Hello,
What is the point of PSAT testing? How much money is at stake which you will get on PSAT testing and not on SAT testing? Is it relevant to need based scholarships only or anything else?
Thanks!
The only advantage I see is placement for the National Merit Scholarship (the NMSQT part). And maybe practice for the SAT.
Depends on the college you go to. Some colleges will offer full tuition or even full rides to students that make National Merit reqardless of ‘need’. National Merit is based on your PSAT score taken in your junior year. My DD16 was National Merit and was awarded a Full Tuition plus scholarship to OU since we are OOS that’s a huge amount!
Here’s this year’s OU scholarship https://ou.edu/content/dam/recruitment/documents/NMpackage_2017_nonres_editable.pdf
DS18 is “on the bubble” for National Merit in our state if he makes it he plans to attend UTD, their National Merit Scholarship is just a few hundered dollars under a full ride https://honors.utdallas.edu/nmsp/scholarship
If you want to go to a college that doesn’t offer scholarships for National Merit your only looking at a potential $2,500 scholarship.
The PSAT is very important from a $$$ perspective. There are several universities with huge NMF scholarships. If my D18 gets into her top choice college she’ll get an automatic half tuition scholarship for being NMF (saves us $100K over four years). At Alabama, Oklahoma, and major Us you get five years of free tuition.
PSAT is really a no-brainer. If your student makes the NMS cutoff it is a ticked to $$ at several great schools. Even if you’re looking at schools that do not offer NMS $$, having the NMS award is good to have on applications.
If you have a shot at National Merit qualification, then it can be very helpful in qualifying for often-large scholarships at many colleges. Older list (check on school web sites for changes): http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
Otherwise, it is nothing more than practice for the SAT.
What is it, only the top 2% get NMS? Of course, if you don;t take it, you have a 0% chance at getting one.
Nat’l Merit and Practice for the SAT.
Yep, National Merit and practice for the SAT. Like some of the other posters, our S is a potential National Merit kid. If he makes the cut, he will be choosing from true full rides at either University of New Mexico, the current favorite, or Texas Tech, the runner up.
My thought is that it’s worthwhile for any strong student to prep for the PSAT.
Thank you all! So, only the In state schools offer NMST or other schools do too?
Did you look at the list that ucbalumnus posted (#5)? There some private schools as well and most state schools that have a National Merit Scholarship also offer it to out of state students. With some of the privates having National Merit listed on your apps can give you a leg up on their competitive scholarships but at the tippy top schools it won’t matter becasue just about everyone who applies is NMSF.
Yes thanks- I just did . Thanks @ucbalumnus for the list!