Thanks @GoAskDad - I didn’t even know that there was a 2018 thread. I feel the same about only being able to deal with one CC related issue at a time. When S’s NMF fate is decided & we get him finalized on a college and all of that, I’ll start checking out that other thread. Looking forward to it & happy that I’ll already know somebody there! Good luck to you and everyone else this week & I hope a stray letter doesn’t find any of us!!
I hope that NMSC doesn’t send “stray” letters.
I agree with you about the unweighted GPA, GoAskDad. My son went for the most rigorous program he could, taking AP Physics C in junior year, along with AP Calc etc. and I am finding that the focus is on unweighted GPA which doesn’t make sense to me because you are comparing apples to oranges. I know a kid who has a GPA well above my son’s (hers is 3.9 UW, but it would be 3.9 weighted also since she took no AP or honors) but her ACT score was a 21 and with studying/tutoring and retakes, she got it up to 25. My son has an UW of 3.6 due to these hard classes taken even a year early and has a 36 ACT with no tutoring or studying. I would think the weighted GPA is apples to apples and I am astonished at the weight of the UW GPA but I was naive in thinking that way.
We dont know for a fact that NMSC considers uw gpa, do we? Anecdotally, those with C’s appear to be at risk, but for all we know class rigor might be considered.
@GoAskDad and others, I am going to be the contrarian on this UW GPA issue and argue one should rarely take a less challenging class for the sole reason to avoid a B and protect your UW GPA. I agree with you that your child may be penalized, in college and/or scholarship selection. It is certainly frustrating when your child takes the most challenging teachers and courses, gets a few Bs or perhaps a C, and is passed over for admittance to certain colleges or scholarship programs when a classmate who avoided the hard classes in favor of the easier A gets rewarded. But lets look at the big picture here. It stings right now but your child will be much better served later. Not only is he/she better trained to handle the rigors of college, but she/he has begun to learn that success in life is not achieved by shrinking from the hard task. Who do you think is going to freak out in the weed out classes for pre-med or engineering? Not your child who took everything their high school could throw at them!
No, we don’t know for sure if NMSC considers UW GPA - that was just a guess on my part, after reading past threads. I do hope they consider rigor, which is basically my DS’s only hope at this point. My other guess is that his GC included a note about rigor in the NMF app from the school, but I’m not sure whether or not that will help.
After DS’s Soph year, I was dismayed to fully understand how much his UW GPA might come into play for merit aid at various schools, including our state flagship, for example. Schools that use a grid of test score/GPA use the UW, from what I’ve found (though my search has not been exhaustive). We could have/should have taken a slightly different approach to DS’s course load, espc in light of his overall ECs, but he’s our oldest and we had No Idea.
What I have done is helped our 9th-grader take a more balanced approach to high school as we look ahead to 10th, where the work really starts to pick up and the classes become much more challenging - almost a flash-cut. And I’ve also tried to advise other parents - ONLY when asked - that looking at the Big Picture is very important. Just because the high school sends email-after-email suggesting that your DC take this honors class, and that AP class, and this math class that’s up one grade level - that doesn’t mean your DC has to do it ALL. At our school, those email recommendations come to the parents in a vacuum, not taking into account the student’s overall schedule, ECs, and personality traits (like perfectionism). It’s up to the parent to help guide the student, but we didn’t get that right with our oldest.
Live and learn.
And wait. This waiting is getting very hard. I’m rather haunted by a few random “stray letter” arrivals in past threads (but only for students w/a C) and there’s the matter of our unreliable mail delivery, as well. BUT…no news is good news, so I will take that for now.
Good luck today,everyone! And here’s hoping our East Coast friends stay safe in the oncoming blizzard.
Our state flagship converts to its own gpa. That should be a no brainier for all schools. I understand the importance of scholarship money for many families. Each situation calls for its own tactics and, sadly, preserving a gpa sometimes has to be prioritized over intellectual pursuit for its own sake. Starting the countdown for today’s mail delivery. Best of luck @goaskdad.
@vistajay, I do agree that it’s generally better to take the more challenging class whenever possible. But, just in my opinion, it’s a topic that students/families/high schools should perhaps explore more together, with a holistic view in mind. I’ve found that our high school directs the highest-performing students to the most challenging class in every subject. But, for some students, that might not be the best option in light of the big picture.
All I’d advocate is more discussion of the issue, and more awareness on the part of parents and students.
Good thoughts @vistajay, I agree. My daughter was extremely challenged by AP chemistry, and pretty much cried her way through that year. She was a straight A student before that, and that first quarter 79 shook her for sure. She worked hard and did pull that grade up to something like an 84 for a final grade. Despite virtually all A’s in high school, college was another rude awakening for her. She did ultimately adjust, but during the transition she said that only AP chem and maybe 2 other classes truly prepared her. So we were all grateful that she did indeed have that experience in high school. For what that’s worth.
@GoAskDad Keeping my fingers crossed for your son! Our first children are the trail blazers, for good and for bad. I feel your pain!
Just a curious question, does the scholarship money come from people’s SAT and PSAT test fees (in addition to donations by past Scholars I’m sure)? That’s what I have always assumed, but I’ve never found a way to confirm or deny my suspicions 
@biomedicaltennis, are you talking about the NMSC $2500 awards? See pp. 24 and 44 of the report:
http://nationalmerit.org/annual_report.pdf
Test fee revenue could provide at most about 40% of the money that funds those scholarships, if it were all directed that way. I think the College Board is making a lot more money from those tests than the NMSC.
@celesteroberts Yeah, that’s what I meant… I guess all the money College Board makes ends up going to colleges due to Advanced Placement in some way? I know both of these organizations are non-profit so I’ve always wondered where the money goes.
Also, anyone know why we have to pay to send test scores to schools? You’d think the university system could have a network set up by now, but it’s probably all about bringing in and redistributing millions of dollars, for better or worse.
If it helps, I came here as a NM semifinalist and just figured that some people might know… Not trying to hijack this thread! 
I think I’ve “donated” at least $2500 to College Board myself over the years.
we haven’t got a letter yet, my son, weighted gpa 4.90, SAT 2270, 11 AP’s scored on average 4.6/5.0, research paper was published, hope will get a good news next week, just hoping…
It is so unfortunate that inequities permeate the NM process. No question geography, class rigor, school administration, and test preparedness vary immensely from one HS to another.
Parental awareness and involvement can unquestionably affect outcome. @goaskdad and @pamom21 's kids are so fortunate to be the beneficiaries of caring involved parents.
In the spirit of Goaskdads “big picture” approach I believe in a holistic approach. No parent or student can control all the variables. So we do our best. Challenge our students without overwhelming them. Help them discover and use the most effective study habits and techniques (most of which are forged in difficult classes.). And still remember that fairness isn’t guaranteed. NM status can be of great value, especially economically, but I hope and believe hard working, talented students nurtured by caring adults (families, teachers, coaches etc) will find meaningful, productive, and happy lives regardless of NM’s somewhat arbitrary outcomes.
Sounds great @singersdad! Anything I even try to do is for the most part an attempt to balance out the unfairness coming from our school, which is not a high performing one by any stretch. Hopefully that won’t hurt my kids too much in the college admission game. I have worked to provide them challenges though, which as you suggested will take them far.
As a first-timer to the college application process, I would describe NM as probably the fairest (or maybe least unfair) of any merit-based admissions or scholarship program we’ve experienced. Note, my definition of ’ fair’ is ‘the rules are clear and not subject to arbitrary interpretation’. From the point S took PSAT practice test Soph year, we knew this opportunity might be in play, and did our research accordingly. The ‘rules’ are pretty easy to figure out. That is borne out by the fact that the ‘bubble’ families posting here know exactly why they are on the bubble.
Contrast that with the college confidential admssions and deferral threads for elite schools - a crazy quilt of ‘maybe it was my essay’ or ‘school x doesn’t like demographic y’ etc etc. And let’s not get started on how the subjective elements of holistic applications come about. Did the kid actually write the essay? Did the admissions consultant steer the app to the right influential alum?
All in all, natl merit seems quaintly simple - you have one shot to hit a good number, and you need a clean transcript. Maybe NMSC could send out a ‘be aware of C’s’ mailer to every 8th grader in the country, and bypass the HS Counselors with too much on their plate.
I guess I don’t find it that simple. It seems like they drag the process out way more than necessary, deliver news via mail versus just posting it electronically, and fail to have hard guidelines on what grades are required. That being said, I’m not looking a gifthorse in the mouth, either.
So do they post lists every year after the process for SF and F? You think it would be on their website. When I googled I just found random newspapers in certain states posting lists. Is there not one repository for name lists either by state or just a simple list of names.