Hi, I am trying to research the US Presidential Scholars Program now that I understand the whole National Merit program! Has anyone else received the email/letter inviting them to participate in this? It is apparently not a scholarship but a great honor with a paid trip to DC in June. Anyone know more about what this means for the student (who has already finished applying at colleges and therefore would not be able to use this honor on applications) and what the trip is like? Or if parents go too?
I can definitively state that just being a National Merit SF (or Finalist) does not automatically make one eligible for nomination as a US Presidential Scholar.
I definitely realize that the two do not go hand in hand…just figured there might be some overlap or someone in this group might have some knowledge 
There is actually a whole thread on the Presidential Scholars Program under the “Other Major Scholarships and Competitions” folder that I just discovered today! I’m on my phone and can’t link–sorry.
I found out about the program when DS19 got an email last week–it wasn’t on my radar before then. He actually thought it was a scam! From what I’ve researched since then I found out that it is based on ACT/SAT scores and they select the 20 highest-scoring boys and 20 highest-scoring girls in each state, with some states having more because of ties (Colorado ended up with more than 100 total.) There is also some way for kids to be nominated for arts/creative accomplishment and execellence in technical education, but I don’t know how that works.
For ACT scores, the sections are added together to get a score out of 144 rather than using the composite, since someone could have a 35 on a section or two and still get a 36 composite. As far as Colorado, my DS has a 143 total on the ACT and an 1590 on the SAT, so the cutoffs would be that or lower. I’ve heard that larger states might actually be at 144 for the ACT.
The application seems pretty time consuming–the email said 16 hours. I think it would take my DS longer since he doesn’t have essays to reuse for all the prompts’ just a few.
I’m honestly on the fence about whether we should make him do the application–he’s on the fence. It’s an honor for sure, but he’s pretty burned out.
@Colorado19and22 - I can confirm that a 142 did NOT make it in CO. S19 has a 36 but 35-35-36-36.
My DD was a candidate several years ago and a NMF. It was a time consuming application and she did not get finalist but she was glad she tried. After so many essays, it was hard to write more. Since it was after applications went out, she just mentioned it during scholarship interviews but it was not on her applications.
My son is doing it in CO. Hopefully he can use a few of the essays he wrote for colleges. He wasn’t really sure if he’d want to do anything White House-related if he wins, but it seems there’s more to the trip than that. I don’t think he has a big change of winning anyway
I have read the other posts but have not been able to find any details about the trip to D.C. which I was curious about as I know my daughter is on the fence about whether to apply…I’m assuming they do not invite parents since I cannot find anything about that.
My daughter who graduated in 2016 was nominated, based on her ACT score. She was unwilling to do the application since it meant writing more essays (she applied to 13 colleges, most of which had supplements). We also visit D.C. a lot since we have relatives there, so the trip there wasn’t a big incentive.
One boy from my neighbourhood got it few years ago(took him 5 attempts to get a perfect score), his family was disappointed with the experience and his sister got the letter but didn’t apply. She is a gifted and mature young lady and doesn’t care about hollow honours. She scored perfect on her first and only attempt so it’s not like she invested a lot of time or effort into it unlike her brother who slaved hard to make it and enjoyed some recognition.
My child is thinking it is just too much work to do that many essays for an award without any scholarship money and a few days in DC.