<p>I was under the impression that it was optional. I'm not particularly interested in doing it. But if you were to do it, I think you'd want to send it to your town newspaper.</p>
<p>Sorry, Mercymom--there is no interview for the 121 academic Scholars. The decision is based solely on the application forms submitted by the student and the school (and yes, the school portion also has essay-type responses and is a lot of work for a GC. We thanked our son's GC profusely, made sure the school administration was aware of her hard work and sent her a gift).</p>
<p>Here's the process as I recall it from last year:
1. Candidates (20min male and female per state) identified based on SAT M+CR scores only, or ACT
2. Candidates and schools submit application forms.
3. Semi-finalists notified (6 min per state, 3 male and 3 female)-April
4. Semi-finalists have to submit two more essays and a head shot photo--one essay is a "bio" for the yearbook and the other is on community service--they print all of the bios and some of the community service essays in the yearbook. Don't ask me why they don't ask for this stuff after selecting the scholars. It's the government.
<a href="http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp/2006/yearbook.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp/2006/yearbook.pdf</a>
5. Scholars selected--early May (last year there was a May 4 press release).</p>
<p>We always found out that our child had made it to the next step (semi-finalist or scholar) sooner by watching the Dept. of Education website than waiting for snailmail. </p>
<p>The press release would be OK for local papers only, but not necessary. Remember, there are 2600 or so, and there are at least 40 in each state.</p>
<p>wow, has anyone heard of a whitney high school from cerritos, CA? 6 kids from that school. that's impressive.</p>
<p>There is at least one candidate from a 2A school in WA, S's HS. I don't know his scores, but this boy is absolutely amazing.</p>
<p>Wow. I could have sworn there was an interview. Gray matter must be oozing out of my head at an alarming rate. I also didn't know there was a press packet. Oh well. Just one more set of stuff that went in her room and was worked on and mailed out, never to be seen again by her parents.</p>
<p>We obviously did not put a press release in the paper, however, her hs put a nice line item in the graduation program highlighting her as a 2006 Presidential Scholar Candidate. It had been several years since they'd had one.</p>
<p>If some student is submitting a paper copy for the presidential scholarship, are they still required to logon to website and submit anything electronically? Boy to receive a small amount in scholarship money, one has to fill out many scholarship applications. But thanks god they offer money.</p>
<p>My understanding is this is an honor, but doesn't come with money, just a trip to DC and various cool activities there. And that is paid only for the student, not parent. It is also an opportunity to have a teacher honored.</p>
<p>newparent - I don't think so, but to be on the safe side, it wouldn't be a bad idea to type the essays into the space provided on the online app and check the character count (the letter says that all essays have to observe the character limit and that your word processor might count the characters differently from the online app).</p>
<p>Semifinalists were post:</p>
<p>Yay! I'm a semi-finalist. I wonder how many actually applied though. Well, now I have a 1 in 6 chance at meeting the president. The only problem is that it will kind of conflict with nationals for forensics. Damn.</p>
<p>Did anyone else notice that some students are candidates in states where they do not attend school? Search the page for Exeter and Andover and you'll see that the students attending said schools in NH are registered under their home states. I, for one, would find it to be a slap in the face for state educators if the committees chose a virtually out-of-state student as their local representative.</p>
<p>How would assigning Exeter students to NH and Andover students to MA affect those states' results?</p>
<p>well, my$0.02, those students ARE in NH and MA. They ATTEND school in NH and MA. </p>
<p>Are they great students? Yes.</p>
<p>But, Presidential Scholar awards are given to (in most instances) one boy and one girl from each state. Such students serve as representatives from their specific state (the 121 students chosen are not necessarily the 121 best applicants from throughout the nation). Should someone who's living and schooled in NH be chosen to represent South Carolina? I'm not so sure.</p>
<p>I don't want to argue with you. It was just something that I saw on the list and thought was strange.</p>
<p>In Vermont, we have a NH school that is allowed to play Scholars Bowl both in NH and VT and sometimes wins both championships! Really annoying. This year they didn't win in either, though.</p>
<p>zowie, so if a NJ kid is on this list is it safe to assume he has scored 1600 (or 2400) on the SAT? Interesting way to separate the creme de la creme. or is it the curds from the weigh? You know what I mean: We see photos of all the NM semifinalists and know the cutoffs but we don't know their actual scores.</p>
<p>NJres, the semifinalist list was determined only from CR and M; the writing portion was disregarded. The cutoff was the score of the top 40 kids in the state (which in some states meant 70-80 kids). So, from large-population, high-scoring states, all of the semi-finalists (and thus all the finalists) would have had 800s on both CR and M. New York, California, Texas, no question. I'm not certain that was true in Pennsylvania, though. A friend of my son's was a semi-finalist, and I thought he was 800/780. But I may have been wrong.</p>
<p>quanman, i have a similar problem if selected. i'm working for nasa over the summer, and the program has strict guidelines for attendance. :( oh, well. chances are i won't be selected.</p>
<p>Re browsing the names to look at ethnicity--these days the Great American Melting Pot is more mixed than ever. I know Jews named Duncan, Smith, and O'Toole, and Lee could be anything, not necessarily Asian!</p>
<p>JHS, thanks. So this list is a bit of a revelation to me... but no wonder these 2 kids got into Yale and Princeton: in addition to all their other fantastic skills and accomplishments they apparently aced the SAT.</p>
<p>My son is posted on the site as a semifinalist, but he hasn't received a packet by mail yet. What is the due date for returning the new info? I'm concerned because it must be a fast turn around to allow the selection by early May, and we will be out of town until late next week. I would hate for him to be disqualified at this point.</p>