<p>I am allowed to send my commended PSAT score to two colleges of my choice. My guidace counselor says that it is no point sendingthem to the most elite schools, as they will ignore it. Is this true?</p>
<p>Note: my ACT score is 35
GPA 4.8
Taking all the hardest classes
Good ECs, leadership, etc.</p>
<p>There is no point in sending to the elite schools, they will ignore it. If there are any smaller schools that aren’t considered as “elite”, you should send it to them instead.</p>
<p>There is not reason to send it. If you are a national merit finalist, you can send that information. They really only look at ACT and SAT scores</p>
<p>It’s better to send that info to schools like your flagship state school or to second tier colleges. The top dozen or so colleges are flooded with applications from top scorers on the PSAT, so sending the info to them won’t help you.</p>
<p>^^^^^ Agree with Northstarmom</p>
<p>It helps in the sense that the admissions officers at those schools now know they’re one of your two choices.</p>
<p>The very top schools -places like HPY-- don’t care about demonstrated interest. They know they are the #1 choice of most students who apply to them, and most students those colleges accept will eagerly accept their offers.</p>
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<p>Exactly, the idea here is to get the good fit or target schools (or even financial safeties) that give good NM aid to understand that you are interested rather than top schools. None of the top schools give good NM aid. If you look down the USNWR list, I think you have to go down to University of Southern California (ranked about 26) which gives 50% tuition waiver (about $19,000) to NM Finalists, which means you still have about $36000 gap unless it is met by the school as a part of their FA package. It is only schools that are lower down the rankings, that give full rides or near full rides to NMF. So why waste your choice on a school that may not really care?</p>
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<p>Why apply to a college with a 7% acceptance rate?</p>
<p>Which are worth sending the Commended PSAT score to? (Who won’t ignore them)</p>
<p>Georgetown
U of Chicago
Wash U Stl
UCLA
Penn
Boston College
U of San Francisco
U of Washington-Seattle
Seattle Univ</p>
<p>Having been through this process with two of my kids, I don’t think it makes a difference. Having PSAT scores sent is one of many ways of showing interest in a college, and it’s not a particularly strong indicator of interest. Still, there’s no harm in putting down a couple of schools.</p>