<p>I noticed under the eligibility section that, "Students must score exceptionally well on the SAT/ACT". My question is, what does exceptionally well mean? Is it 2100? 2200?</p>
<p>Can you please explain about presidential scholarships: is it something specific to a particular university or all-over-the country thing the universities can dip into?
In terms of score, I can only guess. If it has any all-over the country recognition to it the score should be above 99% nationally, which is probably above 2200.</p>
<p>I assume you're talking about the Presidential Scholars program directed by the United States Department of Education, and not university-specific programs with the same title. </p>
<p>The initial screening for the Scholar candidates is based on the sum of the scores in each of the four sections on the ACT or the sum of the Critical Reading and Math sections on the SAT, whichever is higher. Using a "secret formula," program coordinators convert the SAT out-of-1600 score into an ACT score (or vice versa; I'm not sure which). If your score is one of the 20 highest in your state among students of your gender, you are designated a "Presidential Scholars Candidate." There are usually ties, so most states have more than the theoretical 40 (20 male and 20 female) candidates.</p>
<p>The cutoff score for candidacy changes from year to year and varies from state to state. Competitive states like Massachusetts and California generally have higher cutoffs than noncompetitive ones -- think Nevada and Montana. If I'm not mistaken, it usually takes a 1590 or 1600 (out of 2400) or a high 35 or 36 to qualify in the competitive states, whereas a 1500+ and a low 35+ will do for less competitive states. </p>
<p>Candidates for 2008 should be notified within the next two weeks.</p>
<p>you mean a 1590 out of 1600</p>
<p>The Presidential Scholars are the highest scorers (perfect or nearly so) in each state, as lobgent discussed. The writing section is discounted for the SAT and ACT, and there are Arts candidates who meet other criteria. The finalists uniformly have almost perfect numbers. In my state 1580 SAT and 35 ACT weren't even candidates.</p>
<p>This is not something you can apply for, you'll be notified if you qualify.</p>
<p>Woohoo for the test obsessed DoE to pick presidential scholars based on one criteria!</p>
<p>Maybe we should pick a president based on test scores....</p>
<p>I think its out of 2400.</p>
<p>the DoE is the Department of Energy. The ED is the Department of Education.</p>
<p>There were about 120 candidates from CA last year.</p>
<p>I know invitations go out in the first 2 weeks of January. Has anybody gotten anything yet?</p>
<p>Unless they've changed from last year, they only count M + V, no writing. Cutoffs for most states are pretty close to 1600.</p>
<p>HAHAH Davansca, seriously...</p>
<p>^ditto.</p>
<p>Don't you just hate the government's obsession with standardized testing?</p>
<p>I hate the SATs.</p>
<p>SAT scores are used to determine who gets nominated. After that there are still essays, transcripts and probably letters of recommendation that go into deciding who the final Scholars are. In that respect, its not that different from most scholarship programs (except, there's no money!).</p>
<p>And realize when all is said and done, they will only choose one male and one female from each state, with an additional 20 people from around the country chosen as Arts Scholars.</p>
<p>No, I don't think that they use the Writing section of the SAT because I got a 750 on that but got 800's in Math and CR, and am from a "competitive state" (MA).</p>
<p>While I am a candidate I have no shot at being the actual scholar from my state...i'm just not good enough.</p>
<p>I got a 36 on the ACT, and my friend who got a 2400 on the SAT got a letter about it today, but I didn't. Should I be worried or anything?</p>
<p>yay i'm a candidate! haha i didn't even know this existed until today. should i update my colleges that i was nominated?</p>
<p>I found out that I am a candidate today, too! :) (ACT 34, NM)</p>
<p>But, I don't really know anything about this. haha. I am also wondering whether I should update my colleges that I was nominated? By the time we find out if we are semi-finalists, in mid-April, we will already have been accepted or denied. That'd only be handy if you were waitlisted.</p>