Everything you need to know about the President’s Scholar Program

Colleges and Universities A-Z Southern Methodist University
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<p>Follow this link if you have no idea what you just clicked on or have general questions:
President's</a> Scholars Home - President's Scholars - SMU</p>

<p>*if you ask a question that is answered on the official website, I will not answer it in the thread below. Please do not be offended. I’m covering stuff about the PS program that is not answered on the site.</p>

<p>*if you ask me any personal questions that I find to probing or offensive, I will not answer any of your questions. </p>

<p>*Do not ask me any general questions about SMU. It’s wonderful what you can find using google. This thread is dedicated to the PS program.</p>

<p>First a little background about me so you can get an idea how I manage to get this sweet scholarship.</p>

<p>-I went to a 4A (less than 2,000) public high school in the northern suburbs of Dallas. I did not go to a Plano or a Frisco High School. I did not go to Highland Park HS. I wish my parents made that much money. Don’t ask me which specific high school.</p>

<p>-I graduated 6 out of 463 students. I had an unweighted GPA of 3.93 and ACT score of 33 (33 Reading and Writing, 36 math, and 28 Science) </p>

<p>-I excelled at all my extracurricular. I competed at the state level in debate (school was too poor to compete nationally), I consistently made region and the highest rating on solos in orchestra, and involved in a community leadership program. The biggest achievements, in my opinion, about my high school career were winning 2nd place at the International Sustainable World Project Olympiad and 4th Place at the International Intel Science and Engineering Fair. </p>

<p>-I was also chosen to be a Bank of America Student Leader. Awesome program, look into it. It literally changed my life. </p>

<p>Basic highlights of the PS program not on the website:</p>

<p>-Pays for a full ride at SMU. Pays for tuition, room and board, fees, and meals. They will also cover most of summer class expenses if you need to take them to get your degree. They do not cover books, health insurance, parking permit or laundry service. </p>

<p>-Free year abroad. They will cover ONE program abroad. If the program is only a semester, they will only pay for that one program. You cannot split it in half and go to china one semester and France the next. </p>

<p>-Awesome networking potential because being a PS literally makes you the face of SMU. (SMU was/is ranked 3rd in potential to network). PS alums are everywhere. I know for a fact that many of them work for BCG, Bain and Co., Mckinsey, Goldman Sachs, and other major ibanking firms.</p>

<p>-You get to meet George Bush at one time or another. Don’t be hatin’. </p>

<p>-Many students turn down Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Brown, UPenn, and other major schools consistently for the program. It’s that awesome. </p>

<p>The nitty gritty:</p>

<p>-About 90 finalists are chosen out of the applicant pool. I think for the 2010-2011 cycle, there were over 14,000 applicants to SMU. Expect the competition to get harder each year. </p>

<p>-They offer the scholarship to roughly 50 people. </p>

<p>-If you’re chosen as a finalist, you get a nice big package in the mail. The most important part is the form you have to fill out about yourself. Make sure you put down things you know very well for current issues that you’re concerned about and your favorite books. Your interviews might grill you on them so you need to be on top of your game. </p>

<p>-For the finalist weekend, you can choose to stay at a hotel with shuttle service or stay in a dorm. I recommend the hotel because you might stay up late partying and show up very haggard for the interview the next day. </p>

<p>-The people in the program and the people at the finalist weekend are very diverse. Most of them do not follow the SMU “stereotype”. </p>

<p>-The interviews, in my opinion, do not weigh that much. Let me break it down. You fly/drive to SMU for a single weekend for an interview among a panel of a current PS, a former PS, and a Professor. The panel interviews a couple to several students. I believe for the next part, the panel then ranks everyone they interviewed and turn in the forms. Then there is a deliberation for the rest of the weekend. There is no way one interview is going to determine your fate at SMU as long as you don’t blow it. What I think happens (me, myself, and I; not the PS program overseers or other fellow PSes), is that they rank all 90 finalists. The interview makes sure that you’re not socially inept and reinforces or adjusts the ranking. </p>

<p>-If you don’t get the scholarship, I think they offer you the Dean’s scholarship which is another 5k renewable scholarship. </p>

<p>Advice:</p>

<p>-Don’t expect to get offered a place in the program just because you have a 4.0 and a sky high standardized testing scores. They only get you in the door for consideration. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.</p>

<p>-Your extracurriculars weigh a lot. TONS. The ECs are what makes you unique, displays your competitiveness, and helps you stand out from the other applicants. </p>

<p>-The clich</p>

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<p>I was really expecting to be considered for PS, but i wasn’t. Do you think i should have been? Of course it doesn’t matter now, but i can’t help but feel a little jipped.</p>

<p>My stats:
Top 5% at Plano Senior HS (ranked 64, which doesn’t sound impressive until you consider that there were 1386 kids in my class)
34 ACT
2250 SAT
GPA: 4.2/4 (Plano does weighted GPA’s on a 4 scale–weird, i know)</p>

<p>TONS of EC’s:
VP of DECA junior year, Pres senior year
Went to internationals both years (although senior year would not have appeared on my app)
VP of Psych Club junior year
LOTS of french competitions (local, state, and national levels)
Rotary Youth Leadership Award
NHS, etc.</p>

<p>I could go on and on. I feel like the biggest foot-in-the-door i missed was my rank because from what i’ve heard, they like people who are ranked in single digits. Even though I’m pretty sure the entire top 10% of Plano would be ranked 10 or better at most other DFW schools. Also, there weren’t many EC’s to get involved with at my 9-10 high school, so that probably had an effect. I still had NHS and a ton of french stuff those two years though. Sorry if i sound bitter; it’s because i am a little bit haha.</p>

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<p>Well I think your biggest disadvantage was that you ARE from a plano school. Plano is stupid competitive because of the crazy asian and brown kids. The bar for plano schools to be considered for the PS I assume is significantly higher simply because of the competition. I bet plenty of qualified PS candidates apply from Plano but SMU probably doesn’t want the PS progam full of plano kids. They probably only offered the interview to a couple of plano kids and only offered the PS to a few. </p>

<p>I agree with you on the whole single digits thing. I know a few kids who got the PS who was sal or val at some small rural HS in the middle of nowhere texas. I think that’s a bit unfair but colleges like numbers</p>

<p>Also I think that to be almost guaranteed a spot you need to WIN something at the national/international level. Simply getting their is not a guarantee. For example I know, kids from plano who went to ISEF multiple times by winning Dallas regionals but got rejected everywhere. </p>

<p>Which college did you end up choosing?</p>

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<p>When do they send you the mail saying that you are a finalist, and when is finalist weekend? What kind of questions do they ask you at the interview?</p>

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<p>You hear back about the finalist weekend around late february to early march. </p>

<p>The questionsn i remember were:</p>

<p>list current issues you are interested in
books you’ve read
extracurriculars</p>

<p>there’s couple more that I cant remember.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>I just wanted to clarify…</p>

<p>At least for some, if not most, the President’s Scholar program pays for full tuition, not a full ride. Some people, like dtakeda92, are offered a full ride. I have wondered if there’s a need-based element involved in SMU’s allotment of full-rides versus full-tuitions. But I did want to clarify that selection as a PS guarantees full-tuition, not a full-ride.</p>

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<p>Do you know of any home schooled students that have gotten the PS? Because I have heard that in many prestigious colleges home schooled students are allowed in every year by quota, like a minority, because they are hard to evaluate. Some of the colleges take a gamble on a certain number of them each year. Or so I have heard. Do you know if that is the case with the PS? I wondered, because I am home schooled.</p>

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<p>^Yes, I know of some home-schooled PS students at SMU. It happens.</p>

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<p>SimpleLife you have some misinformation. PS pays for a full ride, room and board. the room and board part is called the campus community award that’s part of the package. it’s for tax reasons i believe.</p>

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<p>No, dtakeda92, I think you may have some bad information. Some PS’s get that package, and others do not. I’m not sure how they choose who gets it, but I’ve had a hunch that there’s some need-based element and/or some “under-represented student” element (even if the u-r factor is as simple as OOS) at work. That part is just a hunch.</p>

<p>If you’ll look up President’s Scholars on the SMU website (I think it’s on the part under Scholarships and Financial Aid, as opposed to the program itself-- not sure), you’ll see that they advertise it as a full-tuition scholarship, not a full-ride. It’s been advertised that way for at least several years now. It used to say, in the bullets on that same page, that SOME students will receive room and board in addition to full-tuition. But I’m not sure it says that anymore.</p>

<p>I’d look it up myself and cut and paste, or link it, but I’m on my phone instead of a computer, and that’s just too cumbersome.</p>

<p>I know this from personal experience as well, not just the website. ALL PS’s get full-tuition. Some get a free-ride. </p>

<p>You have me thinking though, because you seem so confident …</p>

<p>Maybe in your year group they gave all PS’s a free-ride? That’s not the case in other year groups. And it is not the current published policy at this point either, even if it did happen that way for your incoming class.</p>

<p>Before I posted that clarification, I looked it up myself to see if the policy had changed. And it hadn’t.</p>

<p>Congrats, though, on your free-ride!</p>

<p>Sent from my iPhone</p>

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<p>My kid is a SMU PS. I also had some confusion at first whether it is a full-ride or full-tuition.
It works like this:

  • President’s Scholar awards full-tuition and and fees.
  • PS is eligible for the Campus Community Award that pays room and board. If PS does not want to stay on campus (i.e., commuting from home or rent an apartment), this award is not applicable. But for every PS staying on campus, this benefit appies.
  • Tuition and transportation of summer, term, or full year abroad program. This benefit is also optional. It applies only when they use the program.</p>

<p>One of the full-ride scholarships of another college my kid applied (my kid only won full-tuition in that competition) pays full-cost money. You pay tuition, fees, and room and board from it. If you stay outside of the campus with cheap rent, you actually save money and you can use the saved money for your own personal expense.</p>

<p>It looks like each college has different award method of full-ride scholarship.
I found the following SMU web page regarding President’s Scholarshp: [SMU:</a> Financial Aid - Scholarships](<a href=“http://smu.edu/financial_aid/Scholarships.asp#President]SMU:”>http://smu.edu/financial_aid/Scholarships.asp#President)</p>

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<p>Sinking feeling…
I have a PS kid. That kid does NOT get room & board. Are you OOS, by any chance? Is your PS an incoming freshman?</p>

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<p>We’re in-state, incoming freshman.
Our EFC is high, and we wouldn’t take it if it is only a full-tuition since my kid already got a couple of top-20 school full-tuition scholarship.
Anyway, SMU PS is amazing with great connection, and my kid is so happy to be in SMU.</p>

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<p>^Agreed, Excellent school! Very happy with it – and with their generosity. My student is not an incoming freshman. Also no real “need.” For a second there, I thought we had been sort of “leaving money on the table.” But no. Just checked with my student. That PS did not come w room & board. Still thrilled w the opportunity, though!
Like most (all?) PS’s this student also got other free-ride offers. Still chose the SMU full-tuition knowing that it’d cost $16-18K a year to attend. Well worth that price!
(but would have loved the free ride!!! :slight_smile: )</p>

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<p>Yea, everybody loves free-ride!
Glad to know that we are both happy SMU parents :slight_smile:
So far, my kid and I are so impressed with how SMU is doing.
Many of my kid’s friends went to HYPMS, but my kid is really proud to be a SMU PS and loves SMU!!!</p>

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<p>^Yep. Lots to love there! We are lucky, lucky peeps.</p>

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<p>As a sophomore President’s Scholar, I have both been through the interview process as a prospective tudent and as an interviewer on the panel. I thought that I would address some of the issues previously discussed on this forum:</p>

<p>-The President’s Scholar program completely covers tuition. It also covers room and board if you choose to live on campus. If a PS opts to not live on campus, they will not receive the Campus Community scholarship in addition to their tuition. An additional requirement of receiving the Campus Community scholarship is that you are expected to be involved on campus, whether it be through Community Council in your residence halls or in one of the 200 different organizations on campus. The CC Scholarship is not given on a “need” basis, but it is important to know that those who receive the upperclass PS do not receive the CC Scholarship.</p>

<p>-There is a very extensive process that SMU uses to choose the finalists for the program. That being said, test scores and GPA are not necessarily the only criteria for receiving an interview. The President’s Scholar program strives to bring extremely-well rounded, high-achieving students to SMU. The PSs who I have lived with and surrounded myself with over the past year are all extremely interesting people who are all dedicated to their studies at SMU. The community that you are immediately immersed in if you receive the scholarship is phenomenal. Not only do PSs serve as leaders around campus, PS alumni also provide an amazing network for those looking for jobs around the world following graduation.</p>

<p>-There is not necessarily one part of your resume that will “gurantee” you a spot in the PS program. As a student who has conducted interviews for numerous prospective students last year, I can gurantee that SMU looks at the student as a whole. Test scores, GPA, or a particular past endeavor will not gurantee you an interview, let alone the scholarship. The President’s Scholar program seeks out well-rounded individuals: those who not only excelled in the classroom, but also those who made a difference in their high school and their community.</p>

<p>SMU is a phenomenal school that offers a fantastic environment for those who are looking to be challenged academically but also be able to find a community in which they can be involved in. I was the student who was involved in many clubs in high school with leadership positions, and I feared that in college I would not be able to be as involved as I was in high school. Speaking from personal experience, I was able to find a community extremely quickly as I began my studies at SMU. The President’s Scholar program, the University Honors program, and SMU as a whole offer a sense of community immediately, which was so helpful in my transition to college.</p>

<p>I hope that my responses are helpful! Feel free to ask me any more questions that you might need answered.</p>

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<p>Sorry if this has already been covered but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Do you hear about being considered for the scholarship before the february invitation for the march interview weekend?</p>

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<p>I just got my admission packet and it said I got the Provost’s scholarship (12k per year). Since I didn’t get the Founder’s (15k per year), does this mean that I don’t have a chance of getting the Presidential scholarship? Or does a different committee do the reviewing for the Presidential one, so that there is still a chance?</p>

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<p>I got my admission packet yesterday too, and I got the Founder’s scholarship. When do I get notified if I’m chosen as a finalist for PS?</p>