<p>Sunmachine posted this link on College Admissions. Thought some of you parents might be interested.</p>
<p>T h a n k s !</p>
<p>I found out my son was a presidential scholar candidate here on CC 3 years ago! What a rush!! He decided not to write the essay but he did let his colleges know he was a candidate.</p>
<p>Thanks for this info! Four kids from my kids school! They will be shocked to find out. (My kids, not the winners. ;))</p>
<p>Does anyone know the criteria for this? How are the students chosen?</p>
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<p>The list from CT was extremely skewed to our private HS’s.</p>
<p>Unexpectedly found my son’s name on the list. Thanks. He’ll have a nice surprise this afternoon. It’s already a good day for him because he finishes his last exam of his first semester today. Good luck to all!</p>
<p>How important do colleges view PSC status? Any top colleges give out merit award based on this or the final list?</p>
<p>It is a very impressive credential, far rarer than being an NMS. </p>
<p>(Two on the list from our local public H.S. this year, one of whom is a friend of both my kids. Yay for her!)</p>
<p>It is impressive credential, but colleges you applied to already knew about this from your submitted SAT/ACT scores. Unless I’m wrong on this, the selection of PSC is solely based on the SAT/ACT scores. It is another story if you can advance further.</p>
<p>Funny: I looked at Georgia, and the name of the owner of one of the big private tutoring companies in town is on the list, from “Unknown High School”. He takes the SAT for real every year. Interesting.</p>
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<p>That depends on the state. In my state (sparsely populated), I think we only have about 40 NMSF (even with one of the lowest cutoffs in the country), so it’s about the same number as PSC. Interestingly, from my son’s school, only 1 of 4 PSC was also a NMSF. Son did not study for PSAT, did not get NMSF. Did study for the SAT and got PSC with less than perfect scores.</p>
<p>Knights: that’s weird. This is supposed to only apply to those with graduation date listed for this year. So that guy must by lying on his app?</p>
<p>^that would be terrible if he takes a spot from a kid!</p>
<p>What the !?!? My son’s on it, too, yet I never heard of it. Thanks for posting. Now I have to figure out what to do with this information.</p>
<p>^Congrats, mantori & son!</p>
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<p>Fortunately prob didn’t happen like that because most states end up with more than 40 because of ties.</p>
<p>m.s: I think they sent out letters yesterday to inform kids that made the cutoff. We will just e-mail his schools and let them know. Prob won’t actually do the application thing. It looks pretty involved, he doesn’t have all the fancy ECs and community svc, and they only select about 140 out of 2500 or so candidates so not great odds (Harvard odds). Although the ‘prize’ looks/sounds like a hoot.</p>
<p>mantori.suzuki, the big deal is that if your kid is one of the two winners from your state, they get to go to Washington with a teacher of their choice, where they participate in various activities and meet the President.</p>
<p>My S was one of 5 semifinalists from our state. I think he had mixed feelings because the president then was W, not someone whom he admired. 
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<p>As far as college admissions are concerned, certainly he can take the opportunity to send a note stating that he is a nominee and reiterating his interest in the college(s) of his choice. I don’t think that the most selective schools pay a vast amount of attention to it, since they already know the kid has great SATs.</p>
<p>Thanks, friends. I agree with the idea of not applying. I’m pretty sure my son is not the “superman” they’re looking for. But I will encourage him to tell the colleges he has already applied to of his candidate status. After all, there is still merit money out there! :)</p>
<p>I didn’t realize the finalists got to take a teacher to Washington with them. That might be worth it, knowing who my child would choose!</p>
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<p>What app? You mean his information sheet?</p>