<p>at Presidential</a> Scholars Program</p>
<p>Congratulation!</p>
<p>One of my D's classmates made the cut - I think the first from our school ever! He got deferred to MIT, maybe this is what will get him in.</p>
<p>Congrats to all!</p>
<p>I know it must vary for each state, but ballpark does anyone know what kind of "extremely high" SAT and ACT scores are needed to make this list? Maybe something along the lines of NMSF score plus "half the distance to the goal" (ie 2400) ?? </p>
<p>There are a few kids from my kids' school good for them, not the ones I would automatically assume had been the high scorers, ie not the ones who have won many school based honors in their Jr year.</p>
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There are a few kids from my kids' school good for them, not the ones I would automatically assume had been the high scorers, ie not the ones who have won many school based honors in their Jr year.
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</p>
<p>Unlike school-based honors, this does not depend on being the teacher's pet. It's one of the few things that is completely anonymous.</p>
<p>There are two candidates from my son's high school; both of these students are NMSFs. </p>
<p>
[quote]
All graduating high school seniors who are citizens of the United States and have scored exceptionally well on either the SAT or the ACT college admission test during the two-year window that begins in September, 2006 and runs through October, 2008, are automatically considered for participation. This program cycle concludes with recognition events held in June, 2009. Students who notified ACT or The College Board in writing that they did not want their scores released to outside agencies are excluded. Also excluded are students who did not indicate their year of graduation to be between January and August of the current program year.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Education then looks at test records for the top 30 males and top 30 females in each of the states/jurisdictions. For each examinee, the SAT score is converted to the ACT Sum of Scores, according to a concordance table. Each individual examinee's highest test score (in a single test administration ) is identified, and duplicates and/or lower scores are dropped.</p>
<p>The combined file of scores from the top male examinees and top female examinees are then ranked from high to low in each state. The scores associated with the top 20 male examinees and top 20 female examinees are used to identify the candidates in each state. When ties occur in the cut off score, more than 20 persons of that gender are selected in that state.
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<p>From Presidential</a> Scholars Program Selection Process</p>
<p>The last time this came up in our household, the prevailing feeling was that it wouldn't be worth the work, given that the only prize is shaking the president's hand. This time (when it's not coming up), it would be a prize worth working for!</p>
<p>LOL! The boy from our HS who is on the list is the one who Son had to sit down and convince that no he *could not *take all AP classes senior year because if he didn't take the final year of PE he wouldn't graduate!</p>
<p>Thanks for posting this--we have two scholars from our graduating class of 52!!!</p>
<p>I agree, Harriet. I would have bothered to submit an application had Obama been president at the time.</p>
<p>The cut-off varies from state to state, and possibly in some states from gender to gender. Since it now seems to be based on the ACT, that means that if there aren't 20 boys/girls in a state with 36/1600, they would go to 35/1560 (probably), and so forth. In California, New York, Texas, and probably lots of other states, 36/1600 is probably it. A couple years ago, I knew a kid from here (Pennsylvania) who was on the list with a 1590.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to know the state-by-state (and gender-based) cut-offs. In my Midwest state, for the class of 2007, 1590 SAT was not sufficient, yet our NMSF cut-off is pretty low. </p>
<p>For qualification via ACT, the ACT total is used (sum of the sections, not including writing). The cut-offs for females in 2007 (my state) were 1600 SAT (CR + M) or 141 ACT. If the student does not have an ACT score, 1590 is equated to 140 ACT sum.</p>
<p>Son's on the list. Does anybody know how we should go about letting colleges know? TIA</p>
<p>Forgot to say: Congratulations to all who qualified!</p>
<p>Yayyyy I'm on it, as are two good friends (one from my school) and a few acquaintances and a bunch of other people from our county!! My county's (public, TYVM) schools are awesome. :D</p>
<p>Pretty sure the cutoff (Maryland) was 1600... not sure about ACT.</p>
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In California, New York, Texas, and probably lots of other states, 36/1600 is probably it.
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</p>
<p>Crud; miss two lousy math questions and you're out!! Just WAIT until I tell S he's taking the SAT <em>again!</em></p>
<p>(Kidding, kidding!)</p>
<p>But if SAT scores are converted to ACT, is that with or without the writing? From what you've posted above, I'll assume without.</p>
<p>And yes, congrats to Poseur and Waiting's son, and all others who made it!</p>
<p>Yeah DD made it on the list with a 36 ACT without writing. And since she's a realist she's already figured she won't be the final 1 in the state but the honor is terrific.</p>
<p>thanks to all who gave more context to the qualifying scores. And congrats to the qualifiers!</p>
<p>Congratulations! to all who got their D/S names over there.
D's name is up there too along with many other from her school but only the Valedictorian will be going to be finalist. That seems to be the norm at the school. In california you need to have 1600/36 to qualify so it was pretty much known who will be qualifying at D's school.</p>
<p>Whoops-it seems the candidates haven't been notified yet! We just called son's best friend to congratulate him and he had NO IDEA that he was on the list.</p>