<p>Does anybody know if the SAT scores have to be received by the October 12th deadline also? I requested that they be sent (regular, not rush) on September 9th and it said it could take as much as five weeks which would put me just after the deadline. I would really hate to be dismissed from the competition for my SAT scores not making it in time since they were an improval from my PSAT.</p>
<p>Since you have until December to take the SAT, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter if your score gets there after October 12. They do encourage taking it by November.</p>
<p>Oh thanks I must have missed that.</p>
<p>From what I have read here, I'm assuming that the recommendation and essay don't matter for finalist status as long as they are filled out? This is because my essay is bad and I have to have a teacher write the rec instead of gc or principle because "they don't know me well enough" and I can only give him like a week to do it.</p>
<p>I'd make no such assumption. Rewrite the essay and at least make it passable rather than "bad". I am guessing that the teacher rec is not a problem.</p>
<p>If I am not mistaken, 15,000 out of 16,000 SF become finalists. Your odds are good, but why lower them by not making an effort to improve your essay?</p>
<p>I think I read somewhere that like 15 out of 16 become finalists. Just fill out the paperwork and you're golden.</p>
<p>Oops just saw the above post confirming my numbers.</p>
<p>The above being said about how not to make finalist, how seriously are current NMSC semi-finalists taking the essay? I know not to screw it up too badly, but I'm not sure how much effort it's worth - I have a tight schedule this week and don't want to devote more than an hour... ^_^' I've written a few college essay drafts, but for different prompts with a different length.</p>
<p>I didn't take it too seriously... I just kind of wrote the typical boring cheesy stuff - I didn't go out of the box or anything creative like I will for my college essays. I gave it to a friend to proofread, so I didn't have any stupid grammar errors or anything, and bam.</p>
<p>What if the essay is not the traditional five paragraph essay, but more free form? It is very good and it answers every facet of the prompt.</p>
<p>While I'm hardly the definitive authority on the subject, I doubt they'd hold you not writing in typical, five paragraph essay form against you.</p>
<p>Like Kchen, my D was just told that neither the principal nor GC knew any of the 4 SF's well enough to write the recommendation part (none of the 4 play football, I guess), and they each had to get a teacher to do it (assorted grumblings and bad words about school omitted by poster). No problem getting a teacher to write a nice rec, but is that going to be ok with NMS? It does say "or Principal's designee" or something. Has anyone else ever used a teacher for the rec and been ok? To me, it makes it sound like the kids had to "find" someone who would recommend them and the principal/GC refused.</p>
<p>I have heard of others here that used a teacher, I think that is OK as Principal's designee. Sorry that varsity football is all that matters for your school, the same applies to ours but at least the Principal was able to dabble in academics and ask enough questions that he could write a nice rec for our son.</p>
<p>Thanks, crazy mom. That's reassuring. (Actually, football is all that matters in our whole state, and although I even like football I get a little tired of it). I hope you're right about the teacher rec. D told me that when she asked her AP Spanish teacher to write it, the woman was actually excited. Sweet. Principal (who was a football player in our very own high school) told them when he gave them their paperwork that the school was proud of them for "taking such challenging classes" :-/ So, I'm sure the teacher's rec will be better</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack this thread, but am I the only one who was surprised that you had to pay $9.50 to send your scores to National Merit? I thought that you get 4 free score reports sent for free, or is this one of College Board's new scams. For the record, this is the first time I've sent my scores anywhere.</p>
<p>Hi, FredFred, let me see if I understand your question correctly. Yes, if you designate the score recipients as you register for the SAT or soon afterward, you can send scores to up to four recipients for free for each time you register for the SAT. The record sent is cumulative. But if you want to send the scores out subsequently, or to yet more recipients, you pay for each score report sent. That's small change if it gets you a National Merit Scholarship or admission to an elite college with great financial aid. I don't know when you last registered for an SAT I, or what scores you have already sent, but I think a lot of students suddenly discover they need to send scores to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation at this time of year.</p>
<p>Oh so I have to designate my recipients when I'm registering? Cool. I've lost my four free reports since I'm done with testing. Thanks for the clarification though.</p>