<p>oh i really hope they dont look at ACTs as a factor of comparison… u know like, theres a tie among four ppl, and they pick the one with the highest ACT… cuz since im a loser, i only have a 24…</p>
<p>Haha. A 24 is good. Abd what? No email no letter? Just a call? Are you Hispanic?</p>
<p>So how do they even pick finalist? I mean do they read our essays first and then pick the finalist? This is confusing… </p>
<p>But, I never sent in my test scores, so I am not sure why everyone is talking about test scores- am I missing something?</p>
<p>oh nono 2010. my school just has our test scores on the back of our transcript… dont worry i dont think they look at it … now that i think about it.
i am asian… i sent in all my info the next day i received it and called today and made sure its all in. so.yea now i just have to keep my fingers crossed and pray to god 
and im excited to watch remember me tomorrow or maybe saturday… sorry that kinda came out of nowheree… ^o^</p>
<p>Same here. On the back. I’m Worried. Haha. I’m the only guy out of the 6 finalists in my city. 
This girl was like you’re a girl, cause I’m a homosexual, and I was like “rude.” She applied but didn’t become a finalist. Harsh words from a cruel woman.</p>
<p>Jrueda92: Haters are your motivators. “Leave your toe prints in those haters’ foreheads as you keep steppin’ up your game and moving on to higher heights”.- That’s not really a legit quote, but I got it from my uncle, so I guess it works out okay lol. :)</p>
<p>Oh, I received both a letter and an email but never a call. I submitted everything except for my college letter of acceptance.</p>
<p>I have yet to receive notification if I have become a finalist. Does this mean I didn’t make the cut? I did however receive a call from uncf and they said I didn’t make the next round. Is this the same scholarship as gmsp? I didn’t even apply for the uncf one cuz I’m not black</p>
<p>Andrea. You will get a call. Haha. Legit. 
Yehh. It works out. Haha, toe prints. Funny funny. So I’m not going to lie. Did anyone who applied at your school that didn’t get it think/talk bad of you? The ones who didn’t and their friends were ALL super rude about me being a finalist. I don’t sweat them though 
and if you didn’t hear by now you probably didn’t become a finalist. Sorry mojo12. And hmm. Did you fill out the wrong section when it asked you your ethnicity!?</p>
<p>Wow. Mixing up genders and races. That’s odd. :p</p>
<p>Three from my alma mater were named finalists for Gates. FYI GATES DOESN’T look at ACT scores but if it looks suspicious they might just call in to ACT or SAT hq. In 2008 a girl from my high school applied and I guess she lied about her ACT score saying she got a 33. Turns out her WHOLE transcript was done-over because her mom worked in the registrars office and with the transcripts. She changed her grades and all that mess. But yeah I don’t think they look at scores because I only got a 25 and so did Noah. I just need to tell everyone to chill. If you believe you deserve it, then you deserve it. AND a girl from 2008 graduated salutatorian but didn’t get GATES so her nominator and recommender chewed out GATES and asked why they wouldn’t have chosen her because hse was a 4.0 GPA 28 ACT tri-athlete who wanted to be a doctor AND she was all that while being a mom. Gates apologized and said they were going to pick her but they ran out of money or something like that. So Gates gave her another award. She doesn’t have to pay for school now lol. So hey if you can get your nominator or recommender to have your back they might give you another full scholarship from their foundation.</p>
<p>My school profile had the number of students and the fact that we were 98% Native American and 96% bussed in from surrounding communities. OH and we were #3 on Americas most dangerous schools but that’s not in the profile. It had what type of courses we had and who we were accredited by. How many go on to ps education and that we require a course in the Lakota culture for graduation. How many people were graduating from the class in the upcoming spring etc. Pretty thorough and a good job. I heart Todd County!! Here’s a link to my high school <a href=“http://www.tcsdk12.org%5B/url%5D”>www.tcsdk12.org</a> AND my college [South</a> Dakota School of Mines & Technology](<a href=“http://www.sdsmt.edu%5DSouth”>http://www.sdsmt.edu) Good luck to ALL!!!</p>
<p>I kinda got some crap about it, everyone’s like “oh, it’s just your test scores” because everyone figures I’m just a slacker but I did good on my SAT. I don’t know, it’s just that I don’t remember sending 'em and it’s like “there’s no other way you were picked over the valedictorian, she wants to be a doctor and only sleeps 3 hours each day”</p>
<p>I really didn’t plan on telling anyone at school about it, I was gonna subtly go to the data clerk, get the transcript and GPA and school profile, and then wait till April. Then, if I got it, I’d go crazy at school. But my nominator got a message from Gates and she’s also in charge of IB and held a meeting and told every single teacher which all congratulated me in front of every class in front of the 2 other girls that tried for it. </p>
<p>So it was awkward because one is a close friend and I was like “heh, if I got it I’m sure ya’ll get a letter soon too” but they started “well, what did it say? and what do you have to do now? and what’d you write about? and what major/clubs/services did you put?” and I’m like “…uh” By the end of the week they dropped it though.</p>
<p>I guess in a bet of which of the 3 of us would get it I was the last one anyone would lay money on. Even I was like “there’s no chance for me compared to those two”. But what do you know? Though I still feel like I have no chance and I have the 3.3 GPA (3.5) and pell grant and I didn’t lie on anything. Like, really while writing my mind was like “dude, why should I exaggerate anything, there’s no chance so if I’m gonna fail I should fail honestly. besides, I can’t lose anything with this basically zero chance of actually winning”. I could see the other 2 girls lying a bit on things so who knows? We all had the same nominator, they picked really good recommendors and I picked my favorite teacher who’s in charge of Interact since I figured she could talk most on volunteering.</p>
<p>I think if I were to give any advice “Um…be funny and honest?”</p>
<p>Great advice. Compare to the 8 that attend my school and applied, I thought I wouldn’t get it. The first round is based solely on essays and whatever you had in your online application. I am a person who wrote from the heart. That’s what seriously counts. I talked about my obstacles and I was truthful. What for lie, you know? But everyone of the 8 had higher GPAs than me. But that didn’t count. My essays rocked. But now the second round is transcript and what not. I’m still the “least-intellegent”.bwell good luck to all.</p>
<p>They had Ms. On my letter even though I’m a male could this have messed me up since it were only girls applying from my school and I was the only boy</p>
<p>Yeah, no letter, no email. Everyone that was a finalist was finding out about their status, so I had basically given up on being selected, but then I received a call, on Thursday last week and then I got the letter and email (throughout the next 3 days, only after they were sent again). And yeah, I am hispanic.</p>
<p>I was like you Lucky2010, I didn’t want anyone to find out, I actually didn’t tell anyone I was a finalist, but I didn’t know that they sent the information over to the nominators and recomendors as well, (but they actually got the email before I did). My nominator didn’t say anything (which I thought was really cool of him), but my recommendor told a guidance counselor and the assistant principal, and then the news spread.</p>
<p>Two days before I found out, the Valedictorian of my school posted on her Facebook that she was a Gates Finalists…I was like way to make others feel bad! Even when I found out, I didn’t tell anyone. My logic was, I’m a finalist not a freaking scholar, what’s there to celebrate? I haven’t gotten it yet. I really don’t want to get my hopes up. The Valedictorian has a better chance of getting the scholarship, it wouldn’t be the first time that she came out on top. </p>
<p>So I just basically told people not to expect me to get it, because I don’t expect to get it.</p>
<p>My SAT and ACT scores are also at the end of my transcript, as well as my dual enrollment courses. I have a 3.88 GPA (yeah, I know it’s not a 4.0) and a 4.84 HPA (weighed GPA) and a 28 on my ACT test. I honestly don’t think its based on scores though. I think that they are looking more at the people that need the scholarship the most, and like I said, my EFC qualifies me for Pell Grant, but it is far from being “0”.</p>
<p>So if I didn’t get notification from gmsp that I havnt made it as a finalist yet, does that mean I didn’t make it??</p>
<p>Did you call to make sure they sent out your notification?</p>
<p>Nope I sure didn’t…what do I ask them?? Do they tell me straight up if I made the cut or not??</p>