1,000 Scholars
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As a president's scholarship student at Georgia Tech, Lisa Hofler was on the women's crew team, helped found a local sorority, held an undergraduate research assistantship and was an assistant on the Grady Hospital staff. She was also a member of College Democrats, the Society of Women Engineers and SWARM — the cheering section of students in gold present at football and basketball games and other campus events. Hofler managed all of this while maintaining a 3.9 GPA.
In May, she became the 1,000th President's Scholarship graduate, earning a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering with a minor in French.
The President's Scholarship is Tech's most prestigious merit scholarship, offered to entering freshmen who have demonstrated superb leadership skills, are among the top in their class in academic performance, are involved in extracurricular activities and show promise of continuing such performance in college and beyond. In addition to a financial stipend, benefits include special study abroad stipends, early registration for classes and guaranteed campus housing.
The President's Scholarship program started in 1981 with six scholars. This fall, the program had 4,500 applicants.
"Of that 4,500, we interviewed 450, invited 120 to President's Scholars' Weekend, offered the scholarship to 101 potential students and enrolled 64 scholars for the fall," said Randy McDow, IE 95, MS PubPol 03, director of the President's Scholarship program who also attended Georgia Tech as a President's Scholar. "Our group varies in size from year to year, but we want a group that is small enough that we can know every student by name and recognize their parents and give them individual help, but not so small that they don't have another President's Scholar in their major or in their organization or that we diminish the network they have on campus."
McDow said all of the students interviewed for a President's Scholarship are outstanding, which makes the selection process difficult.
"Students today are so geared toward the college application process. They start so early with activities that can help them — they have played sports, were involved in clubs and have excellent test scores," McDow said.
"The summer before I started at Tech I worked at a theme park for the summer. Today, these kids are traveling to Europe or coaching a sports team or doing research before they start at Tech. They are very directed and dedicated."
©2004 Georgia Tech Alumni Association