Since there’s a lopsided focus, attention, easy publicity given too frequently to even smallest of athletic achievements in our culture, I’m certainly not against some of these going toward academic achievements. However, in my son’s high school, those who did get the perfect ACT score ended up at at a not so coveted college. They did well, too, with other academic areas. Being a National Merit or Presidential Scholar doesn’t mean much, either, so we never bothered with any of these things that may garner attention and raise parents’ ego boost. If any of these has actual and practical benefits, such as scholarships, that’s great and one should enjoy the fruits of one’s labor. But for having an admission chance raised to a palpable degree at highly selective colleges, I haven’t seen much of evidence of that.