JSea11

Im kinda confused. When do we send over our transcripts, fafsa, and our sar report?

And is it safe for me to talk about a volunteer internship with my county judge in essay question 6 (which talks about our community service and how it influences our goals) because I volunteer a lot but out side of volunteering at my local court house, the internship is the only thing that's really influenced me into studying law.

I ask this because iv been told that volunteering at animal shelters and can food drives looks better than interning but i got nothing else that relates to my future career in law.

borkborkbork

I think you send over your transcript after you've been selected. not sure tho

imagine18

Hey class of 2011!

So, @ NYD...when you got the scholarship, how long were your essays?
@loco...what ethnic are you?
@everyone else...how's everyone doing on the gates application, almost finished?
Do any of you know when you turn in pell grant info to the gates because my parents havent received their IRS papers for 2010 (this was when they got laid off)

i need for more essays . I hope I'll make it in time.

borkborkbork

same here imagine18. i need to severely revise 4 essays, and do 3 more essays. I also need to get my two recommendations.

Wabashbound2015

LocoArts or anyone else feel like reading some essays. You guys all seem pretty accomplished lol and I want to see what I can do to make my essays the best they can be.

Thispakistanigir

So...How does FAFSA work? Do we send it to GMS or what??

jla7903

Thanks LocoArts!!! and I hold offices in about 5 clubs but there are other clubs im also a part of!

salzahrah

how should we calculate the GPA in the academic section?
and for the grades do we report them as seen on the report card or take off the extra points and give it unweighted?
and are AP classes considered honors?

NYSP2010

Wabashbound: PM me and I'll give you my email and you can email your essays to me and I'll look over them. (This is what happens when you go to a semester uni and all your friends go to quarter uni's and you have nothing to do and nobody to hang out with...you start reading essays....lol)

imagine18: NYD? I haven't seen an NYD posting on this thread. Who do you mean? For me personally (I got the scholarship last year) my essays all ranged from 6000 characters to 7770 characters...but it's quality not quantity. Some people have gotten the scholarship with shorter essays, so it's about what you convey, not how wordy you get conveying it.

@Jsea11: I think that internship experience would be great in response to the prompt for essay #6 since it's volunteer and for the community (since it's a county judge). It'll make you sound a little more unique too, which is good for Gates.

Since everyone has been asking...what happens is that if you become a finalist (in the past years it's been around March 8), they will ask you to send over a school transcript, a school profile (that basically says how many AP courses there are, how many students there are, etc), your Student Aid Report/SAR (the report you get after filling out your FAFSA), a letter of acceptance from a university, and an Unweighted Cumulative GPA form (filled out by your counselor). Your SAR will note whether or not you are Federal Pell Grant Eligible (as determined by the information you entered on FAFSA). If it says you are not eligible for Pell Grant, you can't receive the scholarship, since one of the eligibility requirements is being Pell Grant eligible. Therefore, you do not need to send your FAFSA application anywhere after filling it out, you merely need to send over your SAR after being notified of your finalist status. Also, be sure to fill out the FAFSA by the date that was said on the GMS website/application (I believe it is Feburary 15th, or at least that's what it said last year).

And a word of advice to all applicants: Send in your application early! A lot of people attempt to submit their application on the day it is due, and the website tends to crash. Last year, I submitted my application early but my nominator (my AP Spanish teacher) did not try to submit his form until the day before...and the website had crashed the day before, and it was so stressful (and awkward having to call and text my teacher so much). So even if you feel that it's rude, hound your nominators and recommenders and yourself to turn it in early, because it's better than stressing about it in the end.

Good luck!

salzahrah

also do we include allllllll classes like electives and everything into the GPA? or no

GA2012MOM

Just a note to expand on something NYSP2010 said, you don't have to send in an acceptance from the school you ultimately end up at. Many students have not made up their mind by the time Gates requests you send it in, so you may send in any acceptance letter and change your mind later. I just mentioned this as it has been a FAQ in the past years.

Thispakistanigir

Question about the renewal quality of the scholarship.

Say we are not eligible for Pell Grant during sophomore year of College, can we still get Gates funding?

LocoArts

imagine18: Im from Puerto Rico. But I applied as multi-racial since I have a very diverse background

LocoArts

Thispakistanigir: I assume like all other scholarships, If you are eligible for this scholarship your first year--and you indeed are selected as a winner--the you continue to recieve it until your ride expires(all four years). So yea, you should be ok.

LocoArts

salzahrah: It depends on your school's policy. If the electives make up your total unweighted report(as shown in transcripts) then yes. Some schools--like my current one--include activities into gpa. others do not.

and yea, AP is considerd as Honors. (It is a special kind of Honors constituting AP,IB,DA, and some others I dont remember.....