Let’s just throw it out there… Duke?
Yep. Ever since he was little. He is so happy at current school that he holds no grudge and still roots for them (unlike me).
Haha- great to hear that! So glad he is so happy! My son is ok about it as he never thought he would be accepted. I allowed myself to have a little hope, so it hurt me more. I’m trying not to hold a grudge, but I am spelling it “Dook” now
Nervous. Grades from freshman and sophomore years aren’t the best. Was switching schools a lot and my life was tumultuous at the time. Wrote about that in the essay. Have been academically fine since then. Doubt I make it but will cross my fingers. Anyone know if they really scrutinize the essays, grades, school location, etc? Or are they fairly callous about just checking for Cs or lower?
Chelsea75, sounds like you’ve persevered over a lot already. Whatever else happens, that will stand you in good stead for a lifetime. Good luck!
No letter here in NM. I still have a chance…
Got a rejection today here in NC- we really expected that due to an abundance of C’s. Best of luck to the rest of you!
@lurkeelou hang in there. I suspect your S is going to thrive, with or without NMF.
My DD got rejection letter yesterday. Her PSAT was 224 and her first SAT was 2240 and after 2nd SAT superscore is 2300. Her weighted GPA was above 3.9, but she did have a few Cs on her transcript, not sure of unweighted GPA. I had told her that advancement was pretty “routine”. I thought “everybody” basically advanced but now I guess I know better.
I’m sorry @maiadawn. This is a pretty grueling process.
Sorry @Maiadawn to hear your daughter will not proceed to finalist. I am sure she will do wonderful things and find a great fit college. She is obviously very talented.
I have to say hearing your story, my heart really started racing when I opened the mailbox this afternoon.
Hello albert69 - as the time winds down until finalist results are announced, I wanted to let you know that your thread was the first one I discovered back in December & it was also the first one that I posted on. The info on your thread led me to the couple of other threads we’ve all been using to share information as well as to console each other and to commiserate together. You’ve done a great job hosting your own thread, and all of the information you’ve posted on the other threads has been extremely helpful to me and (I’m sure) everyone else. I’d like to wish you the very best at WSU or whatever school you finally decide to attend. You’ll do well as I can tell that you’re a good person in addition to being a very intelligent scholar. Thank you!
Thank you, @LMHS73. I hope your D makes it and goes on to a fabulous future. I presume you haven’t heard anything yet?
I hope I can return some of the great info I’ve heard about the whole NMSC competition. CC was really helpful to me last fall for understanding the ins and outs of the whole process, so I’m glad to be of any help I can. I still consider it a stroke of luck that I am a NMSF, haha.
This is exactly what happened to us @maiadawn – almost to a T. Seems like the C’s are what kills you, no matter how good the overall record. I had told my S same thing you’d told her D; seems we spoke too soon. Sigh.
No @albert69, we haven’t heard anything yet (which is good); I’m looking forward to (hopefully) hear something (good) from my S’s school the first week of Feb! I think you’re a NMSF (and hopefully finalist) more from brains than just luck. I actually took one of the SAT practice tests & just couldn’t handle the time constraints like you talented kids can & I was a college valedictorian way back when!! I think you guys are all amazing!
Well, my one big strength was in english grammar, and that was what really took my score over the cutoff. I didn’t do as well on the actual SAT, but I have 2 scores over 1960, so I think I’ll be okay. Here’s to hearing nothing until early Feb.!
Maybe NMSC should just make a known GPA requirement, like 3.25 or 3.5 or something?
I think there must be an UW cut-off that’s not published, but perhaps along the lines of a 3.75.
The thing is, our family is seeing the importance of that UW GPA more and more - NMF aside - as DS applies to various schools and for various institutional scholarships. I personally do not believe our HS understands and/or adequately explains the importance of protecting that UW GPA. My DS has teachers who are extremely hard (but good teachers) and many will say that getting a B in the class is a “real accomplishment.” Needless to say, we’ve learned a lot of lessons along the way about protecting the UW GPA for our younger kids. This doesn’t mean abandoning every honors or AP class, but it does mean looking at the student’s schedule more holistically than we did with DS, especially considering all the activities he pursues outside of class time. Taking the most challenging class is every subject is not going to be the path for our younger kids, since merit aid is going to be essential for all of them.
This is obviously an individual choice, based upon the student and the family’s situation. In no way am I saying this is the only choice for students or families.But for us, we’re going to be much more mindful of the UW GPA for our younger kids.
@GoAskDad I can relate to what you’re saying. My S (current NMSF) also took all of these crazy-hard classes where a B was considered a real accomplishment. So now his 3.53 UW GPA looks somewhat less attractive on his college applications. I’ve tried to use his 4.4 W GPA whenever I could (I don’t see why we shouldn’t use this, as they’ve certainly earned it by taking tougher courses). He also played sports and, along with his extracurriculars, that was very time consuming. I have a D (class of 2018) in her 1st year of HS & she has always been an “A” student and has played year-round sports. She wanted to continue with sports in HS, so we told her to pick 1 sport only because she’s also in speech & debate, will do honor society, volunteer work, etc. We also made a deal with her that the sports participation is contingent upon her keeping her grades up. She’s had the advantage of watching her brother go through this NMSF process & to see the attention he’s received from different colleges & to even participate in some of the events that he’s been invited to because of his NMSF status. So, I think we (and more importantly - our daughter) have all learned a thing or two from our S’s experience & that will, hopefully, help D to keep focused on her HS goals.
@LMHS73, I’ll join you on the 2018 thread eventually! I was there for the first few weeks of that thread, but then realized that I could only deal with one kid on CC at a time.