<p>I received a letter from the National Merit Corporation saying that I was like one of the top 50,000 students on the PSAT last fall (i know its not for semifinalists since it goes on to say that 16,000 of them will be chosen in august). Anyone else gotten this?</p>
<p>Anyways, for it, it gave us an option of sending our name and PSAT score to 2 colleges of our choice.</p>
<p>Is there a benifit in sending these scores? I didnt do that well to send to a top college like Harvard, but if I send it, will that help, hurt, or not affect me at all?</p>
<p>Can it help me if I show interest (or do all top colleges except for washu not care?). Can it hurt me because they might think my PSAT score is too low (i thought they didnt care but they might since im sending my score report to them)?</p>
<p>Or does it not matter at all...as most colleges could care less since its so competitive anyways? Im thinking about sending it to two second tier colleges like Northwestern or something, but I might send it to Caltech or something if it wont hurt me and only shows interest.</p>
<p>Did any seniors this year receive this??? What did you guys do? What about all the other juniors?</p>
<p>What about if you’re trying for a company based scholarship? Is that one of your choices, or can you send it to two schools?</p>
<p>My husband works for Lockheed, and they offer schollies to employees children who are NMS, but there are a limited number, so want to make we apply on time.</p>
<p>I’ll write them to inquire, but wondering if any seniors out there had past experiences.</p>
<p>If you just received the letter from NMSC, that’s means that you will be at least a Commended Student, if not a Semifinalist next year. (Cut-off scores for Semifinalists are determined on a state-by-state basis and Semifinalists are not announced until September.)</p>
<p>If you opt to have your name sent in to two schools now, that’s exactly what NMSC does – it just sends a letter saying that you scored among the top 4% nationally on the PSAT and that you have expressed interest in that particular school. It’s just a courtesy letter, nothing more and nothing less. It has nothing to do with future corporate scholarships (like the one L-M sponsors).</p>
<p>The very top schools – like the Ivies – could not care less if your name is sent in by NMSC now. However, if you are looking at schools that do sponsor sizeable NM scholarships (for example, Arizona State or University of Oklahoma)-- or even schools that don’t offer such scholarships but do track expressed interest (for example, Tufts or Northwestern)-- then there might be some advantage to notifying the schools now. But there is also no harm in NOT sending in your name now. If you had a high score, you will soon be inundated with mailings from various colleges anyway.</p>
<p>By the way, there is absolutely NO commitment to these colleges if you do send your name in – you don’t even have to apply there next fall. And if you are eventually named a NM Finalist, you will have the opportunity next spring to name a “first choice” college (which can be totally different from the two colleges named now) and that’s the one that counts because it makes you eligible for NM scholarships sponsored by that school.</p>
<p>Basically the only value in sending your name into colleges is to demonstrate that you have interest in that school which may or may not make a difference depending on the school.</p>