<p>Just a word of advice to you, flickr - while these awards are great and a true testament to a student’s ability, they by no means guarantee admission to any of these top-tier universities. One of my friends was a Presidential Scholar Semifinalist, with a 36 ACT, and ranked number 3 in our class, and drum major in band, but was still rejected from Berkeley and Harvard (she got into Cornell though). A friend from last year was a Presidential Scholar (Finalist, I think), 2400 SAT, and ranked number 9 in his graduating class and got deferred from Stanford SCEA and then rejected upon regular decisions time. </p>
<p>Bottom line - these awards (at least Presidential Scholar, I don’t know about Davidson) are not a guarantee to get into HYPSM, etc.</p>