<p>I have been teaching high school for 26 years and I am a lot more impressed with the Arts winners. It is a wonderful opportunity for a truly gifted student in the Arts to make wonderful connections at both the Miami and NYC competition levels, and meet some brilliant superstars in the Arts along the way. Plus, there are scholarships for the top Arts representatives. The program is one of the most respected achievements in the United States; academic and arts. It is an honor to represent our country in this way.</p>
<p>I know that some of you don’t think this is worth it, but D thinks it’s worth a try. Most of the essays are similar to some of the scholarship essays she had written. Question: D went to the school to have the counselor fill out the school report online, but they told her that they hadn’t received anything. When will the school get their password to enter the info? Thanks.</p>
<p>Anxious345,</p>
<p>Read the PSA online instructions carefully…“if the head of your Guidance Office did not receive a Recommender user ID and password for you, your recommender must either call 319-341-2PSP (341-2777) or email <a href="mailto:PSP@act.org”>PSP@act.org</a> to request a recommender user ID and password." (the second last paragraph on teh first page of the instructions that came with the letter)</p>
<p>I do not think my child has a good chance to be selected as a semifinalist due to his lack of stellar ECs, but I encourage him to apply. The process of application can be worthwhile if it can help the student to reflect more and polish writing skills.</p>
<p>Meliora, thanks for the info. I’ll tell my D to read the instruction more carefully :-).</p>
<p>Sounding off -
I feel like the whole contest is sort of weird. I’m really impressed by the competition the Arts Scholars have to go through, but getting into this, from the academic side, just because I have a 1600 (which isn’t very different from a 1570 or lower) seems weird. I don’t think of it as the best way to measure academic achievement. Of course, I understand that academics is something that is much more difficult to measure nationally than artistic talent, which competitions can serve to demonstrate.</p>
<p>I’ll probably apply, since I have gotten through with other scholarship applications and a trip around DC seems cool, though I may not even make semi. Nobody from my half of the state has made it that far in the last 5+ years (and the last winner was back in '93), so I have no sense of the needed qualifications.</p>
<p>And I have no idea about who my “evaluator” should be. My GC knows my academics, community service, etc. somewhat well, but one of my teachers is the best suited to talk about leadership, work ethic, and that sort of stuff. Of course, neither of them are good writers, so we’ll see how this goes. :D</p>
<p>Okay, I skimmed through all the responses since 2013 (pp 4-7) and don’t see the answer to this question. DS was named an academic PS, and we’re in the middle of the application. We downloaded the HS evaluator form for our guidance counselor since we couldn’t find a link to send an online version. Are we missing something? Also, when we downloaded the evaluator form, it tells the counselor to return the envelope to you to include with the rest of your application, but we want to do the rest online. Any tips from those of you who have done this before?</p>
<p>I called the PSP office and talked to a very helpful and nice woman who answered my question in post #106. She told me that high school guidance counselors receive the link, so there is no need for students to forward a request (as you do on the Common App, etc) to their counselor. If students want someone besides the counselor to do the H.S. evaluation, then you do have to contact the guidance office. Also, schools must mail a hard copy of the student’s grades before February 28 5 p.m. Central. Good luck, everyone.</p>
<p>For those who are doing the application online: how do you sign the FERPA portion of the recommender forms? My counselor informed me that the form requires both student and parent signature, but I don’t have access to that form through my login. </p>
<p>Does anybody else who is doing the online application know how to get access to sign that? Perhaps I’m just overlooking it somewhere in the portal.</p>
<p>@speedcuber23 You should have a received a parent login along with the student login in your letter.</p>
<p>To all: Am I really expected to fill 10800 characters for the main essay? It seems rather ridiculous to write almost 2000 words on a picture and I don’t think that they would want to read it. Will it be fine if I have ~400 words?</p>
<p>Yeah I was wondering the same thing. My essay is currently at around 460 words and I’m have trouble thinking about what else I could add. Odds are I won’t get chosen as a finalist anyway (especially because I’m from California and they have over 400 candidates from which they pick 2 finalists). I would say that it’s like with college essays; if it is a really good essay the length shouldn’t matter, although that’s my opinion, not that of the committee that actually reads these applications.</p>
<p>these essays are ridiculous…gg</p>
<p>gave up</p>
<p>Umm, I just now discovered whatever this program is since apparently I didn’t allow my test scores to be disclosed to external organizations. How terrible is the application, and can in be done in less than a day? I have to wait for my ACT to send, so I’m looking at an upper limit of two days :(</p>
<p>@SkeezeyJ:</p>
<p>The application is pretty terrible, and I doubt you could finish it in a day or even two 
There are FIVE short essays, each about 400-ish words (2000 characters) and one long essay, which is about 2000 words (10,800 characters.) Also, the teacher recommendation part is like the mother of all recommendations. The teachers have to write even more than we do (!).</p>
<p>I think the application essays (2000 characters and 10800 characters) are a limit. I don’t think they expect you to write 400 words each about any of the short topics. They’re a self-assessment, and I think it’s quality over quantity, as with all things. They said the short answer is about 1/4 of a page single spaced, so you definitely will not use all the 2000 characters. </p>
<p>I do have a question though. I got a perfect score on my ACT, so I’m assuming that’s why I’m a candidate. Should I still put my SAT scores in, too? Comparatively, they weren’t as good.</p>
<p>This application is terrible. Just tried to start today (thanks to my school basically dropping a bomb on me homework wise). </p>
<p>Can anyone explain to me why this is worth it? For the trip? The honor? ARGH!</p>
<p>I’m having an even worse time justifying this all, seeing as I live in the DC area. Wonder if I could still get a free hotel stay out of this, if chosen?</p>
<p><a href=“http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/PSAO/download/SSR_13.pdf[/url]”>http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/PSAO/download/SSR_13.pdf</a></p>
<p>(not sure if you can see that without a log-in)</p>
<p>Basically, the Secondary School Report has a place for parent/student signature on the physical form - how are we supposed to get that on there if our counselors are just taking care of it by themselves? I’m not talking about the online signature that came with the initial letter; this is a FERPA-mandated signature by ourselves and our parents? </p>
<p>…confused.</p>
<p>@straightchillin:</p>
<p>I know it’s kinda late for this, because the application deadline is almost here… But I’ll give my two cents anyway. </p>
<p>My teachers simply printed out that form from the recommender part of the app, and then I took it to my parents for a handwritten signature. So basically I submitted most of my stuff online, except for the hard copy of my high school transcript and the parent signature form.</p>
<p>I’m late too, but my counselor just sent in my SSR; I didn’t even see it? I was under the impression that we only had to offer our electronic signatures, and that would basically just allow the release of the SSR info…</p>
<p>In any case, working my way through essays right now. What with music competitions and school essays in the past few weeks, I only started the application last night… cheers to looking through college essays to reuse! 9_9</p>
<p>just to confirm what y’all are saying: yes, you do not need physical signatures.
I called up the (very helpful) people there, and was told that the only thing I needed to mail was my transcript, although I chose to also include my school profile and act score report because I wasn’t sure how to upload those online.</p>