<p>The only reason I got nominated as a candidate was because I got 800s on Math and CR on the SAT. Other than that, my academic achievements and my ECs are subpar compared to other kids who were nominated. I'm not an exemplary leader and I haven't done anything significant within my school/community.</p>
<p>Anyone else in a similar position? Any former candidates have any advice?</p>
<p>My DS is in a similar situation: perfect ACT & SAT scores but far from stellar ECs and mediocre GPA. He is one of the 10 students who are invited to apply for the Presidential Scholar program in his school. The other candidates in his school have won national awards and shown leadership in ECs, as well as perfect GPA. This is one of the most rigorous schools in the state. My child decided not to apply for his chance to advance to the semifinalist is slim.</p>
<p>If you are the only candidate in your school, you should try. Your counselor/teacher can give you great recommendations. The semifinalists are selected by state. The competitiveness varies in different states. You should not be intimidated by some super star students’ resumes. You should estimate your status in your state. Gender may be a factor, too. It seems that the PSP tries to make a balance on gender.</p>
<p>To apply or not to apply, it may have to do more with your personality type than with your chances to win. Do you value honors a lot? If so, you should try. Quite a few students are not applying because of the work required and no money award and little influence on college admission results even though they are very strong candidates.</p>
<p>Would your time be better spent applying for scholarships? I know some kids who have decided that’s the case.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider is it does nothing for your college app since you get your admission info before the final Pres Scholar cuts are made. It’s an accomplishment you can put on your resume and that’s about it.</p>
<p>Which Presidential Scholarship? Many colleges and universities award scholarships with that name.</p>
<p>How much money is it worth? If it will make a big difference in affordability, then you’d probably want to apply.</p>
<p>Happymom,</p>
<p>The OP is talking about the Presidential Scholar Program offered by the Departemnt of Education ([U.S</a>. Presidential Scholars Program](<a href=“http://www2.ed.gov/programs/psp/index.html]U.S”>U.S. Presidential Scholars Program)).</p>
<p>There is no money award but the 141 winners are invited to the White House to receive honor through an expense-paid trip to Washington DC .</p>
<p>You should apply. The school might reward you something for your efforts.</p>
<p>D1 decided not to apply because: she wasn’t sure it was worth the effort as she didn’t think her ECs & leadership were outstanding enough; after applications and scholarships, the benefit wasn’t great enough for to write yet another essay; and, she didn’t care about meeting the sitting president the year she graduated ;).</p>
<p>Check the Presidential Scholar list in 2012 and decide for yourself.<br>
<a href=“http://www2.ed.gov/programs/psp/2012/scholars.pdf[/url]”>http://www2.ed.gov/programs/psp/2012/scholars.pdf</a></p>
<p>It seems that most states have only 2-3 winners except some super states. To get this honor, you probably need to be the most achieving boy or girl (among those candidates who bother to apply) in your state.</p>
<p>Thanks Maranatha!</p>
<p>I live in California, so to be honest I think my chances of being chosen for my state are incredibly slim. I think it would be a better use of my time to apply to other scholarships. Thanks for the input everyone!</p>
<p>Thought I’d offer my thoughts since you helped me out.<br>
<p>I’m just being a cynic. I think I’ll still apply just for the possibility.</p>
<p>Hey guys! I got selected to apply as well, and I’m from California too. I was just wondering if anyone knew if the teacher you choose and write about HAS to attend the DC trip. I will ask my teacher this week, hoping she says yes, but I feel bad that they have to pay to fly all the way out there (assuming I’m even a finalist). Anyone else have any information or is in my position? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I heard that the teacher’s travel expenses should be covered by the school.</p>
<p>I’m looking at the app right now, and while everyone says that you need awards and recognition, I can’t find a spot for people to put things like USAMO or Intel. Do the people reading the apps just not care, because that seems unlikely considering they want to see your clubs and activities both inside and out of school (unless they want to list USAMO qualifier as an EC…)</p>
<p>ramboacid - I have the same question.</p>
<p>Anyone know how they want us to list awards? Are we supposed to put them under ECs?</p>
<p>My S1 chose not to apply. The application is time-consuming and he (a) was not terribly interested in the DC trip awarded to winners, and (b) had a conflict for the dates of the trip in any case.</p>
<p>Op, I say don’t apply. My son last year applied. He had decent ECs (Eagle Scout, Battle of Book winner, NHS, Government etc.) and wonderful recs but he did not get chosen. It was very time consuming and obviously not worth it for him. If you really don’t think you’ll be chosen, then you probably won’t and it really isn’t worth your time.</p>
<p>Apply. I don’t know if it’s still the case, but it used to be that there were some other programs that used the list of semi-finalists as a screening tool. My kid knew this and filled out the forms, despite the fact that there was no way my kid would win.</p>
<p>Ended up getting chosen for another program you can read about here. [Academy</a> of Achievement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Achievement]Academy”>Academy of Achievement - Wikipedia) and really enjoyed it.</p>
<p>Again, I don’t know if it still works the same way. But back then at least being a semi-finalist could lead to getting invitations for other programs.</p>
<p>OP let me do the Math for you:
In any given year 3000 students are chosen as candidates for Presedential Scholarship.
Out of these 550 are semifinalists.
Nobody knows the criteria for these Semifinalists, remember SAT/ACT scores are important.
Every year there are 300 perfect ACTs and 300 perfect SATs(approx). So if you take the pains to apply you could be Semifinalist.
After that they will really probe and you may not advance, that is OK atleast you are a semifinalist, one of 550 in 3 million kids.</p>