The Pinnacle Scholars Program in which selected students have access to a variety of opportunities is, for reasons unknown, highly rooted in secrecy. For a while many members of the Stevens student body, part of Pinnacle and not, have wondered what determines whether a student gets selected to this program. Some believe that the students get selected on a random basis rather than through a set criteria or process. Both the lack of information stated on the Pinnacle Scholars page online and the declination to provide clarification by the administration only contributes to this belief. However, changes are currently being made as applicants to Stevens will now have to apply to be considered for the Pinnacle Scholars program.
According to the Stevens website, the Lawrence E. Babbio ‘66 Pinnacle Scholars Program is an “exclusive, invitation-only program” in which selected students are informed of their selection through their Stevens acceptance. Admission to the program is based on strong academic performance and the potential impact the student would have at Stevens. Participants of the program gain many benefits such as a $5,000 stipend for either performing summer research with a Stevens faculty member or embarking on an international experience such as studying abroad, interning abroad, performing research aboard, or doing service work. Additionally, all Pinnacle Scholars have a cultural passport which allows them to attend special events such as plays, musicals, art exhibitions, and more. The responsibility that comes with being a part of this program is that you must maintain a GPA of 3.2 or higher and enroll in several special honors and research seminars.
While the scope of this program sounds promising, many students can attest that the program benefits largely outweigh the requirements especially when the selection criteria is so vague to begin with. Firstly, granting every Pinnacle student a $5,000 stipend for up to three summers certainly does allow them to embark on experiences and opportunities that would be beneficial to their professional ambitions and growth overall as a person. This, however, does come at a very large cost: other high-achieving students not part of Pinnacle miss out on the same benefits. Pinnacle students are prioritized when it comes to research opportunities and non-Pinnacle students have to find opportunities on their own. Secondly, Pinnacle Scholars are guaranteed their stipend while other students participating in research may have to take on unpaid roles. This policy gives Pinnacles an unfair advantage, especially when there might be other students who can very much benefit from the stipend and the professional opportunities in regard to a need-based way.
Another point with which the insufficiency of how the Pinnacle Scholars Program chooses students is that the two disclosed factors include academic performance and potential student impact. Pinnacles are selected as part of their application to Stevens so it makes sense to evaluate each prospective student’s academic standing but assuming the impact a student will have on the Stevens community based on their high school performance is difficult to judge. Potential selectees of the program may end up not being thoroughly involved in the school, yet there is no revaluation method with which non-Pinnacle impactful students get a chance to join the program. Furthermore, given all of the surpluses of the Pinnacle Scholars Program, it elevates its students to make a lasting impression on the Steven community which regular students do not have access to. This, again, would be fine if the methodology of the selection process for such a prestigious program was communicated and a set commonality between all Scholars was identifiable.
Finally, one of the more fun and exciting aspects of being a Pinnacle Scholar is the cultural passport. This allows Scholars to plan for and attend leisure activities. Even though this is a great way to destress and take advantage of the city, Pinnacle Program members have a much larger budget and ability to participate compared to their counterparts. For example, Stevens students are able to attend events planned out by the Entertainment Committee (EC). However, competition across the entirety of the student body for the tickets is fierce. On average, the EC buys about 15-30 tickets depending on the type of event and tickets are sold out within 20-40 seconds with sometimes over 200 signups for a single event. Through the Pinnacle Scholars Program, students can plan events as they want and cater towards their own needs. The lack of disclosure about the event planning process and the budget within Pinnacle also makes it inequitable to other students.
There has been speculation that Stevens will now require future applicants to Stevens to apply to the Pinnacle Scholars Program rather than just be considered based off of their application to Stevens. The specifics of this are still unknown but Vice President for Enrollment Management, Cindy Chin, explained how she will be meeting with the Student Government Association (SGA) regarding this matter. Hopefully, this meeting will shed some light on the issue and more information relating to the Pinnacle Scholars Program will be readily made available.
