<p>When do current juniors find out if they got commended/semifinalist on the October? 2004 PSAT?</p>
<p>I know that at my school, at least, these students weren't recognized until about a month ago -- more than halfway thru their senior year. However, the semifinalists etc knew that they were semifinalists before the ceremony, so if anyone knows roughly when this usually happens, let me know.</p>
<p>Not for a while, I don't think, but if you ask your school counselor they may be able to give you an "estimated" cutoff for each. Commended is usually around 200, Semifinalist has a larger range, from about 210-220.</p>
<p>In April of your junior year, top scores get a letter saying they were among the top 50,000 in the country. All these students will become either National Merit Semifinalists or National Merit Commended Scholars. </p>
<p>In mid-September of your senior year, the names of 16,000 National Merit Semifinalists (as well as semifinalist cut-off scores) are released. Commended scholars are also notified at this time</p>
<p>In February, 15,000 finalists are notified of their status</p>
<p>Merit scholars (those who actually get money) are selected after that.</p>
<p>15,000 out of 16,000 become finalists? wow, then thats a really good chance you'll become a finalist.</p>
<p>the site is down; can anyone enlighten me on the process for becoming a finalist?</p>
<p>If you become a semifinalist, you will receive a packet with all the info. It includes an application with a section that must be completed by you that includes an essay, of course. It also has a section that must be completed by your guidance office/school. You will also need to get some letters of recommendation. I think it is due back in early/mid Oct. No use worrying about it until the packet comes. September is a long way off.</p>
<p>Semifinalist is just based on the score on the test, but the packet you get has an essay, asks for your transcript, and wants to know your SAT score. Our counselors who don't know us wrote the recommendations. At my school, which had 21 semifinalists, I think 19 became finalists. The two who didn't are smart, lazy people who had low grades in alot of classes (as in one dropped honors level classes when she had 70s and another just gets 70s in AP classes and doesn't care). I think all the A/B students made it to finalist.</p>
<p>Yea... It takes a really really (really) long time for them to process the scores and find out who made it and what not...</p>
<p><em>Sigh</em></p>
<p>We'll find out in 6 months I guess...</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Not for a while, I don't think, but if you ask your school counselor they may be able to give you an "estimated" cutoff for each. Commended is usually around 200, Semifinalist has a larger range, from about 210-220.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>But...not...higher...right?</p>
<p>Haha... If Semi is above 222 for MN this year... Im going to go crazy, rip out my hair and probably move to someplace thats never heard of PSAT...</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Could a 199 be commended? The only reason I didn't get that 200 is because I bubbled in 6% as .6 (good times).</p>
<p>In reply to zoogies: Oh man I hope not... My counselor's "predicted" my state's semifinalist cutoff... I either made it or missed it by one. Dang....</p>
<p>yeah, dude. my grades are on the low scale-ish compared to the rest of the kids in my school (which is a magnet school). but i got a pretty decent score (224), so im just a little iffy on finalist or not.</p>
<p>How low are you grades? They might take into account that classes at a magnet school could be harder than AP/honors classes at a regular school.</p>
<p>well, freshman and sophomore year i got a 3.2 unweighted
and junior year, i got a 3.9 weighted.<br>
senior year is 4.2 weighted.</p>
<p>you can tell i pretty much slacked off freshman/sophomore year, but worked my ass off the next two years, lol</p>
<p>I think that those grades are higher than what the people at mys chool who didn't get finalist had. Another guy had a 4.0 freshman year, and dropped to B's in most classes by mid-sophomore year because he decided he wanted to be a musician. He's a finalist. (I would provide you with weighted GPA, but ours is on a 6.0 scale unlike everyone else, so it's all confusing-like)</p>
<p>think a 217 intexas will make finalist?</p>
<p>Last year cut for semifinalist was was 217 or 218, I think... I'm sure you can find what it was online. After that, the score on PSAT doesn't matter. You need a score on SAT that is similar to your score on PSAT (not a big difference that makes them think your PSAT score was crap), a decent essay, and a GPA that doesn't make you look like a slacker.</p>
<p>what's with the 55,000 people making commended/semifinalist on the PSAT report. Isn't supposed to just be 50,000, or have they changed that. Will this just affect the number of commended students or semifinalists or both?</p>
<p>The cutoffs vary from state to state. I'm from CA and got 216, am hoping for the best. (It was exactly 216 last year)</p>
<p>I got a 201 (ohio)... :-D.... :-</p>