Cypress Springs High School student Ankur Parikh was selected to serve as a candidate to the United States Presidential Scholars Program. He is now eligible for selection as one of 500 semifinalists in the nation and ultimately as a Scholar.
Ankur is a National Merit semi-finalist and a member of the National Honor Society. He is ranked second in a class of 691 students and scored a perfect 1,600 on the SAT exam and has perfect scores in all the SAT II exams he has taken.
Ankur, the son of Manjari and Prashant Parikh, has been a member of the Cypress Springs High School band for four years and is serving as section leader this year and was a squad leader as a junior. He was named as a Texas Music Scholar as a sophomore and junior and was also named to the All-Region band his freshman through junior years. He is also very active in Science Olympiad and captured gold and silver medals at state competition as a sophomore and junior.
Ankur plans to pursue a degree in either chemical or electrical engineering. While he has not reached a final decision on his college destination his top choices are Rice, Stanford, Duke, Northwestern and Vanderbilt.
“Ankur is passionate about learning and applies this attitude to anything he’s involved with – whether it’s academics, band or any other activity,” said Donna Dunn, counselor at Cypress Springs.
The Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964 to recognize and honor some of the nation’s most distinguished graduating seniors. In 1979, the program was expanded to recognize students who demonstrate exceptional scholarship and talent in the visual, creative and performing arts.
Students are selected for this program by The U.S. Department of Education on the basis of test records for the top 20 males and top 20 females in each of the states/jurisdictions. For each examinee, the SAT score is converted to the ACT Sum of Scores, according to a concordance table. Each individual examinee’s highest test score (in a single test administration) is identified, and duplicates and/or lower scores are dropped. Only 2,600 students in the nation are identified for this program.
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 cut off score, more than 20 persons of that gender are selected in that state.
To be considered further, candidates must submit candidacy materials, including essays, self-assessments, secondary school reports and transcripts. Candidates are evaluated on their academic achievement, personal characteristics, leadership and service activities and an analysis of their essay.
In late March, approximately 500 semifinalists are chosen by an independent, national committee of educators convened by the Commission on Presidential Scholars. Six to twenty semifinalists are identified for each state/jurisdiction by the review committee. The number of semifinalists identified per state/jurisdiction is based on a proportionate number of test takers for that state.
In April, the Commission on Presidential Scholars makes the final selection of up to 121 academic scholars and up to 20 arts scholars. One young man and one young woman are chosen from each state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and from families of U.S. citizens living abroad. In addition, up to 15 students are chosen at-large.
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