What score do you need to be a merit scholar?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader scored 1260 and surprisingly put him in 96th percentile. He told me PSAT is out of 1520, not 1600.

96%ile among 10th graders.

96%ile on 11th is almost high enough for Commended.

99%ile in 11th for SemiFinalist/Finalist

But remember that this "scholarship"s program is just a scam to sell expensive tests.

https://research.collegeboard.org/reports/sat-suite/understanding-scores/psat-nmsqt

Why are you pretending it’s not an actual scholarship program? Being named a Semifinalist or better gets kids more merit aid from colleges because the schools want the prestige of attracting as many of these kids as possible. Being an actual Scholar gets you money directly from the NMSC. I earned a bachelor’s degree from a private university without paying a penny for tuition thanks to this program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assumed you had to get like 1550. We live in VA.

1520 is the highest possible score on the PSAT.

So probably around 1470?

I don’t expect my kid to be a scholar. I’m just curious what he would need as a junior to be one.

It depends on the English vs. math score. A kid with a 1490, 730 in English and 760 in math would have a SI of 222, which is probably not good enough in VA. A kid with a 1470, 760 in English and 710 in math would have a SI of 223, which likely is high enough.

Huh??
Why is that not good enough in VA? VA is usually average between 219-222.
222 is the highest they have been.

Compassprep predicts a cutoff of 222 for VA, but I've also heard that scores are trending even higher than expected, so all of the cutoffs might be around the top end of their predicted range, which for VA is a 223. If your kid has a 222, I hope it works out for them! It's a great score!

The top end of predicted range for VA is 222.
VA has never been 223.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader scored 1260 and surprisingly put him in 96th percentile. He told me PSAT is out of 1520, not 1600.

96%ile among 10th graders.

96%ile on 11th is almost high enough for Commended.

99%ile in 11th for SemiFinalist/Finalist

But remember that this "scholarship"s program is just a scam to sell expensive tests.

https://research.collegeboard.org/reports/sat-suite/understanding-scores/psat-nmsqt

Why are you pretending it’s not an actual scholarship program? Being named a Semifinalist or better gets kids more merit aid from colleges because the schools want the prestige of attracting as many of these kids as possible. Being an actual Scholar gets you money directly from the NMSC. I earned a bachelor’s degree from a private university without paying a penny for tuition thanks to this program.

You'd get that scholarship or it's equivalent even without the PSAT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assumed you had to get like 1550. We live in VA.

1520 is the highest possible score on the PSAT.

So probably around 1470?

I don’t expect my kid to be a scholar. I’m just curious what he would need as a junior to be one.

It depends on the English vs. math score. A kid with a 1490, 730 in English and 760 in math would have a SI of 222, which is probably not good enough in VA. A kid with a 1470, 760 in English and 710 in math would have a SI of 223, which likely is high enough.

Huh??
Why is that not good enough in VA? VA is usually average between 219-222.
222 is the highest they have been.

Compassprep predicts a cutoff of 222 for VA, but I've also heard that scores are trending even higher than expected, so all of the cutoffs might be around the top end of their predicted range, which for VA is a 223. If your kid has a 222, I hope it works out for them! It's a great score!

The top end of predicted range for VA is 222.
VA has never been 223.

The compass prep page linked previously on this thread predicts a range of 220-223 for the class of 2026 VA cutoff. They still have 222 as the most likely cutoff score. I'm perhaps overly paranoid, since there seem to be a lot of perfect and near perfect scores in my circle. https://www.compassprep.com/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assumed you had to get like 1550. We live in VA.

1520 is the highest possible score on the PSAT.

So probably around 1470?

I don’t expect my kid to be a scholar. I’m just curious what he would need as a junior to be one.

It depends on the English vs. math score. A kid with a 1490, 730 in English and 760 in math would have a SI of 222, which is probably not good enough in VA. A kid with a 1470, 760 in English and 710 in math would have a SI of 223, which likely is high enough.

Huh??
Why is that not good enough in VA? VA is usually average between 219-222.
222 is the highest they have been.

Compassprep predicts a cutoff of 222 for VA, but I've also heard that scores are trending even higher than expected, so all of the cutoffs might be around the top end of their predicted range, which for VA is a 223. If your kid has a 222, I hope it works out for them! It's a great score!

The top end of predicted range for VA is 222.
VA has never been 223.

The compass prep page linked previously on this thread predicts a range of 220-223 for the class of 2026 VA cutoff. They still have 222 as the most likely cutoff score. I'm perhaps overly paranoid, since there seem to be a lot of perfect and near perfect scores in my circle. https://www.compassprep.com/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/

Op here. We also know a lot of upperclassmen who get 1500+ on their SATs. I don’t expect my kid to be a merit scholar. I was surprised his not so great score in 10th grade put him in the 96th percentile. He took it cold with no prep. Would be great if he could be a commended scholar next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader scored 1260 and surprisingly put him in 96th percentile. He told me PSAT is out of 1520, not 1600.

96%ile among 10th graders.

96%ile on 11th is almost high enough for Commended.

99%ile in 11th for SemiFinalist/Finalist

But remember that this "scholarship"s program is just a scam to sell expensive tests.

https://research.collegeboard.org/reports/sat-suite/understanding-scores/psat-nmsqt

Why are you pretending it’s not an actual scholarship program? Being named a Semifinalist or better gets kids more merit aid from colleges because the schools want the prestige of attracting as many of these kids as possible. Being an actual Scholar gets you money directly from the NMSC. I earned a bachelor’s degree from a private university without paying a penny for tuition thanks to this program.

You'd get that scholarship or it's equivalent even without the PSAT

No, because a lot of colleges have spectacular money for NMF (and more rarely NMSF) but not always to high SAT scorers who didn't take the PSAT. It's a weird system.

As an example, take the University of Alabama, which is one of the most aggressive schools for courting high stats kids. Here's a student with their top non-NMF auto scholarship:

"A student with a 4.0+ GPA and 36 ACT OR 1600 SAT will be selected as a Presidential Elite Scholar and will receive:

Value of tuition for up to four years or eight semesters for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate or law studies
First year of on-campus housing at regular room rate (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
$2,000 one-time allowance for use in research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
$1,500 per year supplemental scholarship for four years"

Compare with Alabama's easier to get NMF, which doesn't require either that high a SAT score or GPA:

"If admitted, students who are eligible for the National Merit Finalist package will receive:

Value of tuition for up to five years or 10 semesters for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate or law studies
Four years of undergraduate on-campus housing at regular room rate* (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
$4,000 per year undergraduate supplemental scholarship for four years**
$2,000 one-time allowance for use in research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)"

[Anonymous]

Depends. For Asians it’s a lot higher

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader scored 1260 and surprisingly put him in 96th percentile. He told me PSAT is out of 1520, not 1600.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends. For Asians it’s a lot higher

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader scored 1260 and surprisingly put him in 96th percentile. He told me PSAT is out of 1520, not 1600.

Are you implying that the standards are different for different races?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader scored 1260 and surprisingly put him in 96th percentile. He told me PSAT is out of 1520, not 1600.

96%ile among 10th graders.

96%ile on 11th is almost high enough for Commended.

99%ile in 11th for SemiFinalist/Finalist

But remember that this "scholarship"s program is just a scam to sell expensive tests.

https://research.collegeboard.org/reports/sat-suite/understanding-scores/psat-nmsqt

Why are you pretending it’s not an actual scholarship program? Being named a Semifinalist or better gets kids more merit aid from colleges because the schools want the prestige of attracting as many of these kids as possible. Being an actual Scholar gets you money directly from the NMSC. I earned a bachelor’s degree from a private university without paying a penny for tuition thanks to this program.

You'd get that scholarship or it's equivalent even without the PSAT

No, because a lot of colleges have spectacular money for NMF (and more rarely NMSF) but not always to high SAT scorers who didn't take the PSAT. It's a weird system.

As an example, take the University of Alabama, which is one of the most aggressive schools for courting high stats kids. Here's a student with their top non-NMF auto scholarship:

"A student with a 4.0+ GPA and 36 ACT OR 1600 SAT will be selected as a Presidential Elite Scholar and will receive:

Value of tuition for up to four years or eight semesters for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate or law studies
First year of on-campus housing at regular room rate (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
$2,000 one-time allowance for use in research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
$1,500 per year supplemental scholarship for four years"

Compare with Alabama's easier to get NMF, which doesn't require either that high a SAT score or GPA:

"If admitted, students who are eligible for the National Merit Finalist package will receive:

Value of tuition for up to five years or 10 semesters for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate or law studies
Four years of undergraduate on-campus housing at regular room rate* (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
$4,000 per year undergraduate supplemental scholarship for four years**
$2,000 one-time allowance for use in research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)"

The issue is that few kids making NMSF in higher scoring states want to take up these packages. Ivies and top state schools aren't offering these packages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assumed you had to get like 1550. We live in VA.

1520 is the highest possible score on the PSAT.

So probably around 1470?

I don’t expect my kid to be a scholar. I’m just curious what he would need as a junior to be one.

It depends on the English vs. math score. A kid with a 1490, 730 in English and 760 in math would have a SI of 222, which is probably not good enough in VA. A kid with a 1470, 760 in English and 710 in math would have a SI of 223, which likely is high enough.

Huh??
Why is that not good enough in VA? VA is usually average between 219-222.
222 is the highest they have been.

Compassprep predicts a cutoff of 222 for VA, but I've also heard that scores are trending even higher than expected, so all of the cutoffs might be around the top end of their predicted range, which for VA is a 223. If your kid has a 222, I hope it works out for them! It's a great score!

The top end of predicted range for VA is 222.
VA has never been 223.

The compass prep page linked previously on this thread predicts a range of 220-223 for the class of 2026 VA cutoff. They still have 222 as the most likely cutoff score. I'm perhaps overly paranoid, since there seem to be a lot of perfect and near perfect scores in my circle. https://www.compassprep.com/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/

Op here. We also know a lot of upperclassmen who get 1500+ on their SATs. I don’t expect my kid to be a merit scholar. I was surprised his not so great score in 10th grade put him in the 96th percentile. He took it cold with no prep. Would be great if he could be a commended scholar next year.

What was the breakdown between math and English? Follow the formula to calculate their index score.

Depending on what school they attend, commended doesn't mean much. Remember the scandal at TJ where they didn't even tell the commended kids.