Scholar's program not perfect

Out of 470 students who applied to Cal State Long Beach's President's Scholars program, 68 were accepted into the program, 402 were not.

The President's Scholars program offers high school valedictorians, National Merit Scholar semi-finalists and finalists a full, four-year scholarship, including room and board, books, priority registration, and individual academic advising.

Currently, 350 students, the maximum number that the program can accept while still providing individual attention to each student, from freshmen to seniors are enrolled in the program, said Armando Contreras, executive assistant to the president and co-director of the President's Scholars program.

While the large number of applicants testifies to the program's success, there are still some kinks to work out ? the least of which is how to handle the eligible students who do not get accepted.

Jennifer Leckliter was valedictorian of her Palmdale high school's 650-student 1999 senior class. After graduation she was planning to go to the Fashion Institute, as a four-year college was financially out of reach.

When Leckliter learned that she was eligible for a full, four-year scholarship through the President's Scholars program, she decided to change her plans.

She spoke with the President's Scholars program administrators, attended the scholars' orientation, met President Robert Maxson and accepted CSULB's offer of admission. She was expecting to receive the scholarship and did not apply for additional financial aid.

In late June, she received a letter informing her that she did not receive the scholarship because of the high number of applicants. By that time, she had already turned down her other choices for school.

"Generally, most offers from colleges that we are competing with go out in April, so we try to let them know by April," Contreras said. "It depends on whether we can verify that they are valedictorians but sometimes we can't do that until June."

"I'm not bitter," Leckliter said about not receiving the scholarship. "I was just disappointed. I wouldn't have gone around telling everyone I got it if I hadn't really thought I was going to."

Leckliter attended CSULB, despite not being accepted into the program. She is now going into her sophomore year as a business major.

Like Leckliter, about 40 percent of the students who do not get accepted into the program still end up coming to CSULB, according to Contreras.

The President's Scholars program contacts high school counselors in the summer to get the names of potential valedictorians going into their senior year. Throughout their senior year, the students are in contact with the program administrators. They are invited to take a tour of the campus and the department they are interested in joining and to meet President Robert Maxson, Contreras said.

President's Scholars applications, which are separate from regular CSU applications, are judged on numerous criteria, including overall GPA, a letter of recommendation from a teacher or a counselor, SAT scores, an essay, class ranking, Contreras said. Each student's application is considered individually.

"Some schools have policy that all students with a 4.0 and higher are valedictorians, others, that only the top student is valedictorian," Contreras said. "The decision process is more difficult if a school has multiple valedictorians. Some students take Advanced Placement classes and honors courses. We try to give weight to that."

Students accepted into the program do exceptionally well, according to Contreras. To maintain eligibility, President's Scholars are required to maintain a minimum GPA on a graduated scale. Freshman must maintain a 3.0. The requirement increases incrementally to a 3.75 for seniors. Most students in the program, however, maintain a 4.0 GPA throughout their college career, Contreras said.

The program, implemented in 1996, has never had a student fail to meet the requirements, Contreras said.