Post your questions here, and I'll be happy to give you some feedback as to what they mean for your student.

My son is a freshman in high school and scored an 1160. Any details on how that ranks?

That score is within the top 5 - 7 percentile in the nation. Very solid score and could very well be in contention for National Merit if they continue on this trajectory. Just ensure they continue reading, preferably academic material, and then be aggressive with their test prep after their sophomore year.

double b said:

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That score is within the top 5 - 7 percentile in the nation. Very solid score and could very well wind in contention for National Merit if they continue on this trajectory. Just make sure they continue to read, preferably academic material, and then be aggressive with their test prep after their sophomore year.

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Thanks for the response. He scored 600 on math and 560 on the English.

Work on that Verbal. Read, and read some more.

He loves to read what he wants to not necessarily what he is told to read.

That's awesome! I hope he retains that love of his for reading.

Wow, thanks for doing this!!!
My son, a junior, got his scores back today. He got a 1460, with a Selection Index of 219. We live in Georgia, it would appear he is right above the cutoff for National Merit for the last two years.
We have put away money for his college. His dream school is Georgetown (right now). The question I have is, does having a PSAT score, and possibly getting National Merit, really help him get INTO colleges? A parent of a child who received it a few years ago told me it didn't seem to matter, but that seems strange. When I was little, Texas A&M bent over backwards to bring in National Merit Scholars.
Thanks for doing this.

That's an excellent score, and I commend him on possibly being a future National Merit. That's such a remarkable achievement that some schools and scholarship programs will reward it. Unfortunately, school such as Georgetown and other elite colleges, this achievement will not help as much concerning their admission decisions.

I currently have one client attending the McDonough School of Business for Corporate Finance, so I am familiar with the admission process there. Regarding your son's test prep, I would recommend doing a little more to elevate his score. Georgetown's middle 50 SAT range is from 1520 - 1560. I would target the March test (if possible) to achieve this score. This would give your son time to prepare for the May AP tests. For elite colleges such as Georgetown, it helps to achieve as many 4s and 5s on your AP tests to further bolster his testing profile. It's another way for students to separate themselves from those mid-1500 test scores.

I hope this helps, and congrats again to your son for doing so well!

Thanks for your response. He has never taken the SAT, just the ACT. I'm not how the PSAT score would correlate to an SAT score, since the PSAT is only based on a total of 1520 versus 1600. I found one conversion which put it at a 1520 on the SAT:
PSAT to SAT Score Conversion
It's hard for me to believe that Georgetown's SAT middle 50 is so high, that sounds crazy to me! I can remember applying to Rice as a high schooler and their average SAT was 1330 or so, and I thought that was ridiculous (I chose A&M over Rice because I wanted to have a life and am glad I did).

He reads extremely fast, but he tends to lag in his math scores. Not usually the case for boys, but that is how/where he is. Right now, he has taken the ACT twice (once between his sophomore and junior year and once the fall of this junior year). Currently, he is at a 34.25 Superscore. I am quite certain he should be able to get his ACT up to a 35 Superscore easily enough, but I would imagine he would do better on the ACT than the SAT since the SAT is 50% math.

His ACT score is very good and converts to a 1510 SAT score. IMO, I would recommend taking the ACT one more time in February to achieve a 35; however, a 34 will help toward his admission decision. Also, unfortunately, Georgetown does NOT superscore for the ACT.

Kool said:

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Wow, thanks for doing this!!!
My son, a junior, got his scores back today. He got a 1460, with a Selection Index of 219. We live in Georgia, it would appear he is right above the cutoff for National Merit for the last two years.
We have put away money for his college. His dream school is Georgetown (right now). The question I have is, does having a PSAT score, and possibly getting National Merit, really help him get INTO colleges? A parent of a child who received it a few years ago told me it didn't seem to matter, but that seems strange. When I was little, Texas A&M bent over backwards to bring in National Merit Scholars.
Thanks for doing this.

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FYI, almost all the NMSF make Finalist (14,000/15,000), just make sure he fills out application right and has good essays and recommendations.

My kid was NMF in 2020. Some schools don't care, some schools really want it because it brings up their numbers. Georgetown won't care, A&M does. The day she got NMSF A&M stopped by in person to drop off a bag of goodies. The schools that really care make it worth while.

NMF at A&M will basically get you an A&M degree for 50% instate cost (OOS gets a tuition wave I believe) which I thought was the best deal of the schools my kid was considering.

UT doesn't care.

While we had money saved up, She decided on UTD over A&M, Full-ride+ scholarship, honors
program, first to register, best dorms best on-campus aprtment, stipend to study abroad. So we are just saving that money for grad school now. You can see how it has benefitted that school, as their test score numbers are even with UT now.

Florida public schools have something called Benacquisto Scholarship Program, which is supposed to cover cost of attendence. Most of the SEC schools (except Georgia and Vandy) will have really good deals too.

They are not documented well, but a few of of the 2nd tier private schools are pretty agressive with NMF, I think I remember Fordham was on record of having the best $ for NMF (free tuition).

Hi- thanks for doing this! My son (junior in a Texas high school) just got his PSAT score - 1440. Any idea where this puts him for national merit or what it means for potential college scholarships?

Can you tell me the breakdown for the verbal and math sections? Also, what state are you located in?

NM doesn't go off the final score, but off the selection index which is calculated by adding the 3 sections and multiplying by 2. A perfect score would by (40+40+40)*2=240

The cutoff for Texas NMSF is usually 219 or 220

He got a 35 reading, 34 writing/language and 37.5 math. So a 213 index which it sounds like in Texas will be just below cutoff unfortunately.

Yeah, unfortunately, that will be below the NM cutoff for Texas. I typically recommend/suggest that students prepare for a 221, which will confidently earn them the necessary score for the state of Texas.

However, it sounds like your son is a strong test taker, top 5%, which is excellent for most schools in the US. Does he have a set of schools in mind?

Another Doug said:

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Kool said:

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Wow, thanks for doing this!!!
My son, a junior, got his scores back today. He got a 1460, with a Selection Index of 219. We live in Georgia, it would appear he is right above the cutoff for National Merit for the last two years.
We have put away money for his college. His dream school is Georgetown (right now). The question I have is, does having a PSAT score, and possibly getting National Merit, really help him get INTO colleges? A parent of a child who received it a few years ago told me it didn't seem to matter, but that seems strange. When I was little, Texas A&M bent over backwards to bring in National Merit Scholars.
Thanks for doing this.

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FYI, almost all the NMSF make Finalist (14,000/15,000), just make sure he fills out application right and has good essays and recommendations.

My kid was NMF in 2020. Some schools don't care, some schools really want it because it brings up their numbers. Georgetown won't care, A&M does. The day she got NMSF A&M stopped by in person to drop off a bag of goodies. The schools that really care make it worth while.

NMF at A&M will basically get you an A&M degree for 50% instate cost (OOS gets a tuition wave I believe) which I thought was the best deal of the schools my kid was considering.

UT doesn't care.

While we had money saved up, She decided on UTD over A&M, Full-ride+ scholarship, honors
program, first to register, best dorms best on-campus aprtment, stipend to study abroad. So we are just saving that money for grad school now. You can see how it has benefitted that school, as their test score numbers are even with UT now.

Florida public schools have something called Benacquisto Scholarship Program, which is supposed to cover cost of attendence. Most of the SEC schools (except Georgia and Vandy) will have really good deals too.

They are not documented well, but a few of of the 2nd tier private schools are pretty agressive with NMF, I think I remember Fordham was on record of having the best $ for NMF (free tuition).

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Thanks for your response as well. I did a bit of research and there are some schools which would probably offer a full ride for a National Merit Scholar. Texas Tech and OU are two listed. However, we love our son and would never do that to him!
USC actually has something saying they would give a half scholarship to National Merit kids - not a bad deal for such an expensive school.
We live in Georgia, which means UGA or Georgia Tech for in-state options. My son has zero interest in Georgia Tech, and even though my wife is an alum, she has no desire to send him there. It's a grind located right in the middle of a huge city. UGA 's admissions process is absolutely opaque. They are trying to accomplish something with their school which, frankly, means that a lot of kids with extremely strong academic records and test scores sometimes get left out. It's not politically correct to point out what I am talking about, but I would imagine most would get the message. See the Supreme Court.

For either you or double b: when do states make their official cutoffs for National Merit in terms of their Selection Index? I am hopeful that a 219 will suffice in Georgia. Thanks again for both responses. I am still in awe of just how high the scores are for Georgetown's classes.

For us NMSF was official the following September.

My kid applied to and got into UGA, but they offered no money.

Another Doug said:

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For us NMSF was official the following September.

My kid applied to and got into UGA, but they offered no money.

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Just so strange. Ole Miss, Miss State, South Carolina, all of these surrounding schools offer huge scholarships but UGA - nada.
Maybe not exactly up to date but....

27 full ride college scholarships

It's all driven by rankings, UGA is a top public university so it doesn't need to offer money.

How do the scholarships work at different schools for the finalists? I was looking at some stuff last night and I thought at a couple of different universities (maybe Tech and A&M) it said you have to have them listed as #1 on the NMF application for college choice. So, if you put A&M #1 and then later decided to go to Tech because they offer full cost of attendance, you wouldn't be able to get the full cost of attendance because they were not #1 on the NMF application. Did I read that correctly?

You have until May of when you graduate to change your first choice.

This is an excellent website to help you project NM index scores. National Merit Semifinalist Cutoffs Class of 2024. Based on this information, your son's 219 will most likely meet the cutoff scores.

Also, for those who are following this thread with students in grades 10 or younger, next year, College Board is rolling out their digital version of the PSAT. In Spring 2024, College Board is going completely digital.

That's the site I was looking at to gauge if my kid's score would qualify. Texas SI of 219, so only 50-60% confident. A 220 and I would have been 95% confident. Sucks you have to wait 9 months to officially find out.

Anything, other than taking the SAT/ACT between now and then, that needs to be done to prepare for in the event they qualify as a semifinalist?

Just do the normal stuff you would already do to fill out a college application. It is said that the a confirming score on the SAT is a major thing they look at. So if they bomb that, go ahead and take it again.

My son received his scores and got a selection index of 224 which his guidance counselor said all but assured him NM status. With 3 kids to put through college, we have spent the last day looking at the different financial packages that we can take advantage of this status versus pursuing an "elite college". His guidance counselor advises looking at TAMU and going for a Brown Scholarship to combine with the NM award. Does anyone know how many of those scholarships are given and at what amounts. Also any insight on what type of numbers / resume would be needed to compete for the additional Brown Scholarship. The admission website is pretty vague and we are trying to figure out what that would look like compared to other schools packages.

Here's the most composite list you will find on the internet, but it is a little outdated. However, it would help to refine your college search.

Selective Colleges Offering National Merit Scholarships

Regarding your son's 224, he's a shoo-in for NM Finalist unless he drops the ball academically or with this SAT score.

Another Doug said:

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NM doesn't go off the final score, but off the selection index which is calculated by adding the 3 sections and multiplying by 2. A perfect score would by (40+40+40)*2=240

The cutoff for Texas NMSF is usually 219 or 220

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Can you explain the selection index and what tests that includes. I'm new to this and got cofused going from the PSAT score to the selection index. Thanks

JAG03 said:

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Another Doug said:

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NM doesn't go off the final score, but off the selection index which is calculated by adding the 3 sections and multiplying by 2. A perfect score would by (40+40+40)*2=240

The cutoff for Texas NMSF is usually 219 or 220

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Can you explain the selection index and what tests that includes. I'm new to this and got cofused going from the PSAT score to the selection index. Thanks

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Reading
Writing
Math

PSAT/Sat Score is (R+W)*10 + (2*M)*10 = Score Max of 1520 (or 1600 for SAT)
PSAT Selection index score is (R+W+M)*2


*I mistakingly said the max score on each section earlier was 40, it is actually 38 on PSAT

My son got a 1410 with a selection index of 209. Based on the compassprep.com page, that will likely get 'Commended' but not Semi-Finalist in Texas.

Are there specific benefits to being Commended or is it just something to note on college applications?

just another thing to put on the resume really.

But if he is scoring in the commended range you can look at the schools that give Merit scholarships based on SAT and GPA. A 1410 on PSAT means with some prep work he can probably shoot for a 1500 on SAT. That will get you some good money at lot of SEC-like schools. A lot of schools will have charts like this one from Ole Miss...



It might not gaurantee money at A&M, but will make it easier to get into engineering if he is thinking that.

Don't expect anything from high test scores. It's only one tiny over hyped slice of the pie. You just want to avoid an elimination score.

HECUBUS said:

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Don't expect anything from high test scores. It's only one tiny over hyped slice of the pie. You just want to avoid an elimination score.

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This depends on the type of schools you are looking at. If you're speaking of Texas A&M, then yes, the odds of receiving an academic, merit-based scholarship are virtually impossible. I should know; I was a part of the process when they overhauled the awarding of those scholarships 12 years ago.

Also, any school that is considered very selective with an acceptance rate less than 20%, then in most instances, they only award need-based aid.

However, if you're looking at less selective schools then it is very possible to benefit from a strong test score, especially when that test score is above the middle 50 range.

Last weekend I met a couple of college freshmen, one attending Cal Polytech and one at Denver University, that my son was speaking with. In discussing the application process with them, they both remarked that schools were still having standardized testing be optional. That apparently started during COVID, but I was very surprised to hear that schools are continuing in this way. This seems to be quite a risky proposal. A grade from one school is not the same as a grade from another school. I wonder if this will continue to be the way schools do things, or if the pendulum will go back to standardized testing being the norm.