<p>SurvivorFan, you should be fine. I have heard of 2 C’s or 1 D being enough to get a rejection (can’t confirm that - it’s just what I have heard over the years). I also heard of one rejection based on the essay, which was apparently rude and critical of the National Merit program. (If that’s not true, it sure is a great story!) Never heard of a rejection based on GPA, though. Good luck!</p>
<p>This doesnt bode well for me hopefully the NA standards are different. If not it is appeal time. </p>
<p>It just boggles my mind how a scholarship based on “merit” has no regard to overall gpa, trend and difficulty of classes taken.</p>
<p>yoskis, surely someone here on CC can tell you what NA standards are and how the appeal process works. I’ve wondered the same thing about GPA and class difficulty, etc. What if a student attends a school that grades hard - and even the top students have some C’s? Would that be considered in an appeal? Seems like it should. Maybe, when the paperwork is due, you can talk to your guidance counselor and ask that she include that info in your rec letter - stating how you took the most difficult classes, etc.</p>
<p>Sorry, Yoskis, I was assuming you were class of 2015 - forgot which forum I was reading. If you are class of 2014, your info has already been submitted, but at least you can appeal. Here’s hoping you won’t need to! I have only heard of the grade requirements for NMSF, and have no idea of the criteria for NA, but they could be totally different. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Here us a link to the longest thread from last year about rejections and appeals, actually covers the prior year as well(really long thread):
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1271581-nmf-rejection-letters-go-out-very-soon-heads-up.html?highlight=rejection[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1271581-nmf-rejection-letters-go-out-very-soon-heads-up.html?highlight=rejection</a></p>
<p>There are many other threads. This thread had people reporting their status with grades- #of A/B/C grades here:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1451215-nmf-results-stats.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1451215-nmf-results-stats.html</a></p>
<p>Last year many people with one ‘C’ made NMF while some others were rejected. All who reported 2 or more 'C’s were rejected, I believe. In prior years, some kids with as many as 4 'C’s reported making NMF.</p>
<p>Wow, Celeste! Some kids with only 1 C were rejected? Brutal!</p>
<p>I followed the National Merit threads last year as I had an NMF D that year, and got interested in the stories. Still following with an expected NMSF S this year. The first thread I linked has 3 or 4 kids with one ‘C’ rejected, though on the 2nd thread, all with one ‘C’ were accepted. </p>
<p>If I recall correctly, in one rejection case the kid had retaken the class (it was a ‘D’, not a ‘C’) and received an ‘A’, but instead of averaging, school left both grades visible on the transcript. </p>
<p>Since the guidelines for making NMSF are pretty arbitrary and narrow, based on a single test score, it is not so surprising that the criteria to advance to NMF would be similarly precise.</p>
<p>OTOH, the Cand. for Pres. Schol. thing has initial cut based solely on test score, but advancing to actual Presidential Scholar is totally holistic, and has to be, since choosing by stats would never get them from 40 down to 2/state, too many ties. </p>
<p>Anyway, NMSC does as they like.</p>
<p>I thought NMSF award is based on SAT not ACT. May be that is the reason for rejection</p>
<p>Sent from my iPhone using [URL=<a href=“Tapatalk”>Tapatalk]Tapatalk[/URL</a>]</p>
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<p>Except there is a big difference between taking a strict cutoff based on overall score and making an arbitrary decision based on a one grade on the transcript. The better comparison would be if the determiner for making NMSF was that you couldn’t miss more 4 questions in a row on the PSAT. It is ridiculous. I would be fine with a strict GPA cutoff. </p>
<p>The system is theoretically based on “merit” but the system as it is right now is opposite of that. Which student do you think has a higher amount of merit? The student who coasts through HS with straight Bs taking the minimum of classes or student with a 3.9 who took AP chem junior year and ended up with two Cs because they wanted to challenge themselves. The system lacks reason or logic. </p>
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<p>They may do what they like but they have an impact that goes beyond the $2500 scholarship they give as an organization. It affects students in the admission process, in scholarships schools give out and in the way high schools are judged. </p>
<p>It could just be me.</p>
<p>Also, having a strict cutoff based on a <em>standardized</em> test makes far more sense than a strict grades cutoff, where people are taking courses with different levels of difficulty, from schools that grade differently, and so on.</p>
<p>I was expressing random thoughts here, not trying to justify how they make decisions or saying it makes sense to anyone but NMSC. I wish I understood their thought process. </p>
<p>I don’t think NMF status has any impact in admissions decisions, except at a few schools to which NMFs are automatically admitted. I’ve noticed a few of the scholarship schools tag on a 3.5 HS GPA requirement to get money. Or am I wrong and it does affect admissions???</p>
<p>The HS status thing is real, as some schools with lots of NMFs, my D13’s among them, like to advertise that and use it as an easy way to assert their high quality of education. Though it seems almost ridiculous, have a hard time wrapping my mind around that.</p>
<p>The biggest impact is on those families who hope to leverage the status to get vastly reduced college costs. Missing NMF really hurts then, as many of the schools promise nothing for NMSF, have to make NMF to get the $$$. We are a family benefiting in this manner, so I have lots of sympathy for those who get rejected.</p>
<p>I understand that the crazy GPA and grades vs. rigor choice occurs in contexts other than NMF. Though at my D’s school, I have to say that all the 4.0 kids also took the hardest classes on top of loads of ECs, and all the NMFs her year had 3.5+ GPA and most had 3.85+. Easy to see who is graduating at various levels of honors. The 2 NMSFs who did not advance, both had GPA below 3.5, though it was probably a ‘C’ or 2 that did them in, not the GPA of itself. -No weighting at the school. Didn’t see anyone coasting to a 4.0 with dummy courses, though a few kids did pull back a bit senior year to have more time for activities or whatever. That’s anecdotal, don’t know the big picture.</p>
<p>My daughter’s letter was indeed rejection. I am so proud of her for even being in the running! Unfortunately, just as celesteroberts said, this will impact her decision because we are looking at merit and need based aid, and it is likely out of the schools she likes, she will choose whoever offers most. Sadly, a couple have nothing for semi finalists. This being said, she still has some merit aid based on ACT scores and GPA, and I know will find the right place, that is the right fit for her.
As far as specific info goes, we are in TN, National Merit said her SAT scores were qualifying, but they ruled her out based on courseload and GPA. We knew it was a long shot. Her weighted GPA is 4.1, but unweighted was 3.2.
Thanks everyone, and good luck!</p>
<p>So sorry to hear that TNmom. Alabama still gives very good money for kids with high ACT scores and they use the weighted GPA if it’s on the transcript. Is that a place you are looking at?</p>
<p>I didn’t know NMSC looks at course load. Did you call them, or did it say that in letter? And they said GPA, not particular grades?</p>
<p>Anyway, good luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>This is all good info to have. For #3 son, the big hurdle isn’t going from NMSF to NMF. It’s making NMSF with a 219 in Texas. Fingers still crossed - and will remain that way until September.</p>
<p>^ Not a very big hurdle. Isn’t 219 the all time high for TX? Hard to believe scores will go up any more this year, after last year’s craziness. When the data comes out next month, you can get a better idea. I guess you can’t relax completely, but you are at the very high end of the bubble.</p>
<p>My sons letter referenced “careful consideration of coursework and grades.” He has taken a handful of honors classes but not an extremely rigorous course load. He has a GPA around 3.2 and 6 semester C’s. </p>
<p>I’m not surprised, as I said. Disappointed for him but he has one very generous scholarship offer already so it will all work out.</p>
<p>How long will it be before I can consider myself safe?</p>
<p>Personally, I won’t feel safe until I’m named as a finalist.</p>
<p>Celesteroberts, I know it seems like not a big hurdle, but we won’t relax until we know the cutoff! Texas is hard to predict - it now has one of the highest cutoffs, and it has been creeping up - 2019 for classes of 2012 and 2014. This is not our first rodeo - in fact it’s our third! S1 made it by 1 point, S2 let us relax by scoring 15 point over the all-time high Texas cutoff. S3’s 219 is a great score! But he made 2 mistakes on questions he thinks he should have gotten correct, for 6 points, and he’s beating himself up over it, unfortunately. And the sibling competition adds importance to the whole NMSF process in his mind. Fortunately, his dream school is easily within his academic reach and our financial reach, and he has some D1 colleges looking at him for football, so he will be fine. Still - I am going crazy playing with the numbers and trying to predict the Texas cutoff. Waste of time, I know.</p>
<p>Even with NM Finalist status, only around half would receive any NM scholarships. So don’t be too disappointed if you get the rejection letter. Your high test scores would still get you some merit aid.</p>