How many here had students that missed being NMSF and were Commended instead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid wasn’t even commended. Perhaps an off day bc was focused on a school activity that afternoon or maybe not as smart as other kids. Whatever.

Kid did get a 1540 on SAT in 1 sitting (common app shows how many tries it takes to get score). Also had all 5s on AP exams and took a high number of AP exams compared to school peers. Had 2 B pluses in high school - including 1 junior year - so not valedictorian but higher GPA than many and high rigor (calc BC, all lab sciences, 4 years foreign language, wants to be Humanities major). Solid but regular high school activities (varsity letter winner in multiple sports, club officer, team captain etc). Known as a “nice” kid.

Was accepted REA to first choice school this fall.

All that is to say commended doesn’t make a kid or break an applicant.

So some kids do get commended, but maybe didn't have one of the things YOUR kid has. Why is it ok to take that away from them?
What if your kid had been forced to intentionally hide one of the things you mentioned above? You'd be ok with that?

PP that started my post with "So some kids.." here

A better analogy--what if your kid's school decided they didn't want to make any of the less popular/capable kids "feel bad" so they didn't have club officers or team captains?

That is a terrible analogy. College Board sets the commended cut off, the school has nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One child was a National Merit Finalist/Scholarship Winner and the other was a National Merit Commended Scholar. They both indicated their awards on their college apps, and their awards continue to be on their resumes, even though they are now in college. As reference, they both attend USNWR Top 10 colleges. The acceptance margins to top schools are so slim, and the margins are even slimmer when you come from a highly competitive area like DC, so I truly believe these awards can make a difference. Sure it's just one test on one day, but a Commended score shows that you can handle a significant amount of pressure and still do well. Also, many of the DC/MD/VA Commended students would have made the NMSF cutoff in other states, as DC and Maryland historically have had the highest cutoff scores in the country, and Virginia is usually only one point behind. What a shame for all the TJ and now Langley and Westfield kids.

Thank you for this. DD is high-commended so we're pulling apps outside of T10. I was at the VDARE conference on equity at magnet schools and an unemployable lawyer lady said same thing: my daughter is assured admission to MIT. Will use for Jane Street cover letter, too, when the time comes, and promotion package in middle age. And can you share names of schools your commended kid attends? Want to cross-reference with scattergrams available. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid wasn’t even commended. Perhaps an off day bc was focused on a school activity that afternoon or maybe not as smart as other kids. Whatever.

Kid did get a 1540 on SAT in 1 sitting (common app shows how many tries it takes to get score). Also had all 5s on AP exams and took a high number of AP exams compared to school peers. Had 2 B pluses in high school - including 1 junior year - so not valedictorian but higher GPA than many and high rigor (calc BC, all lab sciences, 4 years foreign language, wants to be Humanities major). Solid but regular high school activities (varsity letter winner in multiple sports, club officer, team captain etc). Known as a “nice” kid.

Was accepted REA to first choice school this fall.

All that is to say commended doesn’t make a kid or break an applicant.

So some kids do get commended, but maybe didn't have one of the things YOUR kid has. Why is it ok to take that away from them?
What if your kid had been forced to intentionally hide one of the things you mentioned above? You'd be ok with that?

What was taken away from them? Did they fail to check their own score? My kid never got a 'certificate' or 'ceremony' from his school, but knew right away when he logged in and saw his score that he made the cut and put it on the common app. I haven't read all of this stuff, so maybe I'm missing facts, but what exactly is the argument people are making that these kids were prevented from knowing they were commended? Did they restrict access to their College Board accounts somehow? Or are we talking about high achieving kids who didn't know that commended was a possibility or that they could amend their Common App with supplemental information?

They want a special ceremony.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That said, any student or parent that was paying attention would know whether that student was NMSF or commended. The cut scores are a simple google search and all the students have their scores. It is not rocket science.

Well said.

YES. That's why I do not get why the TJ thing is a thing worth a government inquiry over.

Doesn't matter. The schools purposefully and willfully withheld the only official notice these students were going to receive.

TJ didn’t withhold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn't "Not given in a timely fashion." It was concealed.

They were distributed at TJ. Not concealed.

They were withheld for 3 years 2020, 2021 and 2022. They only released the letters in 2022 after the issue came to light. Clear pattern of withholding these letters in multiple years. Not a one off human error.

No, they weren’t.

It came up that they were delayed AFTER a parent saw the certificate come home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for this. DD is high-commended so we're pulling apps outside of T10. I was at the VDARE conference on equity at magnet schools and an unemployable lawyer lady said same thing: my daughter is assured admission to MIT. Will use for Jane Street cover letter, too, when the time comes, and promotion package in middle age. And can you share names of schools your commended kid attends? Want to cross-reference with scattergrams available. TIA.

This is a truly outstanding troll post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That said, any student or parent that was paying attention would know whether that student was NMSF or commended. The cut scores are a simple google search and all the students have their scores. It is not rocket science.

Well said.

YES. That's why I do not get why the TJ thing is a thing worth a government inquiry over.

It’s not. That 100% Republicans trying to stir up the base. They are very scared after November.

Too bad people can see through their BS. They will look like a-holes pushing hysterics and wasting resources over this.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone shared a scholarship for Commended students?
Has anyone linked to an AO mentioning Commended as an important factor?

Because I've seen no evidence that Commended means something from a college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone shared a scholarship for Commended students?
Has anyone linked to an AO mentioning Commended as an important factor?

Because I've seen no evidence that Commended means something from a college.

'The National Merit Scholarship website states that out of the 50,000 students recognized, 3,400 are commended students. These students receive letters of commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Although commended students do not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, some do become candidates for special scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.'

https://smdp.com/2022/11/14/students-recognized-by-national-merit-scholarship-program/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid wasn’t even commended. Perhaps an off day bc was focused on a school activity that afternoon or maybe not as smart as other kids. Whatever.

Kid did get a 1540 on SAT in 1 sitting (common app shows how many tries it takes to get score). Also had all 5s on AP exams and took a high number of AP exams compared to school peers. Had 2 B pluses in high school - including 1 junior year - so not valedictorian but higher GPA than many and high rigor (calc BC, all lab sciences, 4 years foreign language, wants to be Humanities major). Solid but regular high school activities (varsity letter winner in multiple sports, club officer, team captain etc). Known as a “nice” kid.

Was accepted REA to first choice school this fall.

All that is to say commended doesn’t make a kid or break an applicant.

So some kids do get commended, but maybe didn't have one of the things YOUR kid has. Why is it ok to take that away from them?
What if your kid had been forced to intentionally hide one of the things you mentioned above? You'd be ok with that?

PP that started my post with "So some kids.." here

A better analogy--what if your kid's school decided they didn't want to make any of the less popular/capable kids "feel bad" so they didn't have club officers or team captains?

That is a terrible analogy. College Board sets the commended cut off, the school has nothing to do with it.

The college board sets the cut off, and several FCPS intentionally refused to notify the students they met the cut off, even after being explicitly told that it was the ONLY official way the students would be notified. The school had EVERYTHING to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone shared a scholarship for Commended students?
Has anyone linked to an AO mentioning Commended as an important factor?

Because I've seen no evidence that Commended means something from a college.

'The National Merit Scholarship website states that out of the 50,000 students recognized, 3,400 are commended students. These students receive letters of commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Although commended students do not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, some do become candidates for special scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.'

https://smdp.com/2022/11/14/students-recognized-by-national-merit-scholarship-program/

Comma is in the wrong place and missing a 0--it's 34,000. The article you linked is wrong, and just a local southern CA newspaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid wasn’t even commended. Perhaps an off day bc was focused on a school activity that afternoon or maybe not as smart as other kids. Whatever.

Kid did get a 1540 on SAT in 1 sitting (common app shows how many tries it takes to get score). Also had all 5s on AP exams and took a high number of AP exams compared to school peers. Had 2 B pluses in high school - including 1 junior year - so not valedictorian but higher GPA than many and high rigor (calc BC, all lab sciences, 4 years foreign language, wants to be Humanities major). Solid but regular high school activities (varsity letter winner in multiple sports, club officer, team captain etc). Known as a “nice” kid.

Was accepted REA to first choice school this fall.

All that is to say commended doesn’t make a kid or break an applicant.

So some kids do get commended, but maybe didn't have one of the things YOUR kid has. Why is it ok to take that away from them?
What if your kid had been forced to intentionally hide one of the things you mentioned above? You'd be ok with that?

What was taken away from them? Did they fail to check their own score? My kid never got a 'certificate' or 'ceremony' from his school, but knew right away when he logged in and saw his score that he made the cut and put it on the common app. I haven't read all of this stuff, so maybe I'm missing facts, but what exactly is the argument people are making that these kids were prevented from knowing they were commended? Did they restrict access to their College Board accounts somehow? Or are we talking about high achieving kids who didn't know that commended was a possibility or that they could amend their Common App with supplemental information?

+1. Much Ado about Nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid wasn’t even commended. Perhaps an off day bc was focused on a school activity that afternoon or maybe not as smart as other kids. Whatever.

Kid did get a 1540 on SAT in 1 sitting (common app shows how many tries it takes to get score). Also had all 5s on AP exams and took a high number of AP exams compared to school peers. Had 2 B pluses in high school - including 1 junior year - so not valedictorian but higher GPA than many and high rigor (calc BC, all lab sciences, 4 years foreign language, wants to be Humanities major). Solid but regular high school activities (varsity letter winner in multiple sports, club officer, team captain etc). Known as a “nice” kid.

Was accepted REA to first choice school this fall.

All that is to say commended doesn’t make a kid or break an applicant.

So some kids do get commended, but maybe didn't have one of the things YOUR kid has. Why is it ok to take that away from them?
What if your kid had been forced to intentionally hide one of the things you mentioned above? You'd be ok with that?

What was taken away from them? Did they fail to check their own score? My kid never got a 'certificate' or 'ceremony' from his school, but knew right away when he logged in and saw his score that he made the cut and put it on the common app. I haven't read all of this stuff, so maybe I'm missing facts, but what exactly is the argument people are making that these kids were prevented from knowing they were commended? Did they restrict access to their College Board accounts somehow? Or are we talking about high achieving kids who didn't know that commended was a possibility or that they could amend their Common App with supplemental information?

+1. Much Ado about Nothing.

So it's perfectly okay for the schools to have made the decision to withhold these notifications? It wasn't an administrative oversight, or some other type of error, it was done deliberately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid wasn’t even commended. Perhaps an off day bc was focused on a school activity that afternoon or maybe not as smart as other kids. Whatever.

Kid did get a 1540 on SAT in 1 sitting (common app shows how many tries it takes to get score). Also had all 5s on AP exams and took a high number of AP exams compared to school peers. Had 2 B pluses in high school - including 1 junior year - so not valedictorian but higher GPA than many and high rigor (calc BC, all lab sciences, 4 years foreign language, wants to be Humanities major). Solid but regular high school activities (varsity letter winner in multiple sports, club officer, team captain etc). Known as a “nice” kid.

Was accepted REA to first choice school this fall.

All that is to say commended doesn’t make a kid or break an applicant.

So some kids do get commended, but maybe didn't have one of the things YOUR kid has. Why is it ok to take that away from them?
What if your kid had been forced to intentionally hide one of the things you mentioned above? You'd be ok with that?

What was taken away from them? Did they fail to check their own score? My kid never got a 'certificate' or 'ceremony' from his school, but knew right away when he logged in and saw his score that he made the cut and put it on the common app. I haven't read all of this stuff, so maybe I'm missing facts, but what exactly is the argument people are making that these kids were prevented from knowing they were commended? Did they restrict access to their College Board accounts somehow? Or are we talking about high achieving kids who didn't know that commended was a possibility or that they could amend their Common App with supplemental information?

+1. Much Ado about Nothing.

So it's perfectly okay for the schools to have made the decision to withhold these notifications? It wasn't an administrative oversight, or some other type of error, it was done deliberately.

For these out of touch Libs, receiving National Merit Commended is to be 'shameful' and thousands of scholarship opportunities for Commended are 'insignificant'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid wasn’t even commended. Perhaps an off day bc was focused on a school activity that afternoon or maybe not as smart as other kids. Whatever.

Kid did get a 1540 on SAT in 1 sitting (common app shows how many tries it takes to get score). Also had all 5s on AP exams and took a high number of AP exams compared to school peers. Had 2 B pluses in high school - including 1 junior year - so not valedictorian but higher GPA than many and high rigor (calc BC, all lab sciences, 4 years foreign language, wants to be Humanities major). Solid but regular high school activities (varsity letter winner in multiple sports, club officer, team captain etc). Known as a “nice” kid.

Was accepted REA to first choice school this fall.

All that is to say commended doesn’t make a kid or break an applicant.

So some kids do get commended, but maybe didn't have one of the things YOUR kid has. Why is it ok to take that away from them?
What if your kid had been forced to intentionally hide one of the things you mentioned above? You'd be ok with that?

What was taken away from them? Did they fail to check their own score? My kid never got a 'certificate' or 'ceremony' from his school, but knew right away when he logged in and saw his score that he made the cut and put it on the common app. I haven't read all of this stuff, so maybe I'm missing facts, but what exactly is the argument people are making that these kids were prevented from knowing they were commended? Did they restrict access to their College Board accounts somehow? Or are we talking about high achieving kids who didn't know that commended was a possibility or that they could amend their Common App with supplemental information?

They want a special ceremony.

I haven't seen anyone say they needed a special ceremony. They just wanted to be notified.