are, but still has a history of excellent test scores/grades. I will push her to prep, keep grades up. But really not sure if she can cut it.
How hard to push? How much do you need the scholarship $?</p>
<p>Just my opinion, but I don’t plan on taking NMS into consideration at all wrt classes, planning etc. My oldest is a finalist this year. We knew nothing about it until she took the test. The accolades were a nice surprise but I don’t think it is wise to try and plan around it. The college admissions process is warped enough without adding another layer of stress. At some point these kids need to be able to have a chance to stumble and recover without the worry that a few stumbles will ruin their lives. </p>
<p>My younger ones will probably take the test but i don’t plan on putting any more importance on it than all the other standardized tests they take. Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>I can see how this could add a lot of stress to your kid’s life and make them not enjoy high school at all if they have to worry too much about this. I wouldn’t make the whole experience pivot on GPA/no "C"s. But it does make sense to look for trouble spots. For my kids it was foreign language… they are terrible at them. D1 got a C+ in French junior year, but was not an NMSF anyway. For D2, we got a French tutor starting freshman year, and she has always gotten "B"s and better. I think it made it less stressful for her to have the extra help. Cost me some money, but I feel like it was well spent. I just think you have to avoid making it high drama, but if you see some common sense things like that to do, then consider doing them. Good grades are their own reward in the college admissions & merit aid process, so there are more reasons than NMF to do what you can to give your kids the tools they need to achieve them.</p>
<p>atomom, we are the “middle middle” so no need-based aid and no possibility of saving big money for college. Scholarships are pretty much it for us; you go where you can get the scholarship money or you will have huge education debt. We were one C away from my oldest being NMF.</p>
<p>Another thought: the NM scholarships are decreasing in number and size. OU used to have one for NMSF, now they don’t. </p>
<p>Do you think the big NM scholarships will still be there in 4 years?</p>
<p>I personally think most of them will be. A lot of high end colleges have gotten rid of them already. But state universities, especially in the south, have been using them as a tool to draw top kids to their honors colleges. I think they want to keep doing that.</p>
<p>South would be us; we are in Texas. Thinking all my kids will probably go to school in Texas or at least surrounding states. Here’s hoping the scholarships hold out for a few more years.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m hearing is walk the tight-rope. With her current schedule plan, she’ll have 2 1/2 HS credits in 8th grade next year (Spanish, Alg 1 and Procomm), which puts her doing calculus her senior year. Guess we’ll go with that and see what happens. If her GPA is shaky going into senior year, dump the calculus and either go with stats or no math senior year (which I seriously dislike). Have to keep a close eye on GPA before that if NM is a possibility.</p>
<p>The problem with grades is they are so often not reflective of what the student knows and can do…I have no doubt that she will know an “A” percentage of the material, but experience with the oldest shows that’s not necessarily reflected in grades.</p>
<p>Honestly, we can’t afford the prep and with the experience of the oldest it certainly would have been a bad bet.</p>
<p>Guess the key is for me not to stress about it so much. Easy to say, impossible to do…</p>
<p>The senior grades (calculus) won’t play into the NM finalist scenario. PSAT taken junior year will be the factor if they make semifinalist and if they do, the paperwork including grades is sent in October of their senior year- so there aren’t any senior grades yet to go. And from what I hear, if you got denied and try to appeal, they don’t look at grades then either. Remember reading one person who NM denied the appeal saying the “excellent senior grades” weren’t enough to over come the earlier two Cs, but their school hadn’t yet sent the senior grades as their semester hadn’t ended yet.</p>
<p>OP, don’t stress now…you’ll have plenty of time to do that in her junior and senior year. I understand your concern so just have her take the most challenging classes she can handle and then see what happens. Its good to plan, but sometimes you have no control over what might happen. My oldest son was in an excellent hs and did very well; when my younger son entered that same hs I thought I knew what courses he should take etc. all the way through his senior year. Then budget cuts happened, teachers were laid off, classes combined, district went from a block schedule to periods, they capped credits so they could now only take 7 classes and took away some honors classes. This changed my plans for him, and has caused him to not have the opportunities that my oldest; however, I am hopeful that the colleges that my oldest looked at will still look favorably on my youngest. Hopefully you won’t have to deal with your plans going awry like this, but she might get a B or even a C or two and I am sure everything will work out fine. You sound like you have a smart daughter and I am sure she will be fine.</p>