vega07

reddune, doesn't it have to be POSTMARKED by the 12th? it's impossible to get it postmarked the 12th.

Reddune

I totally agree with the Postmarked by the 12th, but you might luck out. If you are lucky, the postmarked will be blurry, I can barely make most out. In fact, I'll scan the envelope GMS sent my spring check with. I'll challenge anyone to make out the exact date. It's a matter of luck.

Furthermore, if the the GMS reception center is in DC, and you live in Baltimore, your mail would arrive earlier than someone from LA even if you send yours in late and LA send theirs in early. Sure the address might give it away, but who is going to sit down and calculate the date you send it. GMS is being flooded with letters from 50 states, they might or might not check the postmarked.

I've sent express mail for a few scholarships that I missed the deadline by a day (for one reason or another). Usually, it works. It doesn't guarantee GMS will take it, but what choice does one have now if one is late? When you mess up Plan A, Plan B is all you can hope for.

P.S.
It's an unconfirmed rumor that GMS is more forgiving to a late supplement (like a day) from nominator/recommender than the nominee being late. I've met the people who work for GMS and they rarely turn down an application from the applicant (with 8 essays done!) because the recommender is a little bit late. But of course, you don't know what live-by-the-rule-die-by-it person you might get as your reader.

P.P.S
A little story on unrelated stuff to calm you people who worry about technicality. On the supplements part (recommender/nominator) it asks the recommenders to answer the given questions and DON'T ATTACH LETTER. Both of my recommenders didn't even bother to read the question, they just filled their personal info and proceeded to attach the recommendation letters they wrote for my college application. When I found out about this, I freaked out. I thought I was done for. Apparently, somebody at OCA didn't care. I got the scholarship. A friend of mine, who is also Asian and attend the same high school, who followed the rule letter to the letter but didn't win it. What's the moral of the story, I don't know, I just want to make you feel a bit better.

Just2Fitz

ok, my counselor wrote some stuff and attached a letter, too.

hannanaq

wow i had been freaking out about writing those essays this week but i finally got everything done last night
i felt so relieved when i saw that my nominator and recommeder status were both recieved
now its time to play the waiting game
i want this scholarship so bad
when are they supposed to notify us about if we make it to the second round?

Just2Fitz

just to think I was going to wait until 11 pm central time (12 east) thank God for letting me submit on time.

confucius

omg how do they know if the stuff in the mail is from the recommender/nominator or the nominee without opening it??
what if they just look at the postmark and throw it away!?!?! im so freaking out right now...i spent like 12+ hours on my 8 essays... T.T

ManUtd20Ole

They'll know. You just have to worry about hearing from the organization in March...

Jeopardy_Fan

I actually submitted mine at 11 PM PST but I had not logged out so it allowed me to submit...I ended up getting an email in March, I had thought I had blown my chance.

At the GMS Conference I discussed my situation with another student who told me he had also sent his app. late. His was sent by mail and he told me it wasn't postmarked with a date prior to the deadline. So if you sent it late, there's still some hope for you because the GMS people have big big wallets err I mean hearts.

Reddune

^See guys, I told you to not be too worry. You'll have plenty of times when you heard nothing in March.

confucius

how can you submitted your app at 11PM PST?!?!? when my teacher was doing my nomination, he forgot to do it >.< earlier, I was on the phone with him as he was filling it out, and he told me that he pressed send at 9:02 PM and it wouldnt let him.

ManUtd20Ole

Jeopardy_Fan was a winner last year, confucius.

The process was probably different.

hannanaq

confucious,
i hope you got him to fill it out on paper
why did you wait till the last minute to get everything done?

blah123

confucius...did your rec forget something? like...on my gates app i couldnt click send until i corrected a section that was incomplete.

iono I sent mine at like 11:01 central time (12:01 EST) and i got an email confirming my application. iono if i'll be disqualified but im kinda meh about it.

hope that helps

college18

Hello everyone,

I am a new member at CC. I applied to the Gates Millennium Scholars (2007~2008) and submitted everything on time (EST) on-line. I read the entire thread/forum "Gates Millennium Anyone?" (2006~2007) and learned A LOT about the process, different organizations, EFC, the telephone calls, "welcome scholars" messages, letters, conference, etc., and also got to read some of the past (non-)winners' experiences of awaiting news from GMS...sitting by the mailbox, ready to harass the mailman, haha... That's gonna be me in March!

One thing I noticed is...most of the students who participated in that thread/forum won the scholarships, because it's, I presume, easy to tell that those students really wants to win the [Gates] scholarships so badly, and study. There was a list that vega07 started on the thread of the winners' [CC] names. It got up to like ten...and then it was forgotten, lol...

Anyways... for now, for those who applied for Gates (2007~2008), including me, must wait and see... ^^" The anticipation...ahhh... >_< Good luck to all!

confucius

yea he filled out the hardcopy and sent it on the 13th. is the hard copy much shorter than the online one? because the hardcopy says comments and leaves only like 2 lines of space for a nominator to answer each question, while the online app allows you to write in 1000 letters.