I have a question regarding National Merit Commended. My son, a high school senior, got a 1450 on his PSAT as a junior, and his score should qualify him as National Merit Commended (we are from California). I forgot what the other “number” is called, but he got a 214, and 209 appears to be the cutoff. The problem is we have not heard from anyone that he is commended. He asked his high school counselor, and she said he should have been notified. Can he just put on his application that he is commended? I think he will have to contact her again, but he is applying ED1 to Whitman, and app is due 11/15. The counselor is very slow getting back to him. Thanks in advance for any info you might have.
Call College Board and ask. I wouldn’t list it as an award until he has been officially notified.
A 209 cutoff seems low compared to the 219/220 tossed around these boards for some states, but I haven’t followed it closely.
Edited to add: if I am reading it correctly, 209 was the commended across the US. California’s cutoff for NMSF was 221.
I would still wait for confirmation.
This is for commended, not semi-finalist. I believe that the commended cutoff is the same across all states. It is 209 this year, dropped form 212 last year. But I will call College Board on Monday, although I wonder how easy it will be to get through.
Oh sorry I see you already had this figured out! Thank you for your response.
You’re right. It’s 209. If your son was 214, then he is commended.
I wouldn’t call College Board - I would call National Merit https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/start.aspx?gid=2&pgid=61. They were willing to confirm Semifinalists over the phone in September (and they answered the phone!) so I imagine they would confirm Commended, as well. Good luck!
OK, thanks so much for the info!