@suzyQ7 at #538 - let’s work through your suggestion. Given that PSAT scores are available in the 2nd week of December, and it takes only a day to come up with the initial list via a spread sheet sort, then they might be able to use Jan - March for verification purposes. Say, families submit photo ID (passport/DL) and verify their address and school, and the school administrators provide cross-check information. Anyone who doesn’t do so is struck from the list. That would allow NMSF’s and commendeds to be announced by April of JUNIOR year. Not bad.
During one “transition year” they can hire temporary staff to close out the current competition while working to provide the new timeline. There will be a marginal impact on scholarships during that year (due to new temporary hires) - but it’s all for a good cause since the following year - and all future years after that - will see the National Merit competition unfold in a more expedited and timely fashion.
So, who’s willing to take one for the team and be the transition year?
Continuing with the example, perhaps the NMSF’s can be named finalists in late Sept. or Oct. of senior year? As long as that SAT is submitted (by 9/15? this year’s Aug. test date is 8/25 with results expected by 9/7) and everyone gets their portion of the application in by that June not sure why this couldn’t happen. It’ll cut down the number of available SAT dates to get that confirming score but is that such a big deal? If anything it’ll serve as an additional way to winnow down the numbers from SF to NMF.
To prevent overlap of contest years, First Choice college should be specified and scholarships announced well before 12/31. Those can all be EA applications Will the colleges agree to that timeline? If they don’t, then we are kind of back to the long, dragged out schedule so there is no use in expediting SF in the first place.
I haven’t worked out time for NMSC to take its publicity photos and put its annual report together but perhaps they can hire more staff for that as well. The downside might be a bit more taken out of scholarship funds; the upside is that the National Merit competition could effectively be reduced from 19 months (Oct of Junior year to May of Senior year) to a mere 14 months (Oct of Junior year to Dec of Senior year).
Seems like the “Compass” blog has gotten some updates back from students
The specific update:
" August 27 Update — Reports seem to be arriving in some mailboxes today. As states are recorded below, the <=, =, and > signs will be used to indicate what we know about the cutoffs. For example, a homeschooler reported that 221 qualified in TX. That does not yet mean that 220 did not qualify. So we know the cutoff is less than or equal 221.
AR <= 216
OK <= 215
TN > 218
TX <= 221 "
Perhaps part of the issue with timing is ensuring that the students are actually moving on to their senior years? Also, adding in students who are graduating a year early, and those that missed the PSAT and are being allowed alternate entry via SAT scores. I doubt they would want to issue a list of semi-finalists and then have to amend it, whether to add or rescind.
Because semifinalist status is based on scores alone, and has nothing to do with grades, the student who takes an extra year to graduate HS, for whatever reason, needs to be counted in the appropriate class. In some cases, those students will have been considered Juniors during their third year of HS, but they would be in the competition with their graduating class, not those with whom they entered high school.
@kungfukenny If you are not a homeschooler, your principal will get a letter (likely this week) with who qualified and what to do with the announcement. Anytime from now until Sept 12th, they should let you know about your status as a semifinalist and give you a letter which has your login instructions for filling out your part of the paperwork to move you along to Finalist level. If you are a homeschooler, the letter will come to your house this week. Same idea as the above.
Which state are you in? Do you know your Selection Index (SI)? You should be able to find out if you are a semifinalist by following along with the crowd-sourcing of state-by-state cut-offs. We are all watching the Compass Prep blog (just Google “Compass Prep National Merit 2019” and it should get you to Art’s blog) to see what people are reporting. If you’d rather follow along on CC, we have a couple of threads (a “worry” one and a score posting one in the National Merit subforum). http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/
Art’s blog is a good source of information about how the whole semifinalist to finalist process works, but the NM people give lots of information on their site as well.
@wisteria100 Commended students should get a “Letter of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise” from NM in late September according to the timeline NM publishes.
My kid’s school is having grade 9 kids take the PSAT/NMSQT. Do most kids take it in grade 9 or 10? If the answer is grade 9, should my kid just wait until next year? Appreciate your feedback.
@BordDuLac , My kids’ high school gave them a practice PSAT their 10th grade year, but the official PSAT that counts towards the National Merit Scholar program was done as a junior.
There is a newer PSAT 8/9 that is designed for 8th and 9th graders. Some schools (my daughter’s is one) will have them take this test in both 8th and 9th, then the regular PSAT in 10th and 11th. Only the 11th grade qualifies for National merit, unless they enter college a year early. PSAT 8/9 is graded 20-72 points, while regular PSAT is 20-76. Add a digit and you have an approximation of their current SAT score, so you can chart their progress.
“IL - Based on a real data from one of the Chicago Suburban schools, most likely IL cut off will be 223. Since this school has 29 students who scored 221 or higher (Class of 2019). From the new 1520 scored based-PSAT this School had only 10 NMSF (class of 2017) and 14 NMSF (class of 2018). So, if you are less than 223 don’t keep any high hope in IL!”
“@ILBHHS It’s not going to be 221 cutoff for IL. It could be 222 or 223. That puts IL in top of the pack as per last year cutoff so it most likely will increase for even already higher cutoff states like CA/NJ/DC/WA etc…”
Since the cutoff for IL was, actually, 221, we may learn a few things:
A. You cannot make any useful conclusions based on a small, biased sample.
B. Stating unsupported claims as facts does not make them facts
C. Repeating an error does not make it correct.
D. Listen to people who understand statistics
E. The internet is unforgiving.
@MWolf - The reason information became wrong was what I interpreted the advisor sent me was 29 students scored 220 or higher (The confusion is I had only asked her how many scored 221 or higher?). But she sent me 220 or higher!
According the the 2017 Annual National Merit Report, 87% of scholars reported a GPA of A- or above, upon graduation. Since A- is about 3.7, that leaves leeway for a good number of Bs. Cs and Ds may have more of an effect on advancing than their effect on the GPA, but there was a student in another thread who got a C and enough Bs to have a 3.5 GPA and still made it to Finalist.
Are there any tips people can offer for improving their reading/writing sections? I got a 650 on my English section which isn’t too bad considering I still have another year to retake it. Particularly the sections where one has to give a supporting quote to answer the question above it. Thanks!
Will the colleges agree to that timeline? If they don’t, then we are kind of back to the long, dragged out schedule so there is no use in expediting SF in the first place.