All-USA Academic Team Nominator Instructions

The Fall App Tab became available to students July 1st; the PTK Nominator Portal will become available to designated nominators by September 1st.

 

Applications are now being accepted for the 2023-2024 All-USA/Coca-Cola Academic Teams, New Century Pathways, and All-State Academic Teams. Nominated students are placed into national competition for nearly $500,000 in scholarship opportunities. The work that you do by nominating deserving students for these programs is critical to recognizing the nation’s top college students, and we thank you for serving as a nominator for your college campus(es).

Each college campus can nominate up to two career-technical (CTE) or workforce-ready applicants for the New Century Workforce Pathway Scholarship program in addition to the two nominations your college will be making as part of the All-USA Academic Team/New Century Transfer Pathway program. Click here to view your college’s nominator(s). If someone different should be named as the nominator for your college campus locations, complete a Change of Nominator form no later than October 31, 2023. Nominator changes will not be processed after this date.

Deadlines - NO extensions:

Student Deadline to complete an application – 5:00pm CT on December 1, 2023
Nominator Deadline to nominate completed applicants – 5:00pm CT on December 8, 2023

Support for Nominators:

One (1) letter of recommendation is required. Should recommenders have privacy concerns, email our office at scholarships@ptk.org for a solution. Tips for nominators are available in a special “Nominators Section” of our Articles Library, which may be accessed by going to support.ptk.org and clicking on Scholarships. A webinar will be available for nominators in the coming weeks.

Your login to Access Materials and Nominate Students:

• Click this link:  https://scholarships.ptk.org/.
• When prompted, enter your PTK username and password. Forgot your password? Follow the prompts to change your password if needed.
  
• Once you have logged in, look for “Nominator” at the top of your screen next to the PTK logo and “Dashboard.”
• Hover your mouse over “Nominator” and click on “View Applicants.” (Hovering over “Scholarships” and “PTK Scholarship Application” will take you to the application like a student.)

Your initial visit to the updated nominator portal will contain a confirmation screen that is required to access the portal:

You must confirm your nominator status for the campus locations and pathways listed. If changes are needed, you may select Cancel and complete a Change of Nominator form, or you can Confirm and make changes later. This screen is only displayed upon the initial log in and will not be present on any subsequent log in.

Your portal now contains a new section that has replaced the Acknowledgement Section. The Campus Confirmation area tracks how m any nominations you have used per pathway and campus. It also displays your confirmation information per campus/pathway as you confirm or cancel nominations. The ability to confirm nominations or cancel confirmations is available until the portal closes to nominators on the evening of December 8th.

View Student Applications:

• All of your campus/pathway assignments are available in the Campus/Pathway Section directly above the grid of student applicants. New for this year, you may only view applicants by pathway and campus.
• A campus will only appear if a student has selected that college/campus in their application; your contact information is shown to the student should they have any questions about the nomination process.
• You may share your username and password with other faculty members needing access for review purposes.
• Only students who are eligible for the All-USA/New Century Pathways programs will appear in your portal.
• Sample email texts are available from our Nominator Articles Section. 
• To review/download a student's application, select the blue download icon or black view icon in the Actions column. If an application isn't complete, there will only be two icons in the Actions column.
• Only COMPLETED applications are available for nomination. To nominate a student, select the green check mark in the Actions column.
• To cancel a nomination, click the red prohibition icon next to the green check mark in the Actions column. Cancelling the nomination does not remove or delete an application.
• You will now confirm the nominations for each campus/pathway for which you nominate. Upon confirmation or nominations, the nomination and prohibition icons are hidden. If you wish to change a nomination after the confirmation is completed, first remove the confirmation, and then cancel the nomination.
  
• If you do not nominate to your potential, you may now elect to have PTK auto-nominate applicants on your behalf. These auto-nominations will be made from all campus locations that have completed applications for the current All-USA program.
  
• If you elect to auto-nominate, you will be notified of these nominations and will have the opportunity to decline the nominations within a 48-hour window. If you do not want to nominate any of the applicants and do not wish for PTK to auto-nominate, select the "Elect NOT to Nominate" option during the confirmation process.
• New this year - you may only nominate students with COMPLETED applications.
• When you have completed the nomination and confirmation process for all campus locations and pathways, your Campus Confirmation section should have a confirmation status for each campus and pathway location.

Helping Students Log In to the Application:

Students will log in to the application with the PTK web credentials using the same link: https://scholarships.ptk.org. Non-PTK members should click on the Create A Guest Account link on the login page and follow the prompts to create an account. Once the student has logged in, they should hover the mouse over “Scholarships” at the top of the screen, select “PTK Scholarship Application” from the drop-down menu, and follow the instructions to begin the application.

Nominating Students:

The PTK Scholarship Application is comprised of many scholarships included on this one application. PTK members may apply for scholarships designated exclusively for members while simultaneously applying for the All-USA/Coca-Cola Academic Teams and New Century Transfer/Workforce Pathway Programs. Only nominated students will be considered for the All-USA/Coca-Cola Academic Teams and New Century Pathway Programs. Nominated students are also considered for placement on participating All-State Academic Teams at the discretion of the state’s designated All-State Coordinator. No action is needed on your part for applicants to be considered for any other scholarship programs.

Scholarship Programs by nomination:

• All-USA Academic Team – 20 Scholars, $5,000 scholarship
• Coca-Cola Academic Team
  • 50 Gold Scholars, $1,500 scholarship
  • 50 Silver Scholars, $1,250 scholarship
  • 50 Bronze Scholars, $1,000 scholarship
• New Century Transfer Pathway Scholarship – 52 Scholars, $2,250 scholarship
• New Century Workforce Pathway Scholarship – 52 Workforce/Career-Bound Scholars, $1,250 scholarship (may have a separate nominator, check with your college president)

Scholarship Programs that do not require nomination:

• Hites Transfer Scholarship – 10 Scholars, $7,500 scholarship
• Guistwhite Scholarship – 15 Scholars, $5,000 scholarship
• AMSA Pre-Med Transfer Scholarship – 1 Scholar, $5,000 scholarship
• Calhoun Transfer Scholarship – 1 Scholar, $1,000 scholarship (for South Carolina residents)
• Pacific Region Scholarship – 1 Scholar, $1,000 scholarship (for Pacific Region residents)
• IPSLEI Public Safety, Fire Science, & Criminal Justice Scholarships - 3 Scholars, $1,000 scholarship
• TEK Productions Scholarship – 1 Scholar, $500 scholarship
• Hurst Review NCLEX Scholarship – up to 25 Scholars, $250 scholarship + passcode for free subscription to NCLEX® review courses
• Walgreens Pharmacy Technician Certification Scholarship – up to 50 Scholars, $250 scholarship
• StudyBuddy TEAS Prep Scholarship – 30 Scholars, 100% discount code ($300 value)

Residency Eligibility Reminder:

All scholarships included on the PTK Scholarship Application are open to students with a variety of residency statuses. Residency Eligibility noted within the PTK Scholarship Application pertains to scholarships directly administered by Phi Theta Kappa and does not confer, suggest, or imply eligibility for scholarships administered through All-State Academic Team Programs, which are administered and awarded by the respective state.

Deadline and Nominating Information:

The deadline for students to complete the PTK Scholarship Application is 5:00pm CT on December 1, 2023. Nominators have until 5:00pm CT on December 8, 2023, to select their college’s nominees. Each college campus can nominate up to four (4) students per campus:  two (2) Workforce Pathway students and two (2) Transfer Pathway students. Workforce Pathway nominees should be entering the workforce in 2024 after completing a certificate or associate degree with no plans to obtain a bachelor's degree or higher, and Transfer Pathway nominees should be transferring to a four-year college or bachelor's degree program in 2024 after graduating from or leaving the associate degree program.

As nominator, you have the responsibility of reviewing the applications of your student nominees, making certain that the nominees meet the eligibility criteria and GPA, ensuring completeness of the nominees’ applications, and submitting your nominees’ applications online through the nominator portal. If the nominator is not the college president, we encourage you to share the nominator login with your Campus President to review the college’s participation requirements for student nominees. The nomination and affirmation will need to be completed by the December 8th deadline. If the affirmation process is not completed, nominated students will be disqualified.

***If you wish for students to complete their applications prior to the student deadline of December 1st, you will need to advertise your earlier internal deadline.

As you begin selecting your campus(es) nominees from the nominator portal, this nomination process verifies the College’s commitment to the student’s participation in the All-USA/Coca-Cola Scholarship Program if selected as a national scholar.

• Students selected as All-USA Academic Team members OR New Century Transfer Scholars are expected to attend the PTK Presidents Breakfast, held annually at the AACC Convention. By submitting nominees, your college agrees to provide travel accommodations to the AACC Convention in Spring 2024, to be held in Louisville, Kentucky, should your nominee be selected as an All-USA Academic Team member OR a New Century Transfer Pathway Scholar.
• Students selected as New Century Workforce Scholars will be recognized during the ACCT Leadership Congress in Fall 2024, to be held in Seattle, Washington. Travel expenses are the student's responsibility unless the college offers to assist.
• More information and details regarding recognition events will be provided to scholarship recipients and their colleges at the time of selection.
  *Locations and groups recognized are subject to change.*

If you have questions about the process or need assistance, please contact us at scholarships@ptk.org.