<p>KellyLJ1 - my daughter was given the Presidential Scholarship and is in the Honors program. She has many good, intelligent friends who have scholarships but are not in Honors. The difference? I think it is the standardized test scores. Each year American comes up with different cut-offs for Honors - my daughter made the cut-off that year. Makes no difference in the end - if a student desires, they can apply to get into the Honors program at a later date. Getting the merit scholarship is more important in my opinion.</p>