I just got my PSAT scores, and i am very upset with them, i got an 1190, while my current SAT score is an 1990 (work in progress). I was really hoping to make national merit, but since i won’t make the cut off, will i still have a chance at getting accepted to schools like these? Duke, Emory, UPenn, NYU, Northwestern, University of Chicago, Columbia
Those schools will not see your PSAT score.
yes, but will i still have a chance to get in without national merit?
You have a chance to get into those schools if you can pull a 2100-2250+ on the SAT.
How you score on the SAT (or ACT) is much more important than whether or not you get National Merit recognition.
It is definitely within your abiity to get into those schools without having received the National Merit Award. Just to give you some perspective, only about 7,000 students actually recieve the scholarship every year (although more get awards of commendations, become semifinalists, etc) and that is not nearly enough to fill up all those schools. Not to mention many of those who recieve the award choose to go to schools that will give them more money because of that standing. That said, I think what you should be more worried about is your curent SAT score. I would say it is highly improbable that you would be able to get in to any of those school with that low of score but if you are able to bring it up, I would not worry about the PSAT
Your current SAT score is the biggest problem. Move on from your PSAT score.