<p>The most annoying thing about the national merit process is that they write the PSAT in October of junior year, and the semifinalists (and state cutoffs) are not announced until September of senior year. The second most annoying thing is the whole issue of informing NMF of your “first choice” school – most schools that offer significant scholarships offer them only to students who have named that school as their first choice. Most let the kids submit the choice at the end of April when they have decided where they are going to school, but a few schools require them to do it earlier. Meanwhile, when deciding, you will want to know what each school is going to cost you, so you have to contact the schools and ask/confirm what your child will be awarded if named a Finalist and if they choose the school as their first choice…</p>
<p>^this all sounds so intense. D was not NMF (but then I didn’t realize how important the PSAT was) and S won’t be either. I agree with mathmomvt’s take on it re: timing – doesn’t seem to make sense.</p>
<p>Big news in our house is finding out today the gender of my niece’s first child. I bet S’14 she’s having a future Smithie (her alma mater and mine). S was nice enough to take the other side of the bet.</p>
<p>How big are the NMF scholarships?
Are they substantial? Or is it a name/recognition thing?</p>
<p>K1 got some certificates with having had 11 APs etc…that is in a bin of other stuff…really didn’t matter at all to K1…though the hs cared.</p>
<p>NMF scholarships vary from $2500 one time to full ride for all 4 years of the program. So they definitely can be substantial. There are a few offered directly by the National Merit folks but they are the small 2500 one-time ones. The substantial ones are offered directly by schools looking to attract NMFs. Many of them are automatic for anyone with NMF status who lists the school as their first choice, though some are competitive. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html</a> is a list of the significant ones</p>
<p>How did the SAT go for our test takers last Saturday?</p>
<p>Our visit to U Rochester went very well (visiting middle son, not a visit for youngest - though he liked spending the nights in the dorm). Sometimes I find myself wishing I could sit in on classes just to audit some of them.</p>
<p>Wow.that is nice Mathmomvt…
I didn’t realize that some schools gave full rides for kids who selected them as first choice!
I wasn’t sure if the scholarships were small one timers or a certificate thing for most and only a few scholarships.</p>
<p>Good luck to all</p>
<p>Happy Morning!</p>
<p>Well, actually, it wasn’t so happy around here this morning… Last night I announced to DD14 that she would be waking up @ 5:50am to do a 1/2 hr of studying each school morning. Because she isn’t able to muster up the strength/motivation after school like she should. So, she was up bright & early and greeted with a cup of piping hot Dunkin Donuts coffee and a bright smile. She was not happy but quickly fell into line. She will also set aside 2 hours/weekend. 7 weeks and counting until SAT day. Lets keep our fingers crossed.</p>
<p>^you go girl! Change your screen name to NewHavenCTTigerMom!</p>
<p>I too have been trying to get S’14 on some kind of study schedule. I told him SAT prep is like having another class. So as of last weekend and every weekend until January, he’s going to spend 1-2 hours on Saturday studying. Somehow, he doesn’t want to do it with his “regular” homework which he does on Sunday. </p>
<p>The brain has a mind of its own…</p>
<p>Hi,
I have been lurking for about a year but I never posted. We are in MD and my dd is interested in being a high school English teacher. She also wants to minor in music. She wants to go to a school that is not too big but has a marching band. So far we have looked at Slippery Rock University ¶ and Towson. We are going back to Towson for an open house on Oct 19th (day off at school). I prefer a public university for the price but we might look at Stevenson since it is close by.</p>
<p>Nice to meet everyone,</p>
<p>L.</p>
<p>I know she’s already NewHavenCTTigerMom! And I completely support that position. My son is working hard learning Chinese in China this year, but he knows that his “job” next summer is to prep for the PSAT and do his service hours for the Congressional Award. I know some people may think we are a little overboard but when you have a kid with great potential that just needs a little push, I think it is completely worth it. And yes, my D13 tells her friends that I am an Asian mother, even though the only Asians in our family are the two younger adoptees. Good luck to all on the upcoming tests!</p>
<p>Welcome cua1994! State schools tend to be good buys for future teachers. The only exceptions tend to be those with lower incomes and higher test scores who can get really nice financial packages at some private schools. Otherwise, $150,000 - $200,000 is a bit to pay for an education degree - esp if any of it comes in loans.</p>
<p>Shippensburg tends to be a favorite around here for future educators, but I’ve no idea how their music program is.</p>
<p>You folks are nothing compared to real tiger parents 
I have a friend whose mom enrolled her in prep after 8th grade and plans out every second of her day. My parents aren’t that bad yet though I’m getting a (usually) daily lecture on focusing more and wasting less time on the computer…heh. </p>
<p>My SAT1 is 3 weeks away and I’m not done with my grammar prep yet! Writing is a weird section for me, because I read frequently and can usually “eye” questions, but it goes haywire when I’m under pressure. Oh well, as they say- go hard or go home!</p>
<p>DS giving final push this weekend before PSAT on wed…took practice test last week…scored 1point above NMSF cutoff this past year for our state and 1 point below cutoff of year before that.
I have encouraged to not worry , but do whatever he feels he needs to do to be satisfied with whatever outcome because he will be able to look back with no regrets</p>
<p>Two days till the PSAT - not that I’m counting or anything… My guy has essentially no chance of NMSF, but I’ll be rooting for those of you who are in the running! I’m also hoping my guy does well. His practice sections have been improving. We’ll be comparing this score to his Oct 27th ACT to see which test to focus on for the spring.</p>
<p>I’ll be thinking about everyone as I’m proctoring that morning. It’s kind of a boring morning from the proctoring point of view, so thinking about various things is sort of a necessity.</p>
<p>I also want to send out best wishes to all the '14ers taking PSAT tomorrow! </p>
<p>I’m a little nervous. If my ds does anything like the ACT, he’ll have it in the bag. But last year’s PSAT was 20 points below our state cut-off, so I’m not feeling overly confident!! I bought a study book with practice tests, but of course it hasn’t been opened! His school has a two afternoon study session for it - one day math, the other day English. Maybe that will be enough!</p>
<p>D14 sat down to begin homework around 9:00 last night, and said “I don’t know when I’ll get to that PSAT Study Guide. And it’s a really important test!” Hmmm…maybe she should have listened to Mama over the past few months!!! Maybe she will at least brush up on those math formulas…</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone tomorrow.</p>
<p>Good luck to the Wednesday PSAT crowd. Mine is taking it on Saturday – who else?</p>
<p>My son is taking the PSAT tomorrow and the ACT (through his school) in late October. </p>
<p>Tonight he is going to the Tigers/Yankess game and will probably get home really late.</p>
<p>Ha MImama! I think your child’s clone lives in my house. ;)</p>
<p>My kiddo is a Saturday tester. Is there any sort of prep that can be done four days out from the exam that will realistically change Saturday’s result because I’m sick of being a nag? 
My DC knows the test format, about the guessing penalty, and has taken a few practice exams and one real SAT a couple weeks ago. Timing has not been a problem although DC has significant extra time left when tests at home(6-8 minutes per section) yet reported nearly running out of time on a couple of sections of the real SAT. </p>
<p>For anyone with older kids, is the practice PSAT in the registration book significantly easier than the real thing? DC actually said there is no way the real thing will be as easy as the practice exam. Hey, one can always hope, right?</p>
<p>^If she knows her weaknesses/strengths, she could just shore up those sections by doing practice for them.</p>