Chance Me- SMU Presidential Scholarship

Colleges and Universities A-Z Southern Methodist University
1

Hey everyone! I’m a rising senior from Iowa. I visited SMU in the spring and I really enjoyed my visit. To make the school a realistic option for me, I was hoping to receive some merit aid. Please be honest about my chances, and I would really appreciate any advice to improve my profile before I apply.

Gender: Female
Race: Caucasian
GPA weighted: 4.4 Unweighted: 3.94 (I have gotten 2 B+ but from the same teacher in different classes, I am having this teacher write me a recommendation because I worked super hard in her classes but I am worried that this gpa will make the selection committee overlook me from the start)
Class rank: 1/690 (my school doesn’t officially report rank, which hurts me a bit but I am hoping to have my counselor include my rank unofficially in my recommendation)
ACT composite: 34, 35 superscore (I had Influenza A when I received this score, and I am retaking it in July with hopes to get to a 35 or 36)
I am taking the SAT subject tests for Math 2, Literature, and US History in August

I’ve taken 8 AP classes, including 5 my junior year. I’m still waiting on those scores, but the scores for the other tests are in parenthesis. Calculus AB (5), Statistics (5), European History (4), Psychology, Calculus BC, US History, Physics 1, English Language and Composition. I’m taking Lit, Gov, and Spanish my senior year and self studying either macro or microeconomics.

ECs:
4 years of varsity tennis with 3 years at the #1 singles spot, 2 years at #1 doubles, and 3 years (hopefully 4) as a singles state tournament qualifier. Various coaches awards. I have been the team captain for 2 years

3 years of marching band, 1 year as section captain

4 years of mock trial, 3 years as head attorney, 1 year as team captain, 1 year as team state qualifier, and I have outstanding attorney and witness awards

4 years of concert band, 1 year as 1st chair in district honor band, 2 years as an All-State orchestra member (3rd and 4th chair in the state) and hoping to audition again. I’ve received 1st place awards at various solo contests and many 1+ ratings

3 years of pep band

1 year as an Iowa Youth Congress representative

President of NHS

Mathnasium instructor for 1 year

Waitress at a local pizza place for 4 years, and I received a promotion to a closer which includes the responsibility of closing the store and managing the finances

Business internship with a local startup company for 1 summer

Model UN for 1 year

Tennis instructor for elementary children for 1 summer

Around 200+ Volunteer hours including packaging food for the needy, performing at the retirement home, running tennis tournaments for the USTA (United States Tennis Association), and helping special needs children at my church. I’m also volunteering for my local congressman’s political campaign this summer.

My essays and recommendations should be pretty solid. Thoughts?

2

Should be competitive I have heard through the grape vine you need a 35 or a 36 to be invited to interview. cannot confirm that rumor though.

Write a strong essay and be sure to reach out to your admissions counselor if you have questions. Once you get invited to interview weekend you are considered equals with the other 50 or so students. They then give out offers to 20-30 students. Best of luck to you, I am glad to see my such a strong student interested in attending the school I just graduated from and love dearly. Pony Up!

3

@jamesk2014 thanks for the reply! Do you know if SMU superscores the ACT? Or do they do the unofficial super scoring where they “consider your highest score in each category but don’t recalculate composite?” Or do they purely look at highest composite alone?

4

not so sure on ACT super scoring that is honestly a thing I haven’t seen until the last two years. When I applied it was non-existent for any school. I would reach out to your counselor about that.

5

Smu does not super score ACT. They have listed on their website the requirements to become a presidents scholar. There is no separate essay to apply so it’s just whether or not you meet the criteria off the bat. Quoted directly from SMU website “The median student invited to interview in recent years had … earned an academic un-weighted GPA of 4.0 (on a 4.0 scale).” So yes this does matter obviously which could hurt you.
You also MUST rank in top 10% so you’re good, show strong engagement to community/school which you seem to be safe in that area HOWEVER you do not meet the requirement that is necessary to be considered which is “A minimum of 20 high school academic units in a challenging curriculum, including AP/IB and honors courses, two years of a single foreign language, and advanced coursework in math and science” you have 8 APs which is not enough. This is where almost everyone falls short, it is simply out of your control at this point in your high school years to change this. I do not think you will be invited to interview based off the fact that you do not meet the basic criteria and don’t have the necessary credentials. Your resume is impressive and you could still receive merit scholarship, just not the presidents scholarship. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I would look into the Hunts scholarship at SMU if you still want a full ride tho (that one is based off of leadership and community services, you post a 90 second video of you explaining what you’ve done in HS to make u a great leader/community member) and maybe that would be more realistic for you. SMU is a great school and will give you a merit scholarship just maybe not what you want. Pony up!!

6

@questions4u Thanks for pointing this out, I didn’t see this requirement. Unfortunately, my school only offers 15 AP classes. By graduation, I’m hoping to have 12. There are only 3 classes that can be honors (honors English 1, honors English 2, and honors biology) and I have taken all 3. The way my school’s scheduling is set up (with band taking a significant chunk of the day) and the classes offered by my school make it impossible to reach 20 high school academic units in a challenging curriculum. Do they take this into account at all?

7

Unfortunately I don’t think they do. Unlike some of the other things listed that are averages like gpa and say scores (aka there is no REQUIRED test score), having 20 credits of honors/AP IS a requirement (in fact, it’s the first requirement listeand under becoming a president scholar) since there is no separate application or essay for you to explain your circumstance I don’t think they would overlook it. Also it is stated to be a “20 credit MINIMUM” meaning lots of other applicants will have even more than 20 which would make it nearly impossible for you to compete, this is in no way your fault or something you can change it’s just the way it is unfortunately. However, I would highly consider looking into applying as a HUNTS SCHOLAR, it is a full ride tuition and there’s a video application for it followed by an interview too if you make it to the second round (maybe an essay too I can’t remember) if you have any questions about the HUNT scholarship I can help answer them to the best of my knowledge but your involvement working under a congressman is a big deal that would definitely make you a great candidate when making your video application. :slight_smile: best of luck!

8

The website says: “A minimum of 20 high school academic units in a challenging curriculum, including AP/IB and honors courses, two years of a single foreign language, and advanced coursework in math and science.”

You are not reading that requirement correctly. It is NOT “20 credits of AP/IB credit” the way you are reading the phrase, instead it is 20 high school credits demonstrating a rigorous curriculum which INCLUDES AP, IB, etc., credits. The word “including” does not mean “solely constituting” the way you are interpreting it. There is no requirement that you take 20 AP credits in high school.

Most of the elite private high schools in the country don’t even offer that many AP courses to begin with, and some not even that many “honors” courses. Interpreting the requirement this way would result in only students from large public high schools being eligible, which could not be the case. Do you really believe a “rich kids’ school” like SMU has a scholarship where neither the richest kids nor the poorer (including minorities from public high schools without advanced offerings) or more rural kids could apply? Of course not.

9

Btw, @LibbyJane You are a solid candidate for the scholarship and would probably at least get the next highest merit award, though you should indeed also apply for the Hunt scholarship. Once you get into the super-selective scholarships, though, it really is a whole new contest because everyone you are competing against has same level of stats and accomplishments, so it comes down to essays, recs, interviews, etc., and you cannot predict anything based just on stats and lists of ECs.

10

@BooBooBear does this mean that my classes such as precalculus and Spanish 4 could be designated as a “rigorous course” even though my school does not have any option for “advanced precalculus” like some schools?

11

Also, thanks for the suggestions about the Hunt scholarship, I’ll definitely apply for that as it could make SMU affordable for me even if I don’t get the Presidential!

12

First, “rigorous” is often meant as a term of art relating to the high school counselor checking a box stating whether your chosen coursework constitutes “rigorous” or “most rigorous” within the context of your high school offerings. The issue is whether you took tough courses that were available to you or whether you skated by while your classmates took the harder courses.

That being said, in this particular context, SMU is likely suggesting that there will be some sort of comparison with coursework chosen by other students at THEIR high school. However, it is one of the guiding principles of college admissions that you do not hold a student’s school against them, and that they are to be evaluated in the context of their peers and school history.

As to your particular coursework, 8 AP classes is more than enough for selective schools, especially when you are not attending a large public school that has “AP basket weaving” starting in 9th grade. Four years of the same foreign language is very strong—if you look around, you will see numerous threads of students asking about this and being told 4 is golden, and 2 is not enough. 4 is what is recommended by Ivies, etc.

13

@booboobear there is a reason it lists a NUMBER - 20 - credits, they don’t just accept anything and everything that you deem to be a challenging course. AP, IB, Honors, and advanced math and science (for example possibly Pre-AP precalculus might work) so you tell me what else this INCLUDES because taking basic algebra 1 is not advanced or rigorous. Don’t be ridiculous and misleading. I am a student at smu who is well informed on this topic since I have spoken to faculty and am friends with many people who are president scholars who have informed me on what exactly they took in high school and they all said across the board that they had 20+ credits of SOLELY AP/IB credits because MANY high schools offer both AP and IB as the most common, which is how they reach the 20 credit minimum (refer to my first response where I quoted the entire paragraph stating honors credits work too) I simply used AP/IB as an example because it is the most common way people reach the 20 credits. Check yourself, the majority of public Texas high schools have 20 courses that are on AP/IB level, trust me it’s not uncommon at all(not to mention roughly 45% of students are from Texas so they do target Texas students since so many of them do have an opportunity to take 20+ at their HS). If SMU only calls roughly 60 people to interview do you really think that there weren’t more than that who took “advanced math etc.” when there are SO many students who have taken the highest rigor courses at AP/IB level. SMU offers tons of scholarships to people but the presidents scholarship is meant for people who are above and beyond. Please educate yourself on this from a realistic inside perspective.

14

Also don’t be misleading and completely ridiculous, if you knew anything’s biut APs there is no such thing as AP basket weaving and even if you were being frivolous it is still dumb. Anyone can take AP classes or tests whenever they please, you could take ex: AP Biology as a freshman or as a senior, I know people who have done both, ALL AP classes are difficult there is no easy AP like basket weaving and if you need me to further educate you on this topic you seem so misinformed on I would be happy to do so. I know how scholarships work from an inside perspective ESPECIALLY at smu. Also if you knew anything about SMU, they don’t care how many years you take ex: spanish, EVERYONE is required to take 2 semesters of a language irregardless if they took 4 years of Spanish that they thought was pretty rigorous, with the exception if you passed an AP or IB spanish test:) wow would you look at that… smu does care about AP/IB credit even if you’re school didn’t offer ex: AP Spanish, you will still be required to take a language at SMU!!!

15

@booboobear Also… because I have to correct you on so much because you are misinforming others, THERE IS NO SEPARATE APPLICATION FOR PRESIDENTS SCHOLAR… NO EXTRA ESSAY TO EXPLAIN YOUR SITUATION NOTHING. EVERYONE IS CONSIDERED AND NO ONE HAS TO APPLY FOR IT.

EVERYONE who applies and is accepted to SMU and meets the requirements to be a presidents scholar is automatically considered for the presidents scholarship whether they choose to be or not, so even people from “rich” “poor” or “rural” areas WILL be considered as long as they meet their requirements:), which unfortunately Libby does not, 8 APs + 4 years of spanish + pre calc + her 3 honors is roughly 16 credits AT BEST so yes it is a lot but no where NEAR 20 credits.

16

@booboobear and before you tell me that it’s impossoble to take 20 credits at a small school, re-read Libby’s previous comment, it would’ve been possible for her, she said her school offered 15 APs (she unfortunately only took 8 but possibly could have 12 by the end of this year she said best case scenario), her school also offers 3 Honor courses, with the addition of the 2 years of Spanish… wow would u look at that… 20 credits that she COULD HAVE TAKEN but didn’t.
ALSO there is no separate application for presidents scholarship… NO ESSAY… NOTHING, YOU either meet the requirements or you don’t it’s as simple as that.

17

Wow - tough thread. But I am agreeing with @BooBooBear on this one. The 20 credits INCLUDES A/P courses - not only AP courses. My D goes to a top 25 school in CA - and there is no one who would be able to get in 20 AP’s - most are not allowed to start until junior year. And I have to believe there is at least one CA Presidential Scholar. I think courses such as physiology, computer science, etc. would count. Other popular courses such as Drama, Band, Chorus, and Yearbook would not count. Of course, the more AP’s the better, but there are plenty of rigorous classes that just don’t have an AP equivalent. And @questions4u is right in a way - minimum of 2 years of a foreign language, but compared to someone who had the same stats and took 4 years of a FL would be more competitive.

Good luck to you.

1 Like
18

@3mamagirls I stated in my first comment quoted directly from the smu website, where I acknowledged that SMU accepts AP/IB/honors as well as the rigourous courses in math, science and language. I simply used AP as the most common example.

19

@questions4u Your intitial posts were incorrect, and you are still not on the mark.

@LibbyJane You will be eligible/competitive for the scholarship, though as I said, there will be very strong competition so do not hang your hat on it nor feel bad if you don’t get it. @questions4u does not know what they are talking about, so just apply to SMU and good luck! What anyone on this forum thinks is beside the point—call SMU sometime and just ask someone in Admissions if you really want to be 100% sure.

20

to reiterate booboobear and think we spoke previously in pm - you will be strongly considered.