<p>I forgot to add that most people in Hawaii are of mixed racial ancestry, so you really can't categorize by last name.</p>
<p>Woo-hoo!!</p>
<p>My son is on the list! This is the first I've heard of it.</p>
<p>A friend of ours who is of Japanese ancestry has her child at Punahou.</p>
<p>I took a look at the schools where the kids in my area, Montgomery County, Maryland, come from. </p>
<p>Of the 37 kids from Montgomery County:</p>
<p>10 attend Blair, a public school with a selective science/math magnet program that draws from the entire county</p>
<p>9 attend one of the three high schools (Whitman/Churchill/Wootton) that serve the most affluent portion of the county</p>
<p>5 attend private schools</p>
<p>4 attend Richard Montgomery, a public school with a selective IB program that draws from the entire county</p>
<p>Thus, of the 37 kids, 28 come from academically privileged environments. The 20 other public schools in the county account for only 9 kids.</p>
<p>It's like Hawaii, really, just not quite as obvious.</p>
<p>Sorry for the over-exuberance--I never knew this thing existed. And we are in a VERY small state, so, yes, my kid did not have perfect scores, but very good ones. And, on second thought, I wish his best friend was on the list; he couldn't have been far behind.</p>
<p>About half dozen from VT are from my son's public, about half dozen from privates (we have very few). The rest are just from other regular publics (like my son's). I had noticed that the bar is higher for kids in some states for NMS. It's again true for this. Though my kid benefits, it doesn't seem exactly fair. Though we don't have the scope of AP courses, etc.</p>
<p>Marian, I disagree that the situation in Montgomery County is like that in Hawaii. As you know, the two magnet schools select students on the basis of test scores and grades, thus making that pool of students likely from the get-go to be high scorers on standardized tests. I would bet that even if those particular students had remained in their neighborhood schools, they would have been top scorers on the SAT/ACT. It is not their privileged education that gets them onto the list, it is their ability (the same ability that got them admission to the selective program as 8th graders). (If the Presidential Scholar program was not limited to US citizens I think even more kids from the magnets would be on the list!)</p>
<p>mother_of-perl, amen!
They would have been top scorers at their local high schools, but isn't it nice there is a place where they can be truly challenged!</p>
<p>Just to reply to the post by JHS, why pick on our state? DD was on the list last year from Alaska and her stats equaled those mentioned here. We have a small population but the distribution of abilities equals that of any other state.</p>
<p>So I was looking at the winners in my state (Washington DC), and my name was on it. Needless to say, I am a little surprised. Shouldn't I have received some sort of notification? Also, while my SAT scores were good (1530/2330), I did not think that they were high enough to make whatever the cutoff is. I guess DC is different since there are so few people with whom to compete.</p>
<p>According to the PS website, letters were mailed on the 18th. Congrats to all!!</p>
<p>Congrats to all!!
In reference to scores - a girl from D's rural high school is on the list from Kansas. She had a 35 on the ACT. My nephew from Missouri (yahoo!) is also on the list - 2390 on the SAT (CR800/M790/W800)!!
BTW - girl with 35 ACT not NMSF, my nephew with 2390 IS a NMSF. Interesting!!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Contrary to popular belief, Asians (or kids with Asian names) do NOT dominate the list anywhere but California (and Hawaii).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I quick counted 37 out of 80 for New Jersey, based on what struck me as obviously Asian names. That may not be exact but it's close, and there may well be Asian kids with non-Asian surnames. That's quite disproportionate to the population as a whole. Kids with Jewish and Russian surnames were also noticibly present on the list. Not a whole lot of WASPs. Interpret as you please and congratulations to all.</p>
<p>My son was a 2006 Presidential Scholar, so I am intimately familiar with the program and would be happy to answer questions. I don't spend much time here any more since the kid is now in college.</p>
<p>Some quick info:
1. Academic Scholar Candidates based only on SAT or ACT score. Being one of the candidates means the student's scores were in the top 0.1% of high school seniors. Pretty impressive. Congratulations to all on the list.
2. No money, but it is a huge honor. Meet "W" in the White House for a photo-op and some light banter (nothing deep here, I'm afraid).
3. Nobody can expect to be chosen--it's a crap shoot. Any parent who shows disappointment when their kid is not chosen should be beaten senseless with a wet spaghetti noodle.
4. It does not affect college admissions in any way. Hey, the colleges already have their SAT scores, and the final selection of Scholars is in May, as I recall. It can affect your kid's chances for some scholarships--in our case, it might have helped my son get a scholarship from the company I work.
5. One of the best things about the program is that your child gets to honor one teacher who inspired them. Your kid should take the time to do the (somewhat onerous) application for this reason alone.
6. Stay away from politics in the application essays. The Commission that makes the final decisions are all Presidential appointees. Faith/religion is OK, lefty ramblings are not.</p>
<p>I'll be checking in from time to time, if anyone has any questions.</p>
<p>Congrats again and good luck to all.</p>
<p>My daughter is on that list! She is the only kid from her school. There are some really smart kids at her school too! Can't wait to tell her the news!</p>
<p>This must be based solely on the PSAT, because I outperformed the student who got it from our school, on the SAT but not the PSAT</p>
<p>It's based on the SAT or the ACT. PSAT is used only for NMS selection, nothing else that I'm aware of.</p>
<p>Nevermind, I got it after all</p>
<p>Wow, the essay questions are SO perfect...these are exactly like the essays I wrote for college. Down to the photo and creative work...wow. So when should I receive my info in the mail? Monday? Since it was mailed Thursday...</p>
<p>We live in the midwest and my daughters letter got here at 12 noon today. She is at school right now so I'll have to wait for her to get home and open it. How many essays will she have to write?</p>