<p>Some girl in my school got it. Did anyone here get it?</p>
<p>yeah, wow, i cant believe it</p>
<p>Congratulations! Are you applying for the China trip?</p>
<p>I didn’t get it, but my “friend” got it. </p>
<p>I don’t know if she’s applying for the China trip. Probably not.</p>
<p>I have a junior d. that scored a composite 36 on feb. ACT, so I have an interest in this. What was the process like to get this far? What is this about a China trip? I’m interested iin whether you think the benefits were worth the time you put into it.</p>
<p>I did not win the award. My friend is the one who got it. </p>
<p>My friend told me that the application process was tedious. She said that wrote a lot of essays, and that she had to get endorsement from her school. Doing all of this took her a considerable amount of time.</p>
<p>The main benefit to being a Presidential Scholar is the free trip to Washington D.C. and the prestige of simply being a presidential scholar. The Presidential Scholarship is one of the most prestigious awards that can be bestowed upon a scholar. Having something like that on one’s resume is outstanding.</p>
<p>browser: vtoodler pretty much summed it up, although you can get more information at <a href=“http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp[/url]”>http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp</a> and <a href=“http://www.presidentialscholars.org%5B/url%5D”>http://www.presidentialscholars.org</a></p>
<p>It is considered the highest academic honor for high school students.</p>
<p>However, as with any application process, there is a good chance that even a deserving candidate might not win: the award is given to one male and female from each state, and there are only 15 at-large awards. So it is certainly possible to devote a large amount of time to the process and end up without recognition. But I would say that it’s worth your daughter’s time and energy to apply. To be an exceptional candidate AND take the time to contend for the award during a busy senior year really means something! There’s no money involved, but it’s a very high honor.</p>
<p>The application includes several pages of the usual college application material, including a detailed list of extracurricular activities and interests, work and volunteer experience, etc. Then there are 4 ~400 word essays, a longer essay (there’s room for ~1200 words, but they do request that you be “concise”), and a space where they ask you to name a teacher who has been most influential to you (who will be recognized if you win) and write a justification of that.</p>
<p>The school evaluation section is of similar length and involvement. I wouldn’t apply if you don’t know someone in the guidance office or elsewhere who would be willing to put forth the effort to do a good job at it. A transcript is also required.</p>
<p>The China trip is not officially sponsored by the Presidential Scholars; a non-profit group has organized a study tour/youth ambassador-type program that is open only to Presidential Scholars. They take 12 students on an almost-all-expenses-paid 2-week trip to China, but that requires yet another 3-essay application.</p>
<p>In any case, I highly recommend going for it, despite the time commitment involved. In any case, any time you must write that much about yourself, it’s a good opportunity to evaluate who you are and gain a better understanding of who you want to be. Kind of the theme of one’s senior year in high school, I suppose.</p>
<p>Based on her ACT score, your daughter should definitely be invited to apply. That will be in January, I believe, and there’s about a month to work on the application before it’s due.</p>
<p>No, i dont think im going to apply for the china trip… actually… i only had an ACT of 34 and SAT of 1500, so im really surprsied i won</p>
<p>Went to two private school kids in my state … oh well.</p>
<p>it’s really dependent on the state…for example, for a male in California, you need a 1600, no ifs ands or buts about it :-D</p>
<p>yah, I got it too</p>
<p>who’s coming to national recognition week? PM me!!</p>
<p>My daughter was a Presidential Scholar last year, and the experience was well worth the effort!</p>
<p>hey foundnemo–</p>
<p>don’t worry–the fact that you even got semifinalist is amazing!</p>
<p>littlejohn, pm me back :-D</p>
<p>did anyone else get it?</p>
<p>yep, i got it… i’m still surprised! ;)</p>
<p>hey someone, i replied but it said u dont have enough space 2 receive</p>
<p>yeah nana sorry about that…I deleted all my messages now, so you should be ok :D</p>
<p>k I’m gonna propose we split this thread off into two seperate ones–one about spreading the word about the presidential scholars program, and one about getting the scholars to connect with each other</p>
<p>I was a semifinalist, didn’t win it. I wasn’t a big fan of the application process-it seemed unnecessarily tedious, but it definitely is awesome if you win.</p>
<p>Two people from my school got it. Most impressive.</p>
<p>both from your school? really? that’s super rare–is the Kentucky Country Day School and the Shelby County High School the same thing?</p>
<p>forget the thread split idea; i’m too lazy. 
to reiterate: if you got PSP for 2005, private message me and we’ll try to connect during NRW. of course, you can always PM me anyway :)</p>
<p>Haha, someone. No, I don’t actually live in Kentucky–check the names for New York.</p>
<p>The 1600 requirement really destroys the Presidential Scholarship’s credibility in my eyes for choosing the BEST scholars.</p>