Unfortunately, you are not eligible to apply for the Presidential Scholarship. This scholarship is for incoming first-year students who have not attended college previously (not including 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.

Yes! If you did not attend a college or university elsewhere and will be an incoming first-year student, you are 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 3.97.

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

However, we encourage you to submit your test scores to Georgia State anyway.  While the Presidential Scholarship Selection Committee will not be using your scores in our selection process, your SAT and/or ACT scores will still be helpful for other university purposes (such as math placement requirements.)

The Presidential Scholarship application opens in August and closes on December 8th. 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!

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.

We ask that you submit a professional photo so we can 1) recognize you if you are invited to Scholarship Day; 2) jog our memories of you after Scholarship Day as we make final selections.

Your photo will be used for these internal purposes only and will not be posted publicly.

Scholarship Day is where we interview our top Presidential Scholar candidates in early March! Getting invited to participate in Scholarship Day is a huge accomplishment.

This year, Scholarship Day details are forthcoming pending public health advisories. Candidates invited to participate in Scholarship Day will receive these details by mid-February.

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 prestigious and 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.

Congratulations! Prepare for Scholarship Day the way you would prepare for a job interview. Dress to impress, review your application and be able to articulate why you want to attend Georgia State and be part of the Honors College as a Presidential Scholar. Practice discussing your goals, your interests, your academic background and anything else you feel is important for you to showcase to us. Remember to prepare questions since this is also an opportunity for you to learn more about Georgia State, the Honors College, and the Presidential Scholarship.

Remember that the entire day is an interview. So, always present yourself at your best.

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

Presidential Scholars have excelled at Georgia State and beyond the campus grounds! Our scholars have gone on to receive Goldwater Scholarships; intern in London; pursue graduate/medical school; begin law school early through our Accelerated Bachelor’s/J.D. Program; intern at the State Capitol, which is just down the street; 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 35 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.