<p>What is the point of this? If you are commended and have (or are hoping) to improve on SAT, why would you want your top choice to know PSAT score (already commended)? Understand why one might want to learn about scholarship choices, but if you are already on the college's mailing list what is the point of sending them your scores? Any advantage in admissions? </p>
<p>If there is a first choice might be ED anyway....any advantage to target other schools (show interest?)</p>
<p>My son also received a letter today. He had a 205 on the test and he wants to go to Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Northwestern, UC San Diego. I am guessing that most of the kids who apply to these schools have these commendation letters. If you have had anything good happen to you as a result of having a letter sent to a college I would love to hear about it. Does it do any good at a very selective school?</p>
<p>There are some colleges out there where if, and only if, you list them as your top choice AND you advance to finalist they will give you X number of dollars. (St. Olaf in MN will give you $7500). I am wondering if the request/option to list 2 colleges is more for the benefit of those who will advance to semi finalist. </p>
<p>My son got a 203 and will not advance. He feels that top schools will look at his commended status as a negative and wants to only send them to his safety schools. I don’t know what to do, but if sending the scores puts him on the radar for his reach school then I cannot see how it would hurt. There is way too much to think about in the college application process.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your input. My son has a 205 and will not advance to NMF either. Does anyone else have experience with this? Do you know of any other schools who will consider this a plus? Is there any point in sending it to USC or Northwestern?</p>
<p>I don’t think listing your 2 schools means that the schools get your actual PSAT score. I think the schools are only told that this student has advanced and is interested in a particular school.</p>
<p>According to the letter I received, the schools receive the following information:</p>
<p>“CPRS will provide your name, home address, high school name and address, 2009 PSAT/NMSQT scores, and tentative college major and career choice to the two colleges that you name.”</p>
<p>I’m also trying to decide where I should send my scores. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t exactly stellar either (they fall just below my state’s normal cutoff for semifinalist). I guess what I’m mainly wondering is if by choosing to send your scores to a college, they won’t notice your PSAT scores as much as your interest in their college, and if doing so could possibly improve your relationship with that college.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Thanks…it’s been awhile since we’ve gone thru this. I didn’t remember that wording. I think it’s totally unnecessary for NMCorp to send the actual PSAT score.</p>
<p>I was about to make this exact topic. Since I’m going to be sending my top colleges my SAT scores anyway (which are guaranteed to improve upon my commended PSAT score–one SAT I’ve taken already has), I figure it can’t hurt, since those two colleges will know that they’re my top choices anyway. But I’m unsure of this; also, it’ll demonstrate that my (hopefully-in-the-future) high SAT scores were a result of studying and not natural talent. I’m wondering if this is a plus or a minus.</p>
<p>I need help too! </p>
<p>UChicago, Georgetown, Bowdoin, Macalester, Rice? These seem like good choices to me.</p>
<p>I sent mine to Northwestern/WUSTL. I got a 206. I won’t advance to semifinalist, but I can’t imagine how this could hurt us. Most of the time, extraneous supplementary material to college is only considered if it helps you. I feel like it demonstrates interest, which doesn’t always translate into a higher chance of getting accepted but most of the time translates into more information about that college, which one can’t get enough of. I know for a fact the kids from my school who attend Harvard, Stanford, and Caltech currently never got above 220 on the PSAT, which is hardly satisfactory given CC’s standards and released statistics for those schools. For these reasons, I believe it won’t hurt us.</p>
<p>I decided to send mine to the schools I am most interested in. I most likely did not score high enough to become a semi-finalist, but I thought it would show my interest in these schools and, later, demonstrate my ability to improve my tests scores. So, I sent mine to Yale and Washington and Lee U.</p>
<p>The PSAT is a bit of a sore-spot for me; I took it my sophomore year and got a score high enough to advance to semifinalist status. This year, I apparently forgot how to write on test day and lowered my score in that section from a 79 to a 63! I was inconsolable for a couple days after we got our scores back, obviously. I guess I still scored high enough to get commended, though.</p>
<p>The “opportunity to be referred…” is no big deal. All NMSC will do is pass on your name to whichever colleges you tell them to, saying only that you have expressed interest in this college and that you scored among the top 4% on the PSAT. Quite frankly, your name will just be one on a list of many such names sent to that school.</p>
<p>If you do name some schools now, what happens next will be up to each school. Some schools might follow up by sending you a “Congratulations on your fine performance” and putting you on their mailing list to receive marketing materials. (This is most likely to happen from schools that track a student’s “interest.”) Other schools – especially elite schools – could care less and won’t even acknowledge receipt of your “interest.”</p>
<p>The only time naming a school will really count is if you become a National Merit Finalist. Then you will be given the opportunity to name your “first choice” school and that may make you eligible for a National Merit Scholarship from that particular school. Of course, if that school doesn’t offer a National Merit Scholarship, naming it as your first choice carries no weight then either.</p>
<p>^Second everything worried_mom said. I think most schools will follow it up with a congratulations letter.</p>
<p>Worried_Mom has a point. Not a bad idea to send to school that tracks interest.</p>
<p>
I think even Harvard only has about 20% of its class as NMSFs every year. There’s definitely nothing wrong with being commended; the SAT is what really matters anyways.</p>
<p>My son got 208 in NY and has not received any letter. Do letters go out to schools or students? Anybody in NY who has not received letters?</p>
<p>How do you find out which schools track interest? Is there a list somewhere? Do any of the Ivy’s track interest?</p>
<p>The letters were handed out at school. It did not come to the house. Good luck. Hope it all goes well.</p>
<p>We got a letter mailed to the house. It arrived two days ago.</p>
<p>Sometimes the counselors pass them out individually to students.</p>
<p>e.g. my school.</p>
<p>[commended = feels bad man. one question from SF 
.]</p>
<p>I inferred that all the letter does is show interest. They don’t get anything they wouldn’t already know if they wanted to.</p>