<p>I didn't do well on the PSAT and was not even close to my state's cut off, but on the SAT I did very well and scored above a 2250. Will not being a National Merit Scholar hurt me in the admissions process? Thanks!</p>
<p>No, it will not hurt you. Being a NMF helps a little, not being a NMF doesn’t affect you at all. The PSAT is not important.</p>
<p>No, it won’t hurt you. NM is just one item on an application. Strength of schedule, gpa, teacher recs and commitment to an EC are more important than NM.</p>
<p>Just my opinion. There will be 8000 NMS many of whom will weigh options at the elite schools. Being a NMS shows that one did well year after year on the PSAT/SAT. Not doing well on the PSAT I think might be considered inconsistent with Adcom. Not being an NMS by itself will not keep you out but being a NMS will likely put you a step up.</p>
<p>I respectfully disagree with sosomenza’s comment above. I doubt not doing well on the PSAT vs. the SAT will be considered inconsistent–especially considering you’re just testing two days in your four years of high school. If it’s an issue of consistency, I think your academic record would be much more demonstrative of your consistency. Frankly, I doubt colleges even really consider the PSAT. I didn’t do well on the PSAT but I did well on the SAT, and I don’t think it negatively affected me when I applied to colleges at all.</p>
<p>Also consider that the cutoffs for NMS vary considerably from state to state. Someone with a 220 may not qualify in one state, but a 207 in another state may be sufficient. I think as long as your SAT and/or ACT are in the range for the schools you’re applying to, you should be OK.</p>
<p>Many students never take the PSAT at all, especially here in the Midwest. At our local HS you need to take initiative to sign up for and pay for test and then show up on a Sat AM to take it. You don’t report PSAT on college apps. That is, the apps may ask if you are NMSF/NMF, but don’t ask if you took PSAT and what your score is. It won’t hurt your application at all.</p>
<p>The only thing you lose out on is the scholarship opportunities, and unless you planned to go to one of the schools that offer the really large scholarships, it’s not that great a loss. Well, Ok, it’s not nothing. Even the small scholarships count. $2K/yr does add up, but it’s not a huge deal on the scale of today’s college costs… But you might end up at a school that doesn’t even have the small scholarship and if you aren’t great enough student to have scored one of the NMSC or corporate one-time $2500 scholarships(maybe about 1/3th of NMFs get one of those), then you really will have lost nothing.</p>
<p>Great SAT score! Congratulations.</p>
<p>There are actually 15K NMFs annually, not 8K. But many of those who DON’T make NMF are those who don’t bother filling out the forms because they intend to go to schools which don’t give NMF boosts or scholarships.</p>
<p>It’s not that big a deal. Can help you a ton at some lower ranked schools. Some school like to advertise the number of National Merit they have in their class.</p>
<p>Here’s the point. The college board has a ton of information on most students. The more consistent it looks, the better it looks. BTW don’t forget there’s even a test in Soph year of H.S called the NMQST. Also there’s a lot of cheating of the SAT, it’s not like the SAT isn’t in crisis with unusually high scores so a little year over year consistency can only help. Lastly, I believe, 15K NMF gets paired down to 8K NMS. The big scholarship prize is at the NMF , however, the NMS also get the $2500 money award.</p>
<p>^ The NMSQT is also called the PSAT and the time you take it that counts for National Merit is as a Junior<a href=“many%20students%20don’t%20get%20a%20chance%20to%20take%20it%20during%20their%20sophomore%20year”>/U</a>. There are 16K Juniors who make NM Semifinalist. Of those 15K are chosen as Finalists. National Merit Scholars may NOT get an additional $2500. Students are only allowed to get ONE national merit award. If the college notes their scholarship as a National Merit scholarship then the student would not be allowed to also have a $2500 award, but it is college dependent.</p>