<p>How does a young person become a National Hispanic Scholar? My son was given an award last year for being the Outstanding Male Hispanic Student in our state, but we never heard of any national awards. He got the award because someone stumbled on it and passed it on to our Counsellor. She nominated him, and it went from there. He has been accepted to the Navla Academy, we are waiting on Princeton and Cornell. We really do not know of any awards for LAtinoas. Also, are there any awards for mediocre Latino Students. My youngest is really smart but does not try to hard and gets B's and C's?
Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>Here’s a link for more information: [PSAT/NMSQT</a> Scholarships & Recognition](<a href=“Scholarships and Recognition with PSAT/NMSQT - SAT Suite”>Scholarships and Recognition with PSAT/NMSQT - SAT Suite)</p>
<p>Basically, it’s a combination of PSAT scores and GPA. The scores vary by state. You can call the number to figure out what the cutoff was for your state. If he qualified, he should have been given info last spring by his counselor, but the school may not be hip to the program so you should check it out for yourself. Might be too late, but you never know. Good luck and congrats on ds’s accomplishments.</p>
<p>Thank you so much. It is not too bad to have the Naval Academy as your fallback school. just kidding. I think he will end up there, and it would be a great choice for him because he is a very active person.</p>
<p>Is your youngest interested in math/sci? If so, there is the Ventures Scholars, see the Resources sticky thread for a link. It’s not exactly an award, but it is recognition and it gets the student on the radar of many colleges for admissions information, summer programs and fly-ins for diversity weekends.</p>
<p>Congrats to your oldest, it sounds like he’s in great shape!</p>
<p>Thank you. My youngest loves animals. He hopes to do something with them. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Lippy,</p>
<p>Congrats to your son. It’s great to have that as a fall back and so early in the process. You have been given some great advice but also check to see if you son checked the box labeled “hispanic” on his psat. If he didn’t, then call his counselor and collegeboard to see if there is still time to get it corrected.</p>
<p>For Cornell, has you son talked to the multicultural director, Dee Gamble. My son isn’t interested in Cornell but he has a friend who is and Dee Gamble has been great with helping this student. Plus Cornell gets an A+ in my book for their efforts at helping Latinos. I think Dee’s wife also works in the office and she recently sent an invite to participate in some Cornell programs. If you son has had not contact with Mr. Gamble, then i strongly recommend you /son contact him to get your son on his radar. Plus there may still be time for a visit to a diversity weekend at Cornell.</p>
<p>With respect to you other child, start look at summer programs including the thread here on college confidential. I alway tell my kids to follow their passion, it may not mean an award but seeing some dedication to a project done with passion goes a long in the college application process.</p>
<p>Finally thanks for the compliment on the other thread. I am glad I can help other Latinos. With your older son’s award, be sure to apply for some private scholarships such as those offered through National Hispanic Scholarship Fund.</p>
<p>The problem may lie therein. My older son did not take the PSAT’s. My mother died the day befor the test or the day of the test and my son never took them. Thank you again. I will contact Cornell.</p>
<p>LIppy, I am so sorry about your mom. It would be very difficult to take that test on such a day. Did he take it sophomore year and if he scored around 183 maybe you could petition the college to give him the same offer and a NHS (assuming a gpa over 3.5.) Just thinking, I always tell me children, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Good luck,</p>
<p>Thank you for your suggestion. I will look into it. Thanks again for all you do.</p>
<p>Lippy, thanks again for the compliment. I don’t feel I do enough. Yesterday every parent at my ds’s school received horrible new from the counselor. Here in CA, the budget woes have wrecked havoc over the college system. There have been fee hikes every two weeks, new admission restrictions and on-campus protests. The counselor told all the parents and students that horrible news about the new admission restrictions. If a student has a 3.1 or below they should have a back-up plan for at least 11 of the CSUs (the better ones) since the likelihood of them getting in is small. For SDSU, one of the most popular, they need to have a 3.4 or higher to get in and high test schools. CSU were typically a great option for a student with not a lot of money or great grades but wanted a good college education. I know I am highjacking your thread but these kids don’t have a lot of options and I bet a large percentage of Latinos hs students fall into that category. Even my very stubborn son yesterday said to me that he was glad we stayed on his case so that he good good grades and therefore many options. He feels very bad for his classmates which in last years class represented 25% of them going to CSU schools. I am sure not all of them had over a 3.1. You can’t really say that community colleges are an option because CCs are turning away students and it takes over 3+ years to get an AA there now.</p>
<p>Sorry for the diversion. Lippy, your son sounds like a very good student. Many schools give additional merit scholarships to students having similar numbers to NHS so look to see if that is an option. I know Princeton doesn’t give any money for NHS but it has revamped its financial aid system and even families with incomes of 200K now qualify for aid.</p>
<p>Lippy, I am sorry I forgot to mention the “Presidential Award of Academic Excellence.” Here is the link :[Eligibility</a> - President’s Education Awards Program](<a href=“http://www.ed.gov/programs/presedaward/eligibility.html]Eligibility”>Eligibility - President's Education Awards Program) It’s a national award (my ds got it) but I don’t know if it gives a students any additional money. It’s awarded by the US Dept. of Education and I must admit it was cool to see Obama’s signature next to my kid’s name. The link can give you more info. Also look at the National Hispanic Scholar website.</p>
<p>itsv,
The award looks interesting, but it sounds like each school has to proactively determine criteria an then select their candidates, as opposed to a student requesting support from their school to receive the award. Does that sound correct to you? I ask because I’m pretty certain that we don’t have anything like this at our HS, and it sounds like the HS has to have a system in place for this to be awarded.</p>