Been away from CC for a while. I did not think it was possible for me to stay off CC-2017-parents, but I do know now. =))
Instead of coming on CC, I have been knitting. I knitted a lot - 6 kitty hats and 10 tiny kitty hats for dolls for fun. Now there will be more Marches. The instruction for Brain Hats for March for Science is out. I may try knitting that. I need to buy more needles and yarn though. I have not knitted anything for 30 years before I started back two weeks ago. Thanks to You know who, He who must not be named, I rediscovered the joy of knitting. :))
Many congratulations on acceptances and scholarships and HUGS on disappointments! =(( :x
Just copying from whataboutcollege and others,
For the US Presidential: “Eligible candidates are determined using the Math and Critical Reading scores (former SAT) or Evidence-based Reading & Writing and Math (revised SAT), and the English, Math, Reading and Science scores for the ACT.” There are others nominated in the Arts as well. They also don’t super score so it’s has to be one sitting.
DD’s school has not notified her yet but at some point, they will receive a log in code for their part of the application to upload the school report. The school report is a lot of work as is the student’s portion. Just a note, too, that for the school report, your student can have a teacher do it: “Students are strongly encouraged to select a school official who knows them well to complete this part of the application. This may be a teacher or counselor.” My DD will pick a teacher because her guidance counselor has ~600 other students. Plus, she is excited to nominate her favorite teacher as the “most influential” teacher on the off chance she might be selected, the teacher also gets a trip to DC. (Bribery for the teacher having to fill out all that info!)
@LoveTheBard So sorry to hear your child missed the Elks. It’s very, very difficult to be a finalist if you don’t have really high financial need and your student may still win a local or district scholarship without moving on to state. Good luck.
@dfbdfb Congrats on CBH. I just made my DD’s reservations, hope she gets to meet your DD there!
@building@mamaedefamilia Yes, I forgot to add that part, DD got two emails. It looks like someone messed up because the subject line says: “PSP Email Template - 2017 General Candidates” I think it would have been nicer to have Congratulations rather than email template. The second email contained her Id and the subject line was “PSP Nomination ID”
@itsgettingreal17 Regarding UMD scholarships, if it says the FAFSA must be completed in order to qualify, that would include B/K. Notification of scholarships is, I think, the only thing keeping D17 from committing to UMD now. (That, and I’ve told her she needs to wait until she visits the one school she hasn’t yet seen.)
D hasn’t tried to submit preferences for Honors yet. What kind of hangup are you having?
@NerdMom88 Did you submit FAFSA? I don’t think FAFSA is required for B/K, as all applicants are considered. It’s contradictory. @maryversity Do you know whether we need to submit FAFSA for B/K consideration?
Re Presidential Scholar Candidates - For the academic scholars, the Presidential Scholars Program sends an email to the email that the college board or ACT has in their records. Below is how the candidates are selected
"All graduating high school seniors who are citizens of the United States or legal permanent residents, enrolled in either private or public high schools, and who have scored exceptionally well on either the SAT of the College Board or the ACT Assessment of the American College Testing Program on or before October of each year are automatically considered for participation.
The United States Department of Education then examines the test records for the top 30 males and top 30 females in each state/jurisdiction. The combined file of scores from the top male examinees and top female examinees are then ranked from high to low in each state. The scores associated with the top 20 male examinees and top 20 female examinees are used to identify the candidates in each state. When ties occur in the threshold score, more than 20 persons of that gender are invited in that state. In addition, each Chief State School Officer (CSSO) may nominate up to ten male and ten female candidates, residing in the CSSO’s jurisdiction, based on their outstanding scholarship. Additionally, the program is partnering with several recognition organizations that will each nominate up to 10 candidates from their individual programs. Each year approximately 4,000 students are invited to apply to the program."
I have no idea how the candidates in the other two categories are selected. Even after attending the awards ceremony last year, I do not understand the career and technical category. I was shocked that my DD looked at the application today. I would be very happy if she completed it, but do not plan to push.
@itsgettingreal17 Yes, we did. We’ll have two in college next year, and they may need to take student loans. Needing it for UMD scholarships was just an additional reason.
Edit: I checked the Banneker Key info on the UMD website, and regarding FAFSA it says: “OSFA strongly recommends the student complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA) if he/she has not already done so. The FAFSA may be completed online at…”
@mamaedefamilia Thank you! I remember discarding something that sounded like this as one of those scams that look official but is an expensive vacation.
The Presidential Scholar thing was worth it for my son, but it did involve more essays. He met a lot of interesting people, and the program was good. (That year they met the vice-president briefly for a photo opp, but not the president). Of course, I don’t know how the program has changed, or how it will change with the new administration.
“All freshman applicants who are admitted to the Honors College are considered for the Banneker/Key Scholarship. No additional application materials are required.”
@longwood Yes, you’re right. I was answering someone else’s question about whether FAFSA was required to be eligible for scholarships. It’s just “highly recommended” for B/K, but not required.
It seems so unfair that our kids just got over one wait, and now have to wait again to find out about scholarships! (Actually, my kid is pretty laid back about it, so maybe it’s unfair to the parents. Sometimes I think I’m more invested in the process than she is.)
I am a freshmen in HS and looking out for research opportunities for 2017 summer. Given most of you have gone through this already can you please share/advise on ideas/thoughts? Thank you.
Fun fact: My daughter noticed that on the Alabama (HN)CBHP website, they state that the average GPA of those accepted to the program has, at least recently, been 4.30.
It is mathematically impossible to achieve a 4.30 at her high school. In fact, it’s nearly mathematically impossible to achieve a 4.30 anywhere in the district, even if you’re at the IB-program school or one of the couple (wealthy-neighborhood) schools with gobs and tons of AP classes, given graduation requirements and the weighting scheme used here.
So the question: How heavily are Alabama high schools weighting their AP and honors classes, anyway?
My kid’s school weights Honors classes at .5 and AP classes at 1.0, so it would be possible to achieve a GPA that high or higher. Maybe UA uses the same scale?
@dfbdfb at D’17s school, most of the top 10% have UW from 3.95 to 4.0. Accelerated classes are +0.5 and Honors and AP are +1.0. I think this is another area where specific school context matters.
Detail below for the interested:
From the school profile:
GRADING SYSTEM
Letter grades are assigned a different point value at each class level as follows, with the College Prep
serving as our standard:
LEVELS A B C D
College Prep 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0
Accelerated 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5
Honors 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0
Specific class of 2017 data:
Highest GPA 4.80 4.00
Highest Possible GPA 4.80 4.00
In addition to our 30 Advanced Placement courses, there are 9 Honor-level courses not designated as
Advanced Placement.
