94chem - which consultant did you use?

Victoria Perez

seven-0ne-three
six-four-seven
one-four-four-two

She used to live in Houston, but is in Chicago now. I don't have a website link.

If she wants to know who referred you, I am at atm94unc98 at thegoogle.

My son just got notification of his status today. The counselor's email said nothing is made public until September 13th. Not sure if announcements are made by state, but we are in Georgia.

Kool said:

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My son just got notification of his status today. The counselor's email said nothing is made public until September 13th. Not sure if announcements are made by state, but we are in Georgia.

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What was the cutoff score for semifinalist? Did it say, or just let him know his recognition level? Based on the Compass Prep website, Florida came in at 216 as projected.

It did not say a cutoff level. That being said, one can deduce that a 219 qualifies for Semifinalist status in Georgia. That's consistent with what I was told by someone who wouldn't reveal her sources but told me many months ago she had inside information that 219 would meet the Georgia cutoff.

My child was shown the list today and they made semi-finalist with a 219 in Texas.

https://utulsa.edu/tu-reports-most-national-merit-scholars-per-capita/

151. Crazy times.

Full tuition (excluding summers) for five years or until an undergraduate degree is earned. Students must maintain a minimum of 15 hours of coursework per semester.
Tier I Room and Board (upgrades to the Tier I plans are available at your expense)
Standard Student Fees
Textbooks (all incoming students receive free textbooks for the entirety of their undergraduate years)



Not hard to see why they lead the nation

They have a new president, and this is the first year they've done this. They only have about 2800 total undergrads, so about 20% of the freshman class are NMS. They are totally remaking the image of the university. Tuition and fees run about $65,000/year. It's an unprecedented experiment.

94chem said:

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They have a new president, and this is the first year they've done this. They only have about 2800 total undergrads, so about 20% of the freshman class are NMS. They are totally remaking the image of the university. Tuition and fees run about $65,000/year. It's an unprecedented experiment.

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Amazing numbers, percentage-wise.
Really an interesting approach/experiment!! Sounds as if they're targeting really smart kids who don't come from super wealthy families. Then they're banking on these kids going out and doing well, then hopefully giving back to the university. I like it!

Probably some power couples, too, lol.

I'm hoping to bump this thread since the most recent digital-version PSAT scores came out.

My son is a sophomore here in CS, he scored a 1280 (630 English/650 Math) with a 191 out of 228 for NMS. 99% for TX and the US.

A&M will certainly be one of his choices, but he's also had interest in STEM degrees out of state (he and my wife joke about MIT). He's maximizing his AP courses as best he can.

Just curious what he should continue to focus on?

I would do a test prep over the summer, best case he ups his score and gets NMSF and can get a good scholarship to an A&M level school. Even if he doesn't it will still get him ready for the SAT which will be a factor at being accepted at anywhere else he applies.

Our son, a 9th grader, took PSAT 8/9 in October. He got a 1330 - 670 R/W, 660 M. How do we go about helping him get those scores up? I understand that simply taking his required math classes is going to help with math scores; he hasn't had all the math he needs for everything on the test. His "reach"'schools are very ambitious.

combat wombat said:

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Our son, a 9th grader, took PSAT 8/9 in. October. He got a 1330 - 670 R/W, 660 M. How do we go about helping him get those scores up? I understand that simply taking the his required math classes is going to help with math scores; he hasn't had all the math he needs for everything on the test. His "reach"'schools are very ambitious.

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Your son is performing very well and will likely be a future National, especially since he is scoring well on the verbal section. That section of the test, primarily the reading, is the most stubborn of the three sections to improve.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. Keep doing what you're doing. Encourage some more outside reading and stay on top of the math skills. However, after his sophomore year, I would be aggressive with private coaching. A class won't benefit him as the material will be too "general," and he would have already mastered the bulk of the concepts. A detailed test prep plan of about 8 - 12 hours will ensure his National Merit status.

Cool!

His twin brother made a 990 - 530 RW and 460 M. That puts him at about the 77th percentile of all testers and above the average at their private school. We're planning on having them both do a class next summer. It seems he'd benefit from this more than his brother?

combat wombat said:

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Cool!

His twin brother made a 990 - 530 RW and 460 M. That puts him at about the 77th percentile of all testers and above the average at their private school. We're planning on having them both do a class next summer. It seems he'd benefit from this more than his brother?

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My pleasure, and yes, I would recommend a class for the twin brother and private instruction for the high scorer.

General rule of thumb pertaining to the type of test prep you should pursue.

• 85th percentile or higher: Private Instruction. These students also have a high chance of National Merit. The higher the reading score, the more their odds of NM success increase.
• Between the 40th and 85th Percentile: Class Instruction or Private (If the student needs 1:1 instruction to focus or guidance to complete all the assigned work)
• Less than the 40th Percentile: If you have a motivated student, I would consider class or private instruction. If not, utilize the test-optional path.

Do you find that the higher echelon schools put much weight on National Merit status in terms of admissions? My son has gotten all kinds of letters from schools bending over backwards to give him a scholarship with in-state tuition guarantees (Texas A&M), full rides plus stipends (University of Tulsa), full tuition (Alabama, the Mississippi schools), etc. So far I have seen absolutely nothing in terms of any offers from the University of Chicago, Duke, Vanderbilt, UVA, Georgetown, etc. tier schools. And in going around to do campus tours at these schools, I never hear their numbers of NMS kids mentioned in their presentations, etc. It seems an odd dichotomy. Is NMS status very helpful in terms of acceptance at these schools (I'm hoping it is)?

My son is a freshman in high school and scored an 1170 on the PSAT 8/9. He has dreams of potentially attending Notre Dame or Michigan (have family who went there). Is there any way that with this freshman score he has a chance of attending these schools if he steadily improves throughout high school? Thank you!

Kool said:

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Do you find that the higher echelon schools put much weight on National Merit status in terms of admissions? My son has gotten all kinds of letters from schools bending over backwards to give him a scholarship with in-state tuition guarantees (Texas A&M), full rides plus stipends (University of Tulsa), full tuition (Alabama, the Mississippi schools), etc. So far I have seen absolutely nothing in terms of any offers from the University of Chicago, Duke, Vanderbilt, UVA, Georgetown, etc. tier schools. And in going around to do campus tours at these schools, I never hear their numbers of NMS kids mentioned in their presentations, etc. It seems an odd dichotomy. Is NMS status very helpful in terms of acceptance at these schools (I'm hoping it is)?

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Some schools are huge on NM and others don't care about it at all. A&M is huge on it but Texas doesn't care. Vanderbilt actually does care but most of the elites don't. It's just whether or not the school wants to brag about number of NM, if they do they give big money, if they don't care they don't care at all for the most part.

Thanks. Why do you say Vanderbilt emphasizes it? I went on their site:

Vanderbilt at a Glance

Looking at their stats, their freshman class should have about 1,800 students. They list 169 National Merit Scholars. That's only about 9% of their student body. When you look at their test scores, ACT middle 50 is 34-35, and SAT middle 50 is 1510-1560. It seems something is off. Those scores would tell me that a huge number of their admitted students would qualify for NMS. I wonder if they have a lot of their students qualify as Finalists, but they don't get a scholarship so they don't qualify as Scholars. That's the only way I can really work my head around those stats. Vanderbilt is on our list, so I hope you are right about their preference for these students.

SAT Scores are going to trend higher than qualifying nmf scores for a variety of reasons

max score is 80 points higher
you can take the SAT as many times as you want, only get one shot to qualify for NMF.
Between sat and act kids are going to submit the better of the two, meaning the stats for each one will be inflated a bit

Thanks, that does make some sense. Especially since it appears Vanderbilt allows you to Superscore. It would be interesting to see what their single score mid-50s looked like. Those superscored numbers are WAAAY high.

Kool said:

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Thanks. Why do you say Vanderbilt emphasizes it? I went on their site:

Vanderbilt at a Glance

Looking at their stats, their freshman class should have about 1,800 students. They list 169 National Merit Scholars. That's only about 9% of their student body. When you look at their test scores, ACT middle 50 is 34-35, and SAT middle 50 is 1510-1560. It seems something is off. Those scores would tell me that a huge number of their admitted students would qualify for NMS. I wonder if they have a lot of their students qualify as Finalists, but they don't get a scholarship so they don't qualify as Scholars. That's the only way I can really work my head around those stats. Vanderbilt is on our list, so I hope you are right about their preference for these students.

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"Emphasizes" may be a strong word but many of the top schools don't mention NM at all and don't offer any scholarships for NM at all. Even schools like Colorado School of Mines have no bump for NM. For Vanderbilt they have this at least:

Quote:

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National Merit Scholarships

Vanderbilt provides scholarship assistance for admitted and enrolled students who are named National Merit Finalists. Students must designate Vanderbilt as their first choice school with the National Merit Corporation by National Merit's final deadline and enroll as an entering freshman student to receive Vanderbilt's National Merit Scholarship. For those finalists who also receive one of Vanderbilt's merit scholarships, we guarantee an additional $2,000 in National Merit total scholarship dollars per year from all sources (with Vanderbilt supplementing any smaller corporate or one-time National Merit Corporation awards). Beginning with entering students for the fall 2023 class, those finalists who do not receive an additional merit scholarship from Vanderbilt will receive a total of up to $6,000 per year in National Merit scholarship dollars from all sources (with Vanderbilt supplementing any smaller corporate or one-time National Merit Corporation awards). For students entering Vanderbilt before fall 2023, the scholarship total is up to $5,000 per year.

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Kool said:

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Thanks, that does make some sense. Especially since it appears Vanderbilt allows you to Superscore. It would be interesting to see what their single score mid-50s looked like. Those superscored numbers are WAAAY high.

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A lot of the top schools have had an inflation bump on SAT scores because of being test optional. If you don't have an extremely high SAT/ACT then they don't submit it. That likely takes out a lot of legacy and athlete admits as well that can drag on the numbers.

How does the psat 8/9 translate? My son is in the 8th grade and has never taken a test like this before. He came in cold and ended up in the 99th percentile. That sounds very good to me, but his score was a 1250. That doesn't seem like a top score. How do I make sense of this? How do we help him get his best score when the time comes?

They're not on the same scale. I think the highest on the PSAT 89 is a 1400.

If you have him log into his college boards account, you can see how he compares to others, who took the test in his same group, in the state, and nationally. It will also break down the English and math section little bit better. I looked at both of my boys.

A perfect PSAT 8/9 score is a 1440. A 1250 might very well be top 1% for 8th graders but it will take a score in the 1300s as a 9th grader to stay in the top 1%. Part of the problem is that the test will likely have some types of math questions that they haven't covered in school yet, even for 9th graders. My 9th grade son was making educated guesses on a few math problems for that very reason. Of course, he'll be taking the regular PSAT next year, so even though he will have had another year of math, the goalposts will probably move again. The PSAT that counts for National Merit is taken in the 11th grade, so their math classes should be caught up to the test material by that point.

There are sample tests you can take online before he takes it again next year. They also publish benchmarks that will tell you roughly whether your kid is on tract to be well prepared for college.