Hello everyone! I’m a member of the Class of 2016, and a NMSF. I figured I would post here, just because I know I had a lot of questions last year. I know the test has changed, and the process will as well as a result. But, I think I still have some good experience in this process (and it’s a long one) so if anyone has any questions, feel free to message me!
no - D3 had a college board account before mid-December and we got both e-mails: one clearly for her on the 17th and another for the parent on the 23rd.
Do you think we could ask out counselors on Jan. 6 for our access codes and then just enter them in on Jan. 6 to get our scores? Or do we have to wait for Jan. 7 no matter what?
Ok, my bad, we didn’t receive either email from college board. I don’t think there is any conspiracy or harm for not receiving that email though. or is there.
FWIW data, DS17 has college board account and has taken PSAT in freshman year (weird school policy, come to think of it, resulting in lots of college junk mail since freshman year) and several AP exams.
@garyasho2 you should be able to get the access code from the counselor on the 6th if he/she has access to it. They get to see the scores but not sure whether they get access code info. as well.
Here is what my D’s school said about the access codes: Be sure the information provided for the College Board account is identical to the information provided on the PSAT/NMSQT answer sheet. If the information is different, an access code will be needed to access the scores. Your access code will be provided to you on the paper score report you get sometime in mid-late January.
@suzy100 Oh, so if we have an account on CB already, then it will presumably just show up on Jan. 7?
It feels like it is going to be next year before we finally get our scores! Oh wait… it will.
As another data point, we received the email re: Jan. 7 score release, and had not yet setup a CB account at that point.
Now the question is… how much will my counselor hate me if I beg her for my scores on the 6th? 
This begs the question, my kids took the PSAT as homeschoolers so will I get access to my kids scores on the 6th? I doubt it but I’m sure going to be calling CB on the 6th to ask. I have a feeling that they may be facing some serious issues if they release scores to all the public school on the 6th and make the homeschoolers wait until the 7th. When I asked about this earlier they said homeschooler administration would have to wait for the mailing of the paper scores in late January! This is not going to go over well with homeschool parents.
That’s a flip for sure @3scoutsmom, as in the past, homeschoolers were always the first to know, at least for semi-finalist status. Homeschoolers get that mailed right to their houses, while brick and mortar students are at their administrator’s mercy. Come to think of it, the same was true for actual scores, as many students had to wait until after the holidays (when scores were given in early December at other schools). Hopefully the end is truly in sight, and you hear long before the month’s end.
Does anybody know why they got rid of the National Achievement Scholarship that benefited African-American high school students? I was hoping to qualify as a Junior, but they completely changed it. Now, it has been turned into the UNCF Achievement Capstone Program. Only AA undergraduate students at HBCU’s/PBI’s are eligible. You also have to be nominated by your college’s chancellor/president.
@Hamlon, this is news indeed. I did a quick Google search and can’t find any specific reason either. I did find this article which quotes the National Merit Scholarship Corporation president cryptically referring to “funding, sponsorship, and where we are in the program”.
Shifting the funds over to the National Negro College Fund seems to change the purpose of the scholarship, at least to me. Does NMSC believe that African Americans are now appropriately represented in the National Merit program? Do they believe that the new test will assist with that appropriate representation? Those would be the questions I would have.
@Mamelot I don’t know why they would only allow HBCU students to apply though. Wouldn’t it be better to encourage students from all colleges? I don’t want to attend an HBCU because I am already used to being at a diverse school. I like being exposed to many cultures and languages. I’m not saying that that wouldn’t happen at an HBCU, but it wouldn’t be as apparent. I recently read an article that said that while African-American enrollment in college is going up, the likelihood that we graduate is still pretty low. Wouldn’t it be best to allow us the opportunity to find the college we would be most comfortable at? I feel like they are assuming I would do best at a school where my race is the majority. I wouldn’t want to go to a school where any race is over-represented. I know it’s not feasible to completely rule out certain schools when this occurs, but it’s something I take into account. Many k-12 schools are actually more segregated than they were 40 years ago and I just want to go against the statistics.
When I was reading the article I got the feeling that they were trying to address the likelihood of graduation issue. I’m not well versed in HBCU vs. non-HBCU graduation rates; however, I caught the following quote from a link describing the purpose of HBCU’s:
‘A recent report from the United Negro College Fund states that “…were HBCUs and non-HBCUs to enroll demographically identical populations of students, HBCUs would retain and graduate students at higher rates than their counterparts . . . While retention rates are also low at HBCUs (about 60%), once again, research suggests that when controlled for SAT scores and Pell status, which many argue are proxies for socioeconomic status and academic preparedness, HBCU retention rates are on par with or even surpass non-HBCUs.’
Perhaps UNCF believes that the real problems with the education of African Americans is not college entry but graduation rates. If so then they might have a reason to supplement their funding with a new program such as this Achievement Capstone Program and were able to convince NMSC to transfer over the funds to get it started.
Of course, it should be noted that these results, assuming accuracy and rigor of the statistical and sampling methods, apply GENERALLY to a population of students and NOT to one particular student’s prospects or choices. Your college choice, and your criteria, are yours alone. You should attend the best college that you believe fits your goals and financial budget, etc. and that will help you succeed best at what you want to be and do. And I personally believe that comfort should be a factor because it speaks to fit. A diverse ethnic and international community where all are unified in their pursuit of knowledge and scholarship sounds like an ideal environment, IMHO. It’s a personal choice either way but I happen to agree with you.
Don’t forget, though, that as an URM - especially if your stats are good - then you will have access to scholarship money at many colleges even aside from this former opportunity. Hopefully your decisions won’t be impacted by this change, though for sure it has to be disappointing at the moment.
Since the college board sponsors the Hispanic Recognition program, it would be cool if they added an African American recognition program to supplement the loss of the achievement program. Since the recognition program is not an actual scholarship, it wouldn’t cost them anything, but colleges and corporations would still have a basis on which to award scholarships.
In fact, I think I’m going to e-mail them and make this suggestion…
It seems like the vast majority of National Merit money goes to Asian and Caucasian students. Although I believe that there have been huge strides taken in providing opportunities for African Americans after years of institutionalized racism, it seems that the odds are still against African Americans when it comes to succeeding on standardized tests.
When I called the National Merit folks in October and inquired about this issue I was told that the UNCF was deemed to best facilitate the needs of the demographic that the National Achievement Scholarship served, and all of the funding would, therefore, be administered through the new programs being developed by UNCF.
Its not the measly little $2.5K from NM that I’m concerned about. Its the money from colleges. Some colleges still have NA scholarships listed on their websites, what happens to those dollars?