<p>I don't think a thread like this exists... I'm not sure if Financial Aid & Scholarships is a good place to put it, since there's no money involved, but it's better than anything else...</p>
<p>So, the goal is that anyone who has questions about the process can ask in this one thread instead of making a new thread every time a question comes up. </p>
<p>I'll start: the evaluation part can't be completed by a teacher, can it? It says: "Items A-F are required and must be completed by a school official (Counselor, Principal, etc.)." ... but my counselors don't know me that well, nor does my principal. If it must be a counselor, how should I go about asking my counselor to fill it out? There's information I could provide her that would help her answer the questions, but it'd feel tacky being like "...yeah, put I exceeded the service requirement 'cause I'm in NHS..." etc. I could also just give her the resume-like thing that I gave my schools... hmm. I dunno. I guess I could just schedule a meeting with her to discuss it.</p>
<p>Thank you for starting this thread. We have questions about the process too. If anyone who was a finalist in the past provides some tips, that would really help current applicants.</p>
<p>Candidates for the academic award are the top SAT & ACT scorers in each state; the eventual Scholars are one male and one female per state (& DC & US territory).</p>
<p>Arts candidates try out, and I think there are 20 winners total.</p>
<p>How do you know about one male and one female per state? Last year they had 121 students. Does it make sense to have one each from a state like California and Rhode Island?</p>
<p>It's two per state & US territory, then 15 at-large. </p>
<p>And yeah, pretty weird how it's not proportional like some other awards (National Merit), but I guess they just want a male and a female to represent each state...</p>
<p>To answer the OP's question: Items A-F must be completed by a school official, but the descriptive narrative answers that follow can be from a teacher.</p>
<p>Last year the semi finalist list was dated April 11, 2008 which was a friday. Seems likely that it will be a friday this year too (why? I have no idea - just a guess) so April 10 seems probable. Good luck all.</p>