What is the cutoff score for Texas for 2006 with the National Merit Scholars program?

Question

The selection index cutoff score in order to qualify for National Merit scholarships is different in every state. What is the cutoff score for Texas for students who took the PSAT in 2006?

Answer 1

it's not a specific score, it is a percentile. so that means the scores change every year. Usually you have to be in at least the 98th percentile. The guidlines are amazingly strict. even if you make this, you still might not get the scholarship, this happened to me.

Answer 2

Go to the National Merit website and they explain all about how the scores are calculated. Basically, they set a score for the whole country that is "Commendation" - I think last year it was around 202. Then for each state they determine what the cutoff for that state based on how many students there are in the state.

Say, your state is small - they compare the total number of students in your state to the total number in the whole USA. and say your state has 1% of all the USA HS students. OK, they decide how many Finalists there are going to be (about 15,000 for the whole country) and they count 1% of that - so your state would be allowed 150. They go down the list from the top and pick the highest 150. When they get 150 kids, then that is the cutoff for your state.

That's the reason why in some states the cut off is 225 and in others it is 213. Its rather unfair, actually, because kids in say, Massachusetts or New York who have 219 or so would be Finalists if they lived in almost any other state. And a lot of the kids who are Finalists in say, Lousiana or Hawaii wouldnt even be close to Finalists in NY. THis is also the reason why some schools (say Univ of Florida or U Texas) brag that they have more NM Finalists than Yale or Stanford or Duke. The Finalists that they are admitting have lower scores than lots of kids from other states who were only "Commended"