Unfortunately, you are not eligible to apply for the Presidential Scholarship. This scholarship is for incoming first-year students planning to attend Georgia State for the first time beginning in Fall 2022.  Transfer students are not eligible.  This does not include dual-enrollment student who are eligible to apply.

Yes, we welcome all dual-enrollment student applicants!  You are still eligible to apply even if you have completed your associate’s degree through dual-enrollment.

Sorry. Not yet.

Only high school seniors who are also applying to Georgia State for the upcoming fall semester are eligible to apply. However, you may submit this contact form asking us to notify you when the application cycle, during which you would be eligible to apply, has opened.

No. This scholarship is only for undergraduates, specifically first-year, incoming students.

Yes! Students who took gap years are still eligible to apply for the Presidential Scholarship.

Yes! Home-schooled students are eligible to apply. In your application, we encourage you to focus on the creative ways you may have enriched your academic learning, extracurricular activities and other opportunities you may have pursued while being home-schooled.

No. You do not need to be a U.S. citizen to apply for the Presidential Scholarship.

There is no minimum GPA. However, the Presidential Scholarship is Georgia State’s most prestigious and competitive scholarship for the best and brightest students. Previous classes of Presidential Scholars have earned high GPAs. Last year’s Presidential Scholar class had an average GPA of 4.15.

SAT and/or ACT scores are not considered when determining Presidential Scholarship finalists.

However, SAT/ACT scores are required for admission to Georgia State University.  To be considered for the Presidential Scholarship, you must submit an application to Georgia State by the November 15, 2021 priority deadline.

The Presidential Scholarship application opens in September and closes on November 15th. Applications are reviewed immediately after the deadline but not before then.

We encourage you to spend as much time on your application as possible, improving and perfecting it. Early application submission will not enhance your chances of receiving the scholarship.

However, we also encourage you to avoid waiting until the last minute to submit your application. If you wait until the deadline, a variety of scenarios could prevent you from submitting your application on time—Internet connectivity problems, power outages, miscalculating the Eastern Time Zone. We’ve seen it.

Late submissions will not be accepted under any circumstances.

The essays are our first chance to get to know you. We’re looking for students who possess academic curiosity, were active leaders in their high schools and/or communities and those who are looking to make an impact in the future. We want you to thoughtfully reflect on your high school experiences and personal qualities and how they relate to your goals at Georgia State. Our mission statement above is also a good hint!

The best essays are also the ones that make the most of the 300 words they are given. An essay that is few sentences long and leaves hundreds of words unused is not going to be as competitive as an essay that uses all the space to make the case for why they are the best candidate. At the same time, you don’t want to fill your essays with fluff. Make them impactful, meaningful, and full of substance. This can take time to cultivate which is why it’s best to revise your essay’s multiple times.

Write and save your essay drafts in a cloud-based system, such as a Google Drive, with an auto save function. Do not write your drafts directly into the text boxes on the application because refreshing the page may result in loss of work.

Saving essays drafts to your computer hard drive or a USB drive can be risky. If those devices fail, are lost or become damaged, you will have to rewrite your essays.

Late submissions will not be accepted under any circumstances.

Yes! In fact, we encourage you to have someone review your essays and provide you with suggested edits and improvements. Beyond resolving grammatical errors and misspellings, make sure you are telling your story in the best way possible. It’s not a requirement that you’re the next great writer, but we want to know as much about you as possible.

You should select the teacher, high school counselor, mentor or coach who you feel can best discuss your academic achievements, extracurricular activities and personal qualities. This person should be able to write you a strong letter, telling us why you are a great candidate for the Presidential Scholarship.

Letters from family members will not be accepted.

Let your recommender know that you’re applying to Georgia State University’s most competitive scholarship, which provides funding for tuition, fees, housing and more.

Ask them if they feel comfortable writing you a strong letter of recommendation.

Give them enough time to write you a strong, thoughtful, detailed letter—four weeks is optimal—and provide them with any materials they may need to complete it, such as your resume, application essay drafts, list of accomplishments, etc. Make sure to provide them with information about Georgia State and the Presidential Scholarship.

Once they submit your letter, write them a thank you note. Regardless of whether you receive the scholarship, they took time to help you pursue your goal.

First, send your request email (located in the online application) well in advance of the recommendation letter deadline in order to give yourself enough time to troubleshoot these issues.

Ensure that your recommender has checked their junk or spam folder. Sometimes important things go there.

Ensure that you have properly typed the correct email address when requesting a recommendation from them. If no errors can be found, contact PresidentialScholars@gsu.edu, and include your name, your recommender’s name and email address, and a description of the issue in the body of the email.

• Do not leave this for the last moment! You do not want to rush this, considering that it is a long application. You also don’t want to run into any technical problems right as the application is about to close.
• Don’t overthink this. Do NOT answer with what you THINK the school wants to hear. Don’t treat this like a test that you have to study for, like you can research all the right answers. That will make your application look just like everyone else’s.
• Think about what makes you unique. When you consider which topics to write about, focus on the things that make you unique. If you have a unique cultural lifestyle or religion, focus on how that has shaped you. What extracurriculars do you do that are true to you and how have they impacted your views and goals? These are the questions you should be asking. So it’s old advice, but it’s true. Be yourself and just show passion for whatever it is that you care about.
• Pay attention to tone. Maintain a professional tone, but at the same time, let your personality and voice influence your style. Write like YOU, not like a language arts robot.
• Think carefully about your letter of recommendation. Another big part of the application is your recommendation letter. Be careful in who you select to ask for this favor. Make sure it’s someone who knows you well, who has seen you display passion and leadership and can testify to it. And especially remember, this IS a favor that someone is doing for you. Ask them kindly and with gratitude, and preferably in person, not over email. Once the letter has been written, follow up with a hand-written thank you card. Believe me, it goes a long way.

Scholarship Day is where we interview our top Presidential Scholar candidates on March 4, 2022. Save the date! Getting invited to participate in Scholarship Day is a huge accomplishment.

Candidates invited to participate in Scholarship Day will receive details and instructions about the event by mid-February. In-person attendance at Scholarship Day is mandatory to be considered for the Presidential Scholarship pending public health advisories. International students will have the opportunity to attend virtually in early March.

We will notify Presidential Scholarship applicants of whether they’ve been invited to Scholarship Day in mid-February.

Because the Presidential Scholarship is the most competitive academic award at Georgia State, attending Scholarship Day is mandatory to compete for the Presidential Scholarship. Failure to attend Scholarship Day will result in the withdrawal of your Presidential Scholarship application.

We will notify Presidential Scholarship applicants who attended Scholarship Day about their selection status within three weeks.

• Do some research before Scholarship Day. So, you’ve been selected as a semi-finalist and will have an interview on Scholarship Day. You’re probably nervous. It’s ok to do a little research, but not the kind you think. Besides, you don’t even know what the questions are going to be. What you should figure out is what excites you about Georgia State, and what you would love to do there. Find out if there are any opportunities that you want to explore. This “research,” should be fun and make you excited, which is what interviewers want to see—not scripted answers.
• Practice your interview technique. You can meet with a friend who has an interview of some sort and the two of you can practice giving each other tips on soft skills. Pay attention to things like hand shakes, steady voice, confidence and enthusiasm. Try to avoid saying “um” and “like” and practice good posture. Kindly correct and help each other. Believe me, having practiced what you do with your hands and how to sit will make the big day less stressful when it comes.
• Choose your outfit. When you pick what to wear for Scholarship Day, make sure it’s professional, of course. But it’s equally important that whatever outfit you pick, you look like you and you feel like you. Be comfortable in your own skin, and be confident in who you are. Let your clothes help you with that.
• Keep your focus. Answering interview questions is pretty similar to answering your essay prompts on the application. Focus on your unique attributes and your passions and express genuine excitement. Use your personality to your benefit. They will notice the way you answer more than the perfect and careful selection of your words. It’s totally normal to be nervous, but remember that everyone else is in the same boat.
• Relax and rest. Once it’s over, it’s over. Please don’t torture yourself about all the things you should have said or what you should have done. I know it can be really, really hard, but try and think about something else the next three weeks. You can write a thank you note to your interviewers, which I would recommend, but beyond that, it is out of your hands. And for those of you wondering, no, I didn’t exactly follow my own advice for this one. I was definitely a nervous wreck. But it’s easier to tell others to do it than do it myself.

Presidential Scholars have excelled at Georgia State and beyond the campus grounds! Our scholars have gone on to be named Marshall Scholars; receive Goldwater Scholarships; selected as Beckman Scholars; intern in London; pursue graduate/medical school; begin law school early through our Accelerated Bachelor’s/J.D. Program; intern at the State Capitol; start service organizations; found start-ups; perform independent research; study abroad in Vietnam, Italy, Israel, China; and so much more.

Removing the financial burden of college expenses has allowed our scholars to focus on and expand their academics and extracurricular experiences and opportunities.

There are approximately 30 scholars in the program. All scholars are matched with a Presidential Scholar mentor when they arrive at Georgia State and our cohort model ensures students feel supported and part of a community. So, if you need help purchasing a textbook, navigating parking in downtown Atlanta, or need a dining hall lunch buddy, the Presidential Scholar cohort will make sure you’re good to go!

First-year scholars are required to enroll in HON 1000—Presidential Scholars Seminar in their first fall semester, which is taught by the Honors College Interim Dean Dr. Sarah Cook.

All Presidential Scholars are required to maintain a 3.5 GPA, full-time status (12 credit hours or more) and attend the yearly Founders Lecture, Induction & Welcome Ceremony, and other Honors College events. They are also required to meet yearly with Interim Dean Dr. Sarah Cook.

Presidential Scholars are required to live on campus in the Honors College Living Learning Community during their first year.

Centennial Merits Scholarships do not stack on top of Presidential Scholarships. If you are awarded a Centennial Merit and are subsequently selected to receive the Presidential Scholarship, your Presidential Scholarship will replace your Centennial Merit award.

Yes! Presidential Scholars are encouraged to meet with the Honors College’s Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships and apply for nationally competitive awards that allow students to perform research, study abroad, pursue graduate school and more.

The Honors College also offers scholarship opportunities specifically to honors students every year. There is also a Scholarship Resource Center on campus to help you apply for Georgia State scholarships.