<p>My D is on the final list. She is very deeply pleased about this because she has been completely at a loss as to how to adequately thank a teacher who helped her enormously with crafting her applications and just developing her as a scholar. This is a person who just really doesn't need "gifts" so this trip (our high school is paying) is a wonderful way to honor her. </p>
<p>As for my daughter, she is not all that keen about one more awards dinner and such. But I think as it get's closer she will be excited. She does want to go to the White House and meet the president. She is worried that the kids last year ruined that for those that came after. Whatever the political sentiment at this moment, she thinks history has a way of making fools of the pundits of today and this is our elected president and she does hope to shake his hand and receive her award from him. I'm proud of her for this. I really am not impressed by the antics of the group last year. I think if nothing else high school graduating seniors should honor the office, honor the democratic process.</p>
<p>Mammall, how refreshing it was to read this post of yours, even if it is nearly a year after the fact. I was prompted to venture into the Presidential Scholarship thread after a post today on the Havard Parent's thread really disappointed me. I am not sure if your daughter ever became a Presidential Scholar and made it to the White House, but I sure wish she did. Kudos to her for recognizing the honor of meeting the president, and respecting the office irrespective of who holds that office. She should be commended for not politicizing the opportunity to meet the president in the capacity of a Presidential Scholar. I am pleased that someone with her wisdom is part of my son's freshman's class at Harvard!</p>
<p>You don’t get nominated. Qualification is solely based on SAT score (top 40 or so in each state, with as many as needed for ties – e.g. all 2390 people will qualify if the 40th has a 2390, for example). You need nothing else, and no nominations can occur for the academic one (perhaps for arts, but that’s a totally separate category).</p>
<p>There is NO MONEY associated with this honor. One gets nominated based on SATs, as Baelor mentioned, and then those nominees are invited to submit essays for the final selection process. The prize is a trip to Washington, DC.</p>
<p>No nomination for the fine arts candidates, either. The Presidential Scholars in the Arts are the top competitors in the NFAA’s core program, a competition called youngarts. Last fall 6000+ seniors auditioned in multiple categories in the performing, literary, and visual arts. The 20 winners were selected from that group.</p>
<p>Okay, then no nominations at all. I don’t know anything about the Arts program, although apparently two scholars this year are for both the arts and the academics.</p>