My son just started his junior year in HS. He has taken a couple of digital SAT practice tests through College Board and his last digital SAT practice scores are 750 math, 710 reading. He has 6 weeks until he takes the PSAT. We dropped the ball and he never took it his freshman or soph years so this is his only time to take it. Is there anything specific to do to prepare for the PSAT that is different from normal SAT prep?

I know it is hard to anwer this question w any certainty but is he within reach of NMS range w some intense prep work if he's scoring 1460 on the SAT now? He's never taken an official SAT just the practice. Still trying to figure out when the best date to take the actual SAT for him will be.

They're similar. The same concepts and strategies will work for each. PSAT is just a bit shorter. Overall, your score is close enough that 8-10 hours of intense prep should get you comfortably to National Merit, depending on which area is weakest. If it is reading, then that would decrease your chances the most, with certain areas of Math being second. The English/Writing and Language section is the easiest section in which to experience immediate gains.

I'll second double B. Also, you should Jeff be able to get a college board account she download the blue book app. He can take a practice PSAT to get his precise PSAT assessment. My guess is he will score perfect math and a bit better than 710 English. As double B said, brush up on that and he should be good to go. Prep Scholar was helpful for us. Khan Academy is free and helpful. YouTube has tons of helpful videos. The time to get to National merit is a great investment.

My first kid just did a SAT prep class and the SAT itself the summer before jr year. Didn't do anything special for the PSAT when she took it a couple months after SAT and got NMSF. Keep in mind SAT scores will typically be higher than PSAT as the max is higher, 1600 vs 1520.

Also NMF uses SI, not the 0-1520 score. SI weights Reading/Writing twice as heavy as Math. So your kid's strength in Math is a bit nerfed for their calculation. Last thing, NMSF cutoff is different per state, and Texas is usually on the harder end. I believe my kid's PSAT score was 1480, and she was just at the cutoff that year. So on practice SAT's you will want to shoot for 1500+ to feel good about NMSF chances.

Also, NMF is only useful if your kid wants to go to a school with a good NM scholarship (like A&M). Most highly ranked schools don't care about it.

Thanks everyone for your input. I feel better knowing that NMS is within reach w 6 weeks still to go. If he doesn't get it oh well but at least gives him a target to shoot for to stay motivated.

His number one choice is A&M and scholarship money is going to be important for us w 1 kid starting college this year and 2 more coming up soon. He wants to study CS/robotics so he's also interested in places like Colorado School of Mines which has a really good program in CS w a focus on Robotics which would be his ideal major. But finances will come into play there and we're not ruling out other options as well depending on scholarships. School prestige doesn't mean much to him. If you ask him UNT is his #2 choice bc he did a camp there and they had really good food lol.

Look at UTD , CS department is as good as A&Ms , don't have to apply to a major, and NMF get full ride+. Down side is school is kinda boring, but nerds seem to like it.

School of mines offered 2nd kid some really good scholarships, but it was still 2x the cost of A&M .

Thanks. UT-D is definitely on the radar also. I've seen their CS department ranked higher than A&M on some lists. Not sure what type of robotics courses they have though as that's pretty important to him.

We signed up for a trial of Acely.ai which he started messing around with yesterday and he seemed to like it. Anyone have any experience with it? Also going to do some 1 on 1 tutoring leading up to the PSAT to work through some of his weak points.

Sounds like your son is on the right path! I highly recommend doubleb as a resource as well if you are interested in a private tutor. He has helped my son tremendously with both SAT/PSAT prep all the way through applications.

I don't know that there is any significant prep that is targeted for the PSAT, but having recently gone through all of this with my son, a few things I would say are:
If you get NMS, it will definitely get you money from A&M and other schools. I was unpleasantly surprised as to how little it seemed to matter elsewhere.
High achieving students, as yours seem to be, benefit from private tutoring as the test scores get pretty "steep" as you reach the top. Most kids will benefit from a group class to get them the points they need. High achieving kids don't really need what is being taught in a group class.
If your kid is stronger in math, have them take the SAT. This wasn't my son's strong point, but he is an extremely fast reader. For him, the ACT was the better test (and probably contributed to his NMS status as it is twice verbal and a single math score, I believe). Speed is extremely important for taking the ACT.
All the best.

He Who Shall Be Unnamed said:

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I don't know that there is any significant prep that is targeted for the PSAT, but having recently gone through all of this with my son, a few things I would say are:
If you get NMS, it will definitely get you money from A&M and other schools. I was unpleasantly surprised as to how little it seemed to matter elsewhere.
High achieving students, as yours seem to be, benefit from private tutoring as the test scores get pretty "steep" as you reach the top. Most kids will benefit from a group class to get them the points they need. High achieving kids don't really need what is being taught in a group class.
If your kid is stronger in math, have them take the SAT. This wasn't my son's strong point, but he is an extremely fast reader. For him, the ACT was the better test (and probably contributed to his NMS status as it is twice verbal and a single math score, I believe). Speed is extremely important for taking the ACT.
All the best.

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he had his first 1 on 1 tutoring session last night and he said it was extremely helpful in clearing up some of the concepts that he has not mastered yet. We're going to stick w doing an 1 on 1 session each week along w working through practice questions and a practice test leading up to the PSAT. At least that's the plan. Sometimes things just don't click no matter how many times you read through the explanation of a concept and it takes that 1 on 1 personalized explanation and examples to really understand it.

Speed actually seems to be his weakness so far in all of the practice he has done. Not that he's slow, but that he's too fast and careless. He blows through everything trying to complete the practice tests as fast as possible. I keep preaching to practice like he will take the real test but he flies through the practice and doesn't use all of the time he has to double check answers or spend more time on questions he's unsure of. The last practice test he did on Saturday he had 33 minutes of unused time left when he got done.

Achieving national merit is just as much as having discipline as well as mastery of knowledge. Many students lose sight of the former. A good coach or tutor will help to put up guardrails to eliminate what we essentially call procedural errors.

He Who Shall Be Unnamed said:

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I don't know that there is any significant prep that is targeted for the PSAT, but having recently gone through all of this with my son, a few things I would say are:
If you get NMS, it will definitely get you money from A&M and other schools. I was unpleasantly surprised as to how little it seemed to matter elsewhere.
High achieving students, as yours seem to be, benefit from private tutoring as the test scores get pretty "steep" as you reach the top. Most kids will benefit from a group class to get them the points they need. High achieving kids don't really need what is being taught in a group class.
If your kid is stronger in math, have them take the SAT. This wasn't my son's strong point, but he is an extremely fast reader. For him, the ACT was the better test (and probably contributed to his NMS status as it is twice verbal and a single math score, I believe). Speed is extremely important for taking the ACT.
All the best.

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Few schools care about NM, A&M is probably one of the most obsessed about it among the Top 100 schools. Mainly Mid/Lower ranked schools give out big scholarships to NM because they like to use it as a talking point. I believe only USC, Vanderbilt, and Tufts give out any special scholarship money out of the Top 50 for NM but I may have missed one or two. None make it the pre-qualifier for major awards like A&M does though. Apparently now A&M is going to make NM as the only way to get out of ETAM as well which makes no sense.

Most Selective schools see NM as just another award. It's nice but really it just shows you did well on a test in your Junior year of HS. My son's HS has 3 kids that made NM Semi last year that I know of who weren't even Top 25% because they just test well and are bright but they don't study or have any significant activities. It's foolish for school to put too much emphasis on it. It's definitely a nice thing to have but it's far from the end all, be all predictor of success that A&M has made it out to be over grades, rigor, EC's or anything else combined outside of class rank which is also deeply flawed as a measurement.

I do hope our school wakes up at some point in the next few years and gets rid of rolling admissions, NM obsession, and of course the Top 10% rule. All of those things hold us back.

aggie93 said:

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He Who Shall Be Unnamed said:

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I don't know that there is any significant prep that is targeted for the PSAT, but having recently gone through all of this with my son, a few things I would say are:
If you get NMS, it will definitely get you money from A&M and other schools. I was unpleasantly surprised as to how little it seemed to matter elsewhere.
High achieving students, as yours seem to be, benefit from private tutoring as the test scores get pretty "steep" as you reach the top. Most kids will benefit from a group class to get them the points they need. High achieving kids don't really need what is being taught in a group class.
If your kid is stronger in math, have them take the SAT. This wasn't my son's strong point, but he is an extremely fast reader. For him, the ACT was the better test (and probably contributed to his NMS status as it is twice verbal and a single math score, I believe). Speed is extremely important for taking the ACT.
All the best.

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Few schools care about NM, A&M is probably one of the most obsessed about it among the Top 100 schools. Mainly Mid/Lower ranked schools give out big scholarships to NM because they like to use it as a talking point. I believe only USC, Vanderbilt, and Tufts give out any special scholarship money out of the Top 50 for NM but I may have missed one or two. None make it the pre-qualifier for major awards like A&M does though. Apparently now A&M is going to make NM as the only way to get out of ETAM as well which makes no sense.

Most Selective schools see NM as just another award. It's nice but really it just shows you did well on a test in your Junior year of HS. My son's HS has 3 kids that made NM Semi last year that I know of who weren't even Top 25% because they just test well and are bright but they don't study or have any significant activities. It's foolish for school to put too much emphasis on it. It's definitely a nice thing to have but it's far from the end all, be all predictor of success that A&M has made it out to be over grades, rigor, EC's or anything else combined outside of class rank which is also deeply flawed as a measurement.

I do hope our school wakes up at some point in the next few years and gets rid of rolling admissions, NM obsession, and of course the Top 10% rule. All of those things hold us back.

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I honestly didn't even know what ETAM was until the past week. I just read through the ETAM requirments for the upcoming classes and the change is that for the '26/'27 classes the automatic entry requirement to get into your first choice major is a 3.75 GPA in your first 2-3 semesters I believe plus all of the required math, engr and science classes in your first 2 semesters. In '28 they change it to either a 3.75 gpa or NMS. You still have to take and pass 2 engr, math and science classes at A&M before you can get accepted into a major either way so they aren't getting in without the same courseload as everyone else.

As a parent of a kid who wants to major in engineering(CS specifically which is the most difficult major to get into), ETAM seems like a negative when considering A&M. But if he's NMS and knows he can get his first choice then it erases that negative. Idk if it is a good metric or not, I'd have to see the data on how well NMS kids do at A&M to know that. Pretty much any metric you pick isn't going to be perfect. But knowing this might be his best bet to ensure he gets to major in CS at A&M will certainly encourage him to work a little harder over the next 5 weeks.

Looking through the ETAM stats for computer science it is kind of discouraging tbh. If you don't have a 3.75 you pretty much aren't getting in. In 2023 only 5% got into the CS major who weren't auto admits w a 3.75+ gpa. Maybe it's just discouraging to me that's bc I know how poorly I did at A&M as a freshman and know I never would have cut it. Luckily my son is a lot smarter and more focussed on school than I was so he would probably be fine.

My kid is in ETAM right now, I wouldn't have sent her to A&M if she was set on doing CS.

phorizt said:

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aggie93 said:

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He Who Shall Be Unnamed said:

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I don't know that there is any significant prep that is targeted for the PSAT, but having recently gone through all of this with my son, a few things I would say are:
If you get NMS, it will definitely get you money from A&M and other schools. I was unpleasantly surprised as to how little it seemed to matter elsewhere.
High achieving students, as yours seem to be, benefit from private tutoring as the test scores get pretty "steep" as you reach the top. Most kids will benefit from a group class to get them the points they need. High achieving kids don't really need what is being taught in a group class.
If your kid is stronger in math, have them take the SAT. This wasn't my son's strong point, but he is an extremely fast reader. For him, the ACT was the better test (and probably contributed to his NMS status as it is twice verbal and a single math score, I believe). Speed is extremely important for taking the ACT.
All the best.

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Few schools care about NM, A&M is probably one of the most obsessed about it among the Top 100 schools. Mainly Mid/Lower ranked schools give out big scholarships to NM because they like to use it as a talking point. I believe only USC, Vanderbilt, and Tufts give out any special scholarship money out of the Top 50 for NM but I may have missed one or two. None make it the pre-qualifier for major awards like A&M does though. Apparently now A&M is going to make NM as the only way to get out of ETAM as well which makes no sense.

Most Selective schools see NM as just another award. It's nice but really it just shows you did well on a test in your Junior year of HS. My son's HS has 3 kids that made NM Semi last year that I know of who weren't even Top 25% because they just test well and are bright but they don't study or have any significant activities. It's foolish for school to put too much emphasis on it. It's definitely a nice thing to have but it's far from the end all, be all predictor of success that A&M has made it out to be over grades, rigor, EC's or anything else combined outside of class rank which is also deeply flawed as a measurement.

I do hope our school wakes up at some point in the next few years and gets rid of rolling admissions, NM obsession, and of course the Top 10% rule. All of those things hold us back.

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I honestly didn't even know what ETAM was until the past week. I just read through the ETAM requirments for the upcoming classes and the change is that for the '26/'27 classes the automatic entry requirement to get into your first choice major is a 3.75 GPA in your first 2-3 semesters I believe plus all of the required math, engr and science classes in your first 2 semesters. In '28 they change it to either a 3.75 gpa or NMS. You still have to take and pass 2 engr, math and science classes at A&M before you can get accepted into a major either way so they aren't getting in without the same courseload as everyone else.

As a parent of a kid who wants to major in engineering(CS specifically which is the most difficult major to get into), ETAM seems like a negative when considering A&M. But if he's NMS and knows he can get his first choice then it erases that negative. Idk if it is a good metric or not, I'd have to see the data on how well NMS kids do at A&M to know that. Pretty much any metric you pick isn't going to be perfect. But knowing this might be his best bet to ensure he gets to major in CS at A&M will certainly encourage him to work a little harder over the next 5 weeks.

Looking through the ETAM stats for computer science it is kind of discouraging tbh. If you don't have a 3.75 you pretty much aren't getting in. In 2023 only 5% got into the CS major who weren't auto admits w a 3.75+ gpa. Maybe it's just discouraging to me that's bc I know how poorly I did at A&M as a freshman and know I never would have cut it. Luckily my son is a lot smarter and more focussed on school than I was so he would probably be fine.

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The reason they are doing NM to get out of ETAM is to attract more NM. Problem is that does nothing for A&M in terms of prestige or rankings. Bragging about how many NM you have as a school that you basically only got because you gave them scholarships and advantages is.

ETAM itself is a bad system made necessary because of the Top 10% rule. If they must do it they should allow you to get out of it if you are Honors Engineering for instance because that is a holistic review of a student. They could also allow kids that have taken rigorous cousework in HS and gotten high AP scores to either get out of it or partly get out of it. For instance a 5 or even a 4 in an AP class should help you. Instead what happens is kids with 5's in Calc BC will take Math 151 for the easy A due to ETAM and destroy the curve for other kids else they risk losing their major. Thus the best prepared kids have to waste time and money retaking classes while the least prepared kids have a double disadvantage of not only having to take classes that are much more challenging for them but having to go into them with a significant percentage of the class taking something they have long since already mastered.

So it's just a very clumsy way of addressing the problem and it will actually make it worse. So dumb. It's like the people who run our school never bother to see how other similar schools operate in terms of admissions and scholarships. Thus we push away a lot of great students who don't want to risk ETAM and we also ensure lots of kids who are disadvantaged have an even greater disadvantage.

you make a lot of good points. Reading through the ETAM materials basically makes it seem like you can't apply any AP credits for those Math, Engr and Science classes without risking getting into your desired major. The impact of the NMS deal is that those kids can also apply many more of those AP credits they earned in HS bc now they don't have to worry about getting an A in every class they take as a freshman. This allows them to stay on pace with what they could do at other universities.

So lets just say my son was NMS and wanted to go to A&M(before NMS rule). He goes to A&M, has to retake many of the classes he already has AP credits in bc he has to get A's in just about everything to get into Computer Science. So not only is he not guaranteed his major, but now he has to take an extra semester worth of classes that he wouldn't have to take somewhere else. So that's $15k+ in extra cost over that semester and $40k in lost salary bc he's graduating a semester later than he could somewhere else where he can apply his AP credits.

It really is a screwed up system. Again, I don't know that NMS is the right metric to use to try to provide a workaround it for some students, but it certainly makes A&M engineering a much more attractive option for those NMS considering A&M. And with the rule in place, you will likely start to see more kids who know early they want to do A&M engineering really focussing on getting NMS. I'm sure NMS correlates very strongly to a high SAT score(1500+) since it's basically the same test so indirectly it should bring in kids w higher scores.

I haven't heard of students studying/preparing specifically for the PSAT. Regardless, getting NMS will apparently get your son a lot of money from A&M, and there are certainly other schools which will give you a significant amount of money for the achievement. If he doesn't mind putting in some time and you can afford it, by all means I would say to do it. Best of luck.

phorizt said:

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you make a lot of good points. Reading through the ETAM materials basically makes it seem like you can't apply any AP credits for those Math, Engr and Science classes without risking getting into your desired major. The impact of the NMS deal is that those kids can also apply many more of those AP credits they earned in HS bc now they don't have to worry about getting an A in every class they take as a freshman. This allows them to stay on pace with what they could do at other universities.

So lets just say my son was NMS and wanted to go to A&M(before NMS rule). He goes to A&M, has to retake many of the classes he already has AP credits in bc he has to get A's in just about everything to get into Computer Science. So not only is he not guaranteed his major, but now he has to take an extra semester worth of classes that he wouldn't have to take somewhere else. So that's $15k+ in extra cost over that semester and $40k in lost salary bc he's graduating a semester later than he could somewhere else where he can apply his AP credits.

It really is a screwed up system. Again, I don't know that NMS is the right metric to use to try to provide a workaround it for some students, but it certainly makes A&M engineering a much more attractive option for those NMS considering A&M. And with the rule in place, you will likely start to see more kids who know early they want to do A&M engineering really focussing on getting NMS. I'm sure NMS correlates very strongly to a high SAT score(1500+) since it's basically the same test so indirectly it should bring in kids w higher scores.

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NM is a terrible system to use to evaluate Engineers on multiple levels. For one thing they double count the Verbal score over the Math. It's a 1 time test with no makeups in October of your Junior year. Many kids can rock a standardized test but don't make grades, challenge themselves, or do EC's but that kid moves to the front of the line over someone who could literally miss the mark by 1 question. Period.

NM has value and there is nothing wrong with rewarding kids who get it. The problem is to make it the ONLY path to so many things at A&M from merit to ETAM. No other Top 100 school does that.

son made national merit semis. now to keep on track for finalist. i'm curious to hear what the typical pitfalls are for kids who miss out if anyone knows.

and agree mostly with what's said on schools who offer big finalist perks. i'm not qualified to say how it makes them a good/bad candidate for engineering though.

my son may definitely take advantage of one of these schools that offer perks (i actually call this their recruiting tool). so we shall see.

good luck to all those out there pursuing nm...

Hincemm said:

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son made national merit semis. now to keep on track for finalist. i'm curious to hear what the typical pitfalls are for kids who miss out if anyone knows.

and agree mostly with what's said on schools who offer big finalist perks. i'm not qualified to say how it makes them a good/bad candidate for engineering though.

my son may definitely take advantage of one of these schools that offer perks (i actually call this their recruiting tool). so we shall see.

good luck to all those out there pursuing nm...

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Pretty much everyone that puts together a decent application gets NMF after qualifying for NMSF
Just put together a good application and have a decent SAT score and y'all will be fine.

Hincemm said:

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son made national merit semis. now to keep on track for finalist. i'm curious to hear what the typical pitfalls are for kids who miss out if anyone knows.

and agree mostly with what's said on schools who offer big finalist perks. i'm not qualified to say how it makes them a good/bad candidate for engineering though.

my son may definitely take advantage of one of these schools that offer perks (i actually call this their recruiting tool). so we shall see.

good luck to all those out there pursuing nm...

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16k make Semi and 15k make Final, essentially you just need to fill out the app and have a comparable SAT score.

so curious if anyone knows how close to the real PSAT the college board PSAT practice tests are in difficulty? My son has continued to prep for the test and just took his first official PSAT practice test and got a 1520. It is great to see his hard work paying off and he was very excited about it. But I'm not sure if the practice tests are considered to be easier than the real thing.

phorizt said:

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so curious if anyone knows how close to the real PSAT the college board PSAT practice tests are in difficulty? My son has continued to prep for the test and just took his first official PSAT practice test and got a 1520. It is great to see his hard work paying off and he was very excited about it. But I'm not sure if the practice tests are considered to be easier than the real thing.

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They're reasonably accurate.

I have been a classroom teacher for 5 years, and have been getting paid to tutor people on the SAT/ACT in some form or another since about 2015. This current crop of practice tests have been about 90% effective at predicting student scores so far. There will always be some slight variation (30-40 points either way on average) but it's a great ballpark.

The current online Bluebook tests are also as close to the real thing as we have in the wild. The digital format has *really* cut down on the number of real life questions that are available for students to prepare themselves with. You used to be able to get a PDF of that day's test by 9 pm. No more.

Also keep in mind that there can be a curve based on the performance of everyone else. So if math is really hard that year, you might get to miss a couple and still have 0 points taken off.

thanks for the insight. In a good spot but still a couple of weeks to keep working.

He's at a 5A HS that has not had a NM Semifinalist in almost a decade which is kind of shocking considering how many students that is. One kid in the 2018 class is the last one I can find from our town and he went to a small private HS here not the public school.

Blue book tests #1-3 are about 30-50 points below from the actual scores. BB #4 is pretty good, but BB tests #5 and #6 are the gold standard in predicting PSAT/National Merit probabilities. We aim for at least a 1540 on the SATs to comfortably prepare for NM success.

Also, last year's PSAT test was way too easy and is not a good representation of the level of expected difficulty for this year's. College Board is emphasizing vocab and non-desmos/constant-term questions much more than last year's copy.

double b said:

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Blue book tests #1-3 are about 30-50 points below from the actual scores. BB #4 is pretty good, but BB tests #5 and #6 are your best bets in predicting PSAT/National Merit probabilities. We aim for at least a 1540 on the SATs to comfortably prepare for NM success.

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Thank you. He was going to do BB #4 this week and BB PSAT practice #2 next week. PSAT is on the 18th. Would you recommend just skipping both of those and doing BB 5 and 6 instead?

He would do more but he 's in marching band and that is a full time job M-S for them right now w competitions every weekend. Squeezing in 1 practice test and a couple of hours of review each week is all he can do.

phorizt said:

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double b said:

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Blue book tests #1-3 are about 30-50 points below from the actual scores. BB #4 is pretty good, but BB tests #5 and #6 are your best bets in predicting PSAT/National Merit probabilities. We aim for at least a 1540 on the SATs to comfortably prepare for NM success.

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Thank you. He was going to do BB #4 this week and BB PSAT practice #2 next week. PSAT is on the 18th. Would you recommend just skipping both of those and doing BB 5 and 6 instead?

He would do more but he 's in marching band and that is a full time job M-S for them right now w competitions every weekend. Squeezing in 1 practice test and a couple of hours of review each week is all he can do.

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If he's pressed for time, then yes, I would concentrate his efforts on BB #5 and #6.

Hincemm said:

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son made national merit semis. now to keep on track for finalist. i'm curious to hear what the typical pitfalls are for kids who miss out if anyone knows.

and agree mostly with what's said on schools who offer big finalist perks. i'm not qualified to say how it makes them a good/bad candidate for engineering though.

my son may definitely take advantage of one of these schools that offer perks (i actually call this their recruiting tool). so we shall see.

good luck to all those out there pursuing nm...

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do you mind sharing what schools your son is considering? From what I've read the offers from places like Tulsa, UT-D and Bama are very good.

i think very good might be relative to what the kiddo wants to study. i'll add that my son is all over the place on where he wants to go (it's a week to week situation ).

• he visited UTD and wasn't interested. i'm led to believe their comp sci dept is incredible but the campus is meh (and he'd be 45 minutes from home; he does want to be far-ish away)
• don't know much about tulsa.
• he is interested in bama because their package is great for NMS finalist. a friend of his who made it last year is at bama and is enjoying it.
• also looking at tu and a&m. to be frank, i don't know if a&m will be a good fit for him. the nms package is quite strong but their engineering program is just so seemingly numbers-driven and impersonal that i don't know he'd like it.
• the only other nms school he's considering is USC (Cali, that is). I think their package offers half tuition. haven't really looked too much into it yet.

Hincemm said:

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i think very good might be relative to what the kiddo wants to study. i'll add that my son is all over the place on where he wants to go (it's a week to week situation ).

• he visited UTD and wasn't interested. i'm led to believe their comp sci dept is incredible but the campus is meh (and he'd be 45 minutes from home; he does want to be far-ish away)
• don't know much about tulsa.
• he is interested in bama because their package is great for NMS finalist. a friend of his who made it last year is at bama and is enjoying it.
• also looking at tu and a&m. to be frank, i don't know if a&m will be a good fit for him. the nms package is quite strong but their engineering program is just so seemingly numbers-driven and impersonal that i don't know he'd like it.
• the only other nms school he's considering is USC (Cali, that is). I think their package offers half tuition. haven't really looked too much into it yet.

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My son was also NMS, we looked at USC mainly because of the half off tuition offer (still comes in at around $28,000/year tuition if I recall). I really wonder to whom they are giving those scholarships, because if they don't produce a ton of NMS kids yearly (Tulsa is way higher, as are multiple other schools). One thing about USC is that it is in a pretty dicey part of LA, which is dicey in and of itself.
Have you considered GA Tech? Phenomenal engineering and tech school. Again, somewhat in a dicey part of a somewhat dicey town, but they offer an amazing education and they place their students amazingly.

funny you should mention GT. My son is considering them (namely due to the girlfriend....smh )

thx for the info on usc.

Agreed on the meh campus on UTD, but it's a really convenient campus for NMF , they get the closest dorm (with private room) freshman year, and first choice on campus apartments which they can keep year round. Pretty much every class will be an easy walk. Education has been top notch for my kid, just not a traditional college experience .

my son got his scores back today. Probably not gonna make NMSF unless scores drop from last year. He got perfect scores on all of the practice PSATs available from College Board and was over 1500 on practice SAT but ended up getting a 1470 on the PSAT. He got a perfect score on the math, which means his 710 on reading is a killer.

He said the real PSAT was much more difficult than the official College Board practice PSATs. Kind of sucks that their own practice material isn't a good representation of what their test is gonna be like.

So he got a Selection Index of 218 which the score report says is 99th percentile in Texas but with cutoff being 219+ for over a decade it's unlikely he made it.

Improving his reading scores has proven to be a giant brick wall for him.