<p>“No, what is cruel is trying to pass ABSOLUTELY idle speculation for knowledge”
Huh? xiggi, What are you talking about?
The cruel is in the wait and not knowing. I’ve been a Gates scholar for three years, Gates Ambassador for two, and it has been my experience that once the winners are notified and you haven’t heard anything back for over a week, then your chance is highly improbable for the first round. There hasn’t been an exception yet. Furthermore, this year GMS is using e-mail to notify their admission to first round, it should be fast and no chance that the mail is lost. And after several years of calling with other applicants about their status to different group and the responses had been: “if you haven’t it by now, then you probably didn’t get it,” I don’t believe it is “idle speculation” to say that you haven’t heard back a week after the winners of the first round heard back, then your chance is highly improbable.</p>
<p>Of course, xiggi is welcome to put up any counter example to cheer everyone up.</p>
<p>I say just wait and see. I agree with cheese that it has generally been the general case that the latter you heard back, the least likely. But xiggi has a point in that it takes time to process applications. Hey, no one is going to care until him/her see the result in front of their eyes. So I guess everything here are idle speculation until the truth is delivered to them.</p>
<p>P.S.
Cheese, you wouldn’t happen to go to BC too? I got an e-mail back on September about all the Gates students still at BC, which one are you? PM me.</p>
<p>if we are to talk about cruelty, he true cruelty is that some of the brightest students in the country (indoubitably many people on this board) are going to be denied a vast amount of option due to economic inequality within the US. that’s what’s cruel. so… who wants to start a revolution :p</p>
<p>To Reddune or pimpin88:
For those that did not win Gates this year–can they re-apply next year? I checked GMS’s website, but still unsure.</p>
<p>To morangotango:
I agree with you, but…oh well, life is never always fair to some of the brightest students.
A friend of mine reminded me that I’m not only competing against other applicants, but also competing against my own race–and in my case–Asians, in this scholarship competition, and heck, there are a lot of extremely smart Asians out there with better leadership experiences, community services, grades, test scores, and large amounts of big-name awards.
Anyways…good luck… :)</p>
<p>Also, this was from the GMS website:
“Q: How is a Scholar selected?<br>
A: […] Competition for scholarship awards is expected to be substantial. Therefore, Nominators and Recommenders should make every effort to provide a complete picture of each Nominee’s qualifications. The GMS selection process requires independent readers to assess Nominees based upon the following three major areas - academic achievement, community service, and leadership.”</p>
<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>First of all, from my understanding the scholarship only accepts incoming freshman college students, so you can’t apply when you are already a freshman.</p>
<p>Also, from my understanding, once you made it to the first round you practically got the scholarship already as long as you meet all the requirements (GPA, Pell Grant, etc). </p>
<p>To all you guys who applied (whether you got it or not) take into consideration that this is a VERY competitive scholarship. Last year 11,000 students applied and only 1,000 recieved it.</p>
<p>Well, as a first year scholar, I must admit that GMS is frickin AWESOME. I’m practically getting paid to go to college. Every semester I get a refund check for about $2,000 for expenses and food! The only downside to the scholarship is that all it provides is money, not a support group. It’s difficult establishing a support group when there are SOO many scholars. Which is why many students at UC Berkeley have created a GMS program to build a network. I suggest you scholars that are going to Berkeley to check it out.</p>
<p>Any more questions?</p>
<p>“For those that did not win Gates this year–can they re-apply next year? I checked GMS’s website, but still unsure.”
Technically, you can’t. There is a small loophole, but it quite a hassle. You can reapply to GMS as long as you’re enterring a four year college next year for the first time. This means two things:
- You took a year off and is now applying to college again (as a freshman). That’s what the ninth essay is for.
- You went to community college is now applying transfer to a four-year school. Community College students had won this scholarship.
It doesn’t mean: - You’re applying for transfer from a four-year school to another four-year school
- Go to college for a year, take a year off, and then go back to college. </p>
<p>"GMS is frickin AWESOME. I’m practically getting paid to go to college. Every semester I get a refund check for about $2,000 for expenses and food! "
^ Amen to that!</p>
<p>So, in the case of the 11,000 people that applied for the Gates Scholarship last year, how many people were cut for the second round?</p>
<p>Also, on the letter that I received saying that I had made it to the second round, there was a number on the lower, right corner. What does this number mean.</p>
<p>psolo what was your number? i have a number too. 4**~~just in case it means something</p>
<p>what are you guys talking about?
I received the letter but I don’t see any number on the lower right hand corner
(this is on the first page on the memo right?). All I see is contact info.</p>
<p>“Also, from my understanding, once you made it to the first round you practically got the scholarship already as long as you meet all the requirements (GPA, Pell Grant, etc).”</p>
<p>Not necessarily. I was reading through the “Gates Millennium Anyone?” thread from last year and there was actually a girl that made it to the second round, had an EFC of 0 and a “3.8something” UW GPA BUT was rejected.</p>
<p>Just2Fitz- Yeah, mine was 5**. Does this number mean anything? I think I’ll call GMS tomorrow.</p>
<p>Penn_dreamer, from what I understood, that girl didn’t qualify for the pell grant. In order to qualify for the pell grant, you need to have COMPLETED a minimum of two AP classes and scored at least a 3 on both. From what I read, she had taken one AP class and was currently taking one now.</p>
<p>You don’t need to have done any AP classes for a PELL grant - all that is required for PELL is a qualifying EFC (0 - @ 3950 last year - it has increased a little this year). I think you are thinking of the Academic Competitiveness Grant.</p>
<p>All I know is I want my rejection so that I can rip it up and stop caring about it.</p>
<p>i know. i cant start forgetting about it now because i’ll get reminded of it again once it comes in. :(</p>
<p>There were 3 finalists at my school…too bad i wasn’t one of them. =*(</p>
<p>XD I understand your pain, I didn’t get a letter either</p>
<p>i still don’t know what number you guys are talking about? I don’t see any number on my letter.</p>
<p>To Reddune or pimpin88:</p>
<p>My friend, who was selected as a semi-finalist, asked what should she do with her college selection…she got accepted to one of her top schools, but with the financial award that the school offered, the cost of attendance is still expensive for her. Now, since most schools require responses to acceptances by May 1st and Gates does not announce scholars’ names until May (?), she doesn’t want to make the wrong choice and then find out that she doesn’t get selected as a Gates scholar, and have to get loans or etc.
I assured her that she will win Gates, but I want to ask first. She’s an exceptionally good student, takes many AP courses, received good scores on previous AP exams, has great extracurricular activities, works, Hispanic, UW GPA is high, EFC is around $14k (?), etc.
Would she be eligible for Pell Grant, do you know?
Should she call GMS and explain her situation?
Should she call the school and ask if they can give her an extension?</p>
<p>Thank you :)</p>