@planner03 why must NMSC be objective and transparent? Any holistic review introduces some subjectivity, and full transparency becomes impossible. Do you similarly argue that Harvard should have an objective and transparent admissions process? Did you forbid your student from applying to any schools that admit holistically unless you were told beforehand that admission was guaranteed for your student, in order to not waste time or get the student’s hopes up?
@MA2012 Yes, you’re right. My concern is if she lists USC as #1 early on, then later decides to commit to a Canadian school. What if she is given one of the $2500 NMSC awards? She can’t accept it if she goes international. If she turns that award down, will NMSC then give it to someone else?
@ShrimpBurrito I’m still not understanding your concern. She should list USC as #1. NMSC claims not to consider college choice when determining the winners of the NMSC-sponsored $2500 scholarships, so it really shouldn’t matter one way or the other. If she goes to an international school, she will not be able to accept the award. I don’t think (but have no direct knowledge one way or the other) that NMSC would award it to anyone else after they’ve selected the winners. Your daughter would not be the only one who ends up turning it down either way, I’m sure.
@ShrimpBurrito, is it even possible to list a Canadian university as the #1 choice? I commend you for being concerned about whether your D might keep another student from getting an NMSC award, but USC is still very much in play for her isn’t it? Since she hasn’t fully decided on a Canadian university yet, and she won’t be able to decide until after she knows whether she’s admitted to USC, in your place I’d advise her to keep USC as her #1 for now.
Thanks, @iahomeschoolmom and @traveler98.
This is part of what’s tripping me up, from the NMSC website:
We want to make sure we are doing the right thing here. Canadian schools do not always get their acceptances out on the American timetable. Thankfully D has already heard from McGill, but theoretically she may not know about UBC until May, or even June. Too many moving parts and "what if"s.
Having said all of that, it sounds like it should be okay to list USC as #1 and adjust as we go along.
I don’t know if this helps or not, but listing a #1 choice with NMSC is not committing yourself to that school overall. I mean, you can list USC as #1 and still go to school in Canada in the end.
The only way to make sure you are NOT awarded a $2500 scholarship at this point is probably to withdraw yourself from the competition altogether. Just guessing based on the little bit I know.
@Kayak24, the 7500 you’re thinking of is the approximate total number of NM Scholars, which includes all the school and corporate partner awards in addition to the 2500 directly from NMSC. Actually I think for the last report (class of 2016) there may have been closer to 8000 NM Scholars but I could be mistaken and am too lazy to go find that report again.
@traveler98 You disagree. Noted. I didn’t realize that a scholarship competition that chooses 16,000 students based solely on a score they receive on a single standardized test was "holistic. Oh, and I didn’t address you so no need to get nasty and personal.
@planner03 FWIW, I didn’t see anything nasty and personal in @traveler98’s response. I think the subjective/holistic aspect of the competition is in the selection of the ~15000 finalists from the NMSF pool, where NMSC does not spell out clear criteria for selection, but appears to look at your entire record and LOR’s.
Agree 100% with you that the use of a single test on one day in the Junior year is an odd way to award what is probably the single largest merit scholarship opportunity in the USA, but it is what it is.
@planner03 I was not nasty. I asked you an honest question based on your stated opinion about what NMSC should do. I’m curious to know why your opinion is that this one organization should be objective and transparent, and whether you also believe that other holistic competitions such as admission to Harvard should also be objective and transparent. If you have a low opinion of NMSC’s holistic finalist selection process you could have elected to forbid your student from completing the application for the competition.
I’m here to offer moral support. DS Class of 2018 should advance to NMF, given his grades, test scores, etc. but we are still watching the mailbox this week. DS Class of 2015 DID have one semester C on his transcript and boy was that a wild ride! (He was also “on the bubble” and we literally had to wait almost a year to find out if he even made NMSF.)
In the end, DS 2015 did make NMF with one semester C and I still remember how happy we all were. From that year, I recall at least one other student making it with a C in an AP class, but one being denied for a C in PE (or something like that…we tried to get stats posted for historical purposes in that thread).
Best wishes to all while we wait. And I want to thank @lcgusa - now a college student - for coming back to offer support, as well. @lcgusa I believe I remember you and I’m very glad everything has worked out in the end. Given your maturity and consideration in coming back here to encourage others, I would say your future is very bright indeed.
Hello everyone & thanks @JBStillFlying for posting this link on the NMF thread. As usual, I didn’t know this thread had been started, but I’m glad to be with you all now!!!
We’ll be one of the guinea pig cases this time around as D has one of those (dare I say it?) semester “C” grades on her transcript for first semester, junior year AP Calc BC. Like @GoAskDad, I’m a hardened veteran that also had a S15 with a single semester “C,” and he made it through to NMF as well.
So, my gut tells me that D18 will be fine as she followed-up that 1st semester “C” with a 2nd semester grade of “A” in that class. A while back, @JBStillFlying calmed my nerves a bit by suggesting that perhaps they look at the whole thing as a “yearly” grade & if that’s the case, she averages a “B” for the course. I guess this is still one of those nebulous parts of the process that we still can only speculate on.
Even with that scarlet letter of a “C” hanging around her neck, she still has a 3.8/4.6 with great test scores, extracurriculars, work history, awards, rec letter, etc.
For what it’s worth, S15’s GPA was 3.5/4.2 & his extracurriculars and other accolades were OK, but nothing that would make the selection committee sit-up and take notice.
Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now, so we’ll see…
Fingers crossed for your D @LMHS73! If she has a good overall package, with nice SAT and decent ECs and good LOR with just that one semester C followed by an A in a challenging AP class, it sure sounds as if she could be ok. Sorry that the wait is a little more fraught for your D though, and hopefully that C won’t keep her from advancing.
@LMHS73 If a 3.8 uw GPA amidst some tough courses isn’t an example of “very high academic performance” I’m not sure what is. BC Calc. is an advanced SENIOR class and surely they’ll see that she performed well in it overall as a junior. Good luck to her!
After reading through the thread, I looked over my sons transcript. I can’t help but wonder what grade is considered a “C”? I know it seems ridiculous to ask, but our district changed their grading scale effective last year. So as a freshman and sophomore a low 80s grade (82 for instance) was a C, but their new scale is a 10 point system, so an 82 his junior or senior year is a B. Everything on his transcript is in numbers, no letter grades. So confusing.
@gamecockmom did they revise previous grades to reflect the new change?
@gamecockmom, if I were you I would check with the guidance counselor to see how (or if) this was addressed in the school’s portion of the NMF application. At S’s school the official transcript is accompanied by information about the grading scale so that the reader can interpret the numerical grades. Hopefully the scale change was already addressed in the application…I imagine the school would have to include some explanation for the next few years for those classes that have grades on both scales.
JBstillflying No revisions have been made. Where I become a little confused is that the fresh/soph GPA (calculated on old scale) does not change, junior/Senior gets calculated on new scale, but this is not reflected anywhere on the transcript. It’s just one GPA which takes everything into account. No worries though! I’ll certainly be grateful if he makes the cut- free money is free money! Lol! he is pretty set on the Honors College at South Carolina. The merit money there is good, but he is not interested in any of the schools that offer really big Merit scholarships. We’re very fortunate that he has secured good scholarships outside of NM 
@Traveler98- yes, our school does furnish a description of the grading standards and policies. Thank you- I’m glad you brought it up! I had forgotten they do that
Thanks for this thread. It hadn’t dawned on me this was the likely week the letters go out to those not moving on. We are very interested because the two schools DS is still considering both will elevate his scholarship level from full tuition to full tuition plus a stipend if he is a Finalist. $20k increase over 4 years at UK and $32k increase over 4 years at U of L.
In the “no reason to worry” camp (4.0UW, National AP scholar, lots of ECs, good recommendations/essay, 223 SI on SAT), but it would just be a great thing to have confirmed. The suspense is killing me!