<p>Some girl in my school got it. Did anyone here get it?</p>
<p>yeah, wow, i cant believe it</p>
<p>Congratulations! Are you applying for the China trip?</p>
<p>I didn't get it, but my "friend" got it. </p>
<p>I don't know if she's applying for the China trip. Probably not.</p>
<p>I have a junior d. that scored a composite 36 on feb. ACT, so I have an interest in this. What was the process like to get this far? What is this about a China trip? I'm interested iin whether you think the benefits were worth the time you put into it.</p>
<p>I did not win the award. My friend is the one who got it. </p>
<p>My friend told me that the application process was tedious. She said that wrote a lot of essays, and that she had to get endorsement from her school. Doing all of this took her a considerable amount of time.</p>
<p>The main benefit to being a Presidential Scholar is the free trip to Washington D.C. and the prestige of simply being a presidential scholar. The Presidential Scholarship is one of the most prestigious awards that can be bestowed upon a scholar. Having something like that on one's resume is outstanding.</p>
<p>browser: vtoodler pretty much summed it up, although you can get more information at <a href="http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp%5B/url%5D">http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp</a> and <a href="http://www.presidentialscholars.org%5B/url%5D">http://www.presidentialscholars.org</a></p>
<p>It is considered the highest academic honor for high school students.</p>
<p>However, as with any application process, there is a good chance that even a deserving candidate might not win: the award is given to one male and female from each state, and there are only 15 at-large awards. So it is certainly possible to devote a large amount of time to the process and end up without recognition. But I would say that it's worth your daughter's time and energy to apply. To be an exceptional candidate AND take the time to contend for the award during a busy senior year really means something! There's no money involved, but it's a very high honor.</p>
<p>The application includes several pages of the usual college application material, including a detailed list of extracurricular activities and interests, work and volunteer experience, etc. Then there are 4 ~400 word essays, a longer essay (there's room for ~1200 words, but they do request that you be "concise"), and a space where they ask you to name a teacher who has been most influential to you (who will be recognized if you win) and write a justification of that.</p>
<p>The school evaluation section is of similar length and involvement. I wouldn't apply if you don't know someone in the guidance office or elsewhere who would be willing to put forth the effort to do a good job at it. A transcript is also required.</p>
<p>The China trip is not officially sponsored by the Presidential Scholars; a non-profit group has organized a study tour/youth ambassador-type program that is open only to Presidential Scholars. They take 12 students on an almost-all-expenses-paid 2-week trip to China, but that requires yet another 3-essay application.</p>
<p>In any case, I highly recommend going for it, despite the time commitment involved. In any case, any time you must write that much about yourself, it's a good opportunity to evaluate who you are and gain a better understanding of who you want to be. Kind of the theme of one's senior year in high school, I suppose.</p>
<p>Based on her ACT score, your daughter should definitely be invited to apply. That will be in January, I believe, and there's about a month to work on the application before it's due.</p>
<p>No, i dont think im going to apply for the china trip... actually... i only had an ACT of 34 and SAT of 1500, so im really surprsied i won</p>
<p>Went to two private school kids in my state ... oh well.</p>
<p>it's really dependent on the state....for example, for a male in California, you need a 1600, no ifs ands or buts about it :-D</p>
<p>yah, I got it too</p>
<p>who's coming to national recognition week? PM me!!</p>
<p>My daughter was a Presidential Scholar last year, and the experience was well worth the effort!</p>
<p>hey foundnemo--</p>
<p>don't worry--the fact that you even got semifinalist is amazing!</p>
<p>littlejohn, pm me back :-D</p>
<p>did anyone else get it?</p>
<p>yep, i got it.. i'm still surprised! ;)</p>
<p>hey someone, i replied but it said u dont have enough space 2 receive</p>
<p>yeah nana sorry about that...I deleted all my messages now, so you should be ok :D</p>
<p>k I'm gonna propose we split this thread off into two seperate ones--one about spreading the word about the presidential scholars program, and one about getting the scholars to connect with each other</p>
<p>I was a semifinalist, didn't win it. I wasn't a big fan of the application process-it seemed unnecessarily tedious, but it definitely is awesome if you win.</p>
<p>Two people from my school got it. Most impressive.</p>
<p>both from your school? really? that's super rare--is the Kentucky Country Day School and the Shelby County High School the same thing?</p>
<p>forget the thread split idea; i'm too lazy. :D to reiterate: if you got PSP for 2005, private message me and we'll try to connect during NRW. of course, you can always PM me anyway :)</p>
<p>Haha, someone. No, I don't actually live in Kentucky--check the names for New York.</p>
<p>The 1600 requirement really destroys the Presidential Scholarship's credibility in my eyes for choosing the BEST scholars.</p>