Presidential Scholars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has 15. One of the kids listed says studying abroad but that's actually a sidwell kid.

Studying overseas is now quite common for first semester seniors these days. My niece at Groton last Fall spent her first semester in Viet Nam and there was a girl from NCS in her program.

My question to you is how do you know the overseas scholar was from Sidwell as there are likely students from Maret, GDS, Wilson, NCS, STA or any other school for that matter who are spending terms overseas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:16:11 The "hew" SAT has three sections: Reading, Writing and Math. The Writing section includes the essay but that's only a piece of it. It includes sentence completion and error identification. Where is this SAT information, please?

"Critical Reading" is the new name for the old "verbal" part of the SAT. It and the Math section are what is used for Presidential Scholars program; that is where the 1600 score that people are talking about comes from, even though all three SAT sections (with the inclusion of the "Writing" section) add up to 2400.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, 20:42.

[Anonymous]

My question to you is how do you know the overseas scholar was from Sidwell as there are likely students from Maret, GDS, Wilson, NCS, STA or any other school for that matter who are spending terms overseas?

Because if you go to the list, you will see the candidates are listed by name. I know that particular kid goes to Sidwell Friends.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if the writing section is weighted equally to critical reading and math by colleges

[Anonymous]

Snore.

[Anonymous]

If it's such a snore, why'd you bump it instead of letting it drift away?

[Anonymous]

21:41 For what, admissions or for this program? The writing section includes the essay but also two multiple choice sections, identifying grammar and usage errors and improving sentences. Colleges look at all three, I assume some colleges weight some over others but it would depend on the college.

[Anonymous]

Cut off for DC was a 1510 or less. Internet sleuthing, well really stumbled upon it. 1510 is quite different from 1600.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cut off for DC was a 1510 or less. Internet sleuthing, well really stumbled upon it. 1510 is quite different from 1600.

Please post a link so we all can see.

[Anonymous]

Sorry no can do. It would identify a person by name and that is a no no. One of the named candidates has their SAT score listed someplace else on the internet. Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain the list of semifinalists attached to the OP's link. It tells a much different story than the list of candidates. Maybe I am missing something -- I am new to this.

Has someone analyzed?

[Anonymous]

Nominees was first step, back in February, based solely on SAT scores. Kids then had to send in more recommendations and essays, and the next level, the semifinalists, was just announced, down to about 5 from each state. Then they I believe do interviews or further assessments and name the Presidential Scholars. I believe also that because all one "gets' for doing this is a trip to DC and a reception at the White House, which perhaps for kids that live in the DC area may not be such a huge incentive as other parts of the country, that quite a few local nominees did not finish the process of writing more essays, having just completed college essays and being quite sick of the whole competition and college process. There is no scholarship money involved unlike National Merit, which also requires more essays to get from semifinalist to National Merit Scholar.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP. I truly have no agenda -- we are just starting this process.

But it is informative to know that candidates get in on SAT scores alone. The is certainly not the impression I got from the original thread. Not to take away from Sidwell (we are considering), but is it no surprise that based on SATs alone, they have a large number of candidates. Doesn't seem like news at all.

It is interesting that there were not more from other schools like GDS, Landon or Prep. Is this something that EVERY kid with near perfect SAT scores would apply for? Hard to believe that these schools don't have a few more near perfect SAT kids.

The final list is certainly weighted more to public schools for kids in this area -- and I am not focusing on TJ, which is just a powerhouse no question about it. We just need to set them aside!

One note -- a good friend's son goes to TJ and she is actually very concerned that he is not getting the "Emotional Intelligence" - that is, social skills -- he needs to be successful. Something to think about.

[Anonymous]

GDS is an academic oriented school, unlike Landon and Prep which a very sports oriented.