All-USA Applicant Information

The application for All-USA has changed somewhat substantially since the Fall 2025 cycle. If you've read through this document before, please go through again and pay attention to the "Update" tags as you go through each section. Know that some of this info is in flux as we are adjusting for this change.

As of August 25th the application is available at scholarships.ptk.org

(You do not need to be a PTK member to apply - create a guest account if needed.)

Pima's internal deadline for the application is Monday, November 2nd at 5pm AZ time.

I'm Kyley Segers (ksegers@pima.edu), the lead Honors Coordinator at Pima, and I help oversee the All-USA/All-Arizona nomination process at the college. Since you've expressed interested in the scholarship (or have started the application on ptk.org), I have a lot of information to share with you about this scholarship and application process, so dig in for a long read with a couple attachments :)

First off, I'll start by saying that this scholarship is amazing! "Winning" has multiple stages but can be a bit confusing. The biggest prize in Arizona is to be nominated for the All USA award, which makes you a member of the All-Arizona Academic Team. This comes with a scholarship for 60 credits at NAU, ASU, or UA which is a huge value! For all the nitty gritty details, please read on.

Note: Though PTK administers the scholarship process, you do not need to be a member to apply or win. You will apply at scholarships.ptk.org and log in either using your PTK membership credentials or by making a guest account. (For some of the articles linked in this newsletter, you will need to log in with that PTK account to view.)

You'll want to start by checking that you meet eligibility requirements for the award (you will need to be logged in as a member or guest). These include a 3.5+ GPA for college level classes in the last 5 years, 36 credits completed as of the end of the fall semester, and being enrolled in at least 6 credits at Pima for the fall.

For students who are not Arizona residents (either international or out-of-state), note that the tuition waiver only covers in state tuition, and might not be able to be combined with additional tuition waivers (for example the AZ-Sonoran waiver). Further, UA and NAU will only apply the waiver to the student's first bachelor's degree. ASU has no information about the tuition award listed on their website at this time.

It's worth contacting the financial aid department of the university where you'd use the award prior to applying to learn more about eligibility and stacking with other awards. Each university decides the specifics of how to apply All-Arizona Tuition Award separately.

Learn more here:

https://financialaid.arizona.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/current-students

https://nau.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/transfer/

https://tuition.asu.edu/contact

https://www.azregents.edu/programs/all-arizona-academic-team

1. Complete all parts of the scholarships.ptk.org application by Pima's deadline of Monday, November 2nd, 2026.

• Note that even if PTK extends their deadline, Pima's deadline WILL NOT CHANGE.
• UPDATE: Exact selection criteria is pending as the PTK application has changed this cycle. The Pima Scholarships Office is updating their nomination materials as of August 2026. In the past we have used only GPA, Letter of Recommendation, Endeavor Essay, and Service and Leadership activities for nomination. This is likely to be similar in the new application.
• The 12 nominees receive a 60-credit tuition waiver for in-state tuition at NAU, ASU, or UAz which is called the "All-Arizona Tuition Award". They are now part of the All-Arizona Academic Team.
• Nominees begin using the award the fall or spring of the next academic year, and will need to take at least 6 credits per semester at the university to maintain the scholarship. Exceptions can be made to this timeline, contact your specific university for details.

2. Pima then forwards our nominees to the Arizona Board of Regents, who partition the Arizona Academic Team into award levels: First Team ($1000), Second Team ($750), and Third Team ($500). This award is in addition to the tuition waiver. The state-level committee will use your full application to judge you.

3. The Arizona Board then sends the applications to the national level, where a committee from PTK will decide which of the nominees from the entire country will win various other awards such as All-USA ($3000), Coca-Cola Academic Team ($1300), Oberndorf ($1500), Hites ($7500), Guistwhite ($5000), and others.

• Not all nominees are eligible for Oberndorf, Hites, or Guistwhite - these awards all have their own criteria, but if you are eligible, the ptk.org application will have a separate tab in the application for you to fill out for those.

UPDATE: In the 2026 application cycle the "Endeavor Project" has been reworked into the "Potential Section" where students have three choices of ways to demonstrate their potential. "Choice 2 - Creating Change" is the old "endeavor" prompt. The other two choices in the application are similar, in that all three require a specific example of the student showcasing leadership, initiative, and impact. With that in mind, I believe the following information is still relevant advice for all applicants:

A common question we get from students in this process is about what the endeavor project is. I describe it to students as a large-scale project that showcases intentionality, leadership, and impact. What that looks like can vary quite a bit, but in all cases the student should develop something that is meaningful to them and is constructed with care and effort. Then, they should put in significant time and energy to see the project come to fruition in a way that provides a lasting impact on their college, community, or world.

This could mean starting a club and building it to have a strong presence and outreach at Pima and in Tucson, or it could be developing and managing a regular on-going event within the community like a park clean-up or meeting with seniors, or it could be putting on a workshop or conference meant to benefit students or community members. This is not an exhaustive list, just a few ideas to get you started - and your Honors Coordinators are always happy to brainstorm ideas with you if you'd like to reach out to set up a meeting.

In the application, you will write an essay to describe your endeavor project, as well as submitting a letter of recommendation from a faculty member, boss, volunteer coordinator, mentor, etc. who can speak to your work on the endeavor project.

To help you prepare for the nomination, Pima Honors provides monthly Scholarship Information Sessions throughout the academic year on the third Friday of the month via Zoom. At these meetings we answer general questions about finding and applying for scholarships, we workshop ideas for endeavor projects, and in October and November we host essay revision parties to help applicants get their essays into tip-top shape. You can find our full meeting schedule on PimaEngage.

The best advice I can give you in preparing for winning the nomination is to get involved in service and leadership ASAP and start working on your endeavor project NOW. At Pima we're fortunate that we have a very active Honors Program and PTK Chapter which both provide students with lots of opportunities to get involved and build impressive resumes that set us up for lots of national wins each year. Our winners will typically have a few solid service or involvement activities, with essays discussing long-term work like club membership, recurring volunteer participation, or leadership within an organization. This is not meant to discourage any of our applicants, but I want you to have a clear picture of our expectations and inspire you to get involved early so you can make yourself one of those winning candidates!

Also keep in mind that you will need a letter of recommendation for this scholarship. Your recommender should be someone who can speak specifically to your endeavor project and the work you've done. It's a good idea to contact them early in the process so they have time to write you a strong letter. They may also have questions about the scholarship and what to focus on for their letter. I suggest you share this newsletter with them for general info about the scholarship, and remind them that the letter should address your leadership in context of your work towards your endeavor project.

Our Scholarships Office will make every attempt to verify the details submitted in your application packet, including GPA, service activities, and your letter of recommendation. Dishonesty on this or any other scholarship application will be handled by the processes set forth in the Academic Integrity Code.

Further, PTK requires all applicants to read and comply with the following expectations:

The “I Am the Author” Test

Before you submit any part of your application, especially anything AI helped with, ask yourself three questions:

1. Is it true? Every experience, award, number, and claim in my application really happened, the way I describe it.
2. Does it sound like me? Someone who knows me would believe I wrote it. It uses the language I would actually use.
3. Can I explain it? If a scholarship committee asked me about any sentence, I could talk about it because it is mine.

If the answer to all three questions is yes, AI is supporting your learning. If any answer is no, pause and revise. These standards apply to every applicant, whether or not you use AI tools. The commitment is the same either way: the words you submit are yours.

The Author Code

1. I am the author. AI can coach me, but the work is mine. I review it, revise it, and can explain it.
2. Everything I submit is true. AI does not add experiences I did not have or impact I cannot support.
3. My application sounds like me. Someone who knows me would believe I wrote it.
4. I verify before I trust. AI can be wrong about deadlines, eligibility, and whether an award exists. The official source decides, not the AI.
5. I protect private information. I am careful about what I put into AI tools, and I never share other people's private material.
6. I keep my drafts. My notes, outlines, drafts, and AI chats show my honest process.
7. If I am asked how I used AI, I will answer honestly.

During the fall semester Honors will be holding multiple All-USA Application workshops for students. At these, you can get one-on-one help with your essays, service project, and Q&A about the scholarship. The dates and times of the meetings are available in the flyer below and all meetings are posted on PimaEngage. Additionally, a recording of our first meeting with a general orientation is linked below.

Below is a link to a video of our first All-USA Workshop of the fall semester. In this video I answer some general questions about the scholarship and take you on a detailed tour of the application itself. This would be a useful resource for anyone starting the application this semester.

I'll also attach a couple important documents to this newsletter - documents with advice about how to start your essay process by organizing your essays and accomplishments. Getting started now by organizing your service and involvement activities now would be a great favor to future-you, who will be busy with classes when the application deadline starts getting close!

If you'd like to meet with me to talk more about the process and preparing for the application, please feel free to reach out to me - I am here to help at ksegers@pima.edu!