<p>Thanks for the quick reply. Admittedly it’s their money to do with as they please : ) I just like to understand the rules.</p>
<p>Your thoughts of money on the way up and down - just your thoughts or you know how it works? again, 1 person here got money from the local lodge already. And another (us), just know we are going to national (and skipping state and district?).</p>
<p>I guess I wonder if it’s ‘limit’ 1 scholarship per person? The top people that speak at the national convention - the boy and girl - besides getting the national, did they get regional, state and local awards because they are so good? Or do they want to spead the money around more?</p>
<p>Babaganoosh00 - I got that information from reading the threads from previous years for the Elks MVS. That is the way it worked just last year. </p>
<p>ModelCX8 - my DS has not heard back yet either. I think some lodges are faster with the notification. The main site says if you do not hear anything by mid-January to call the lodge and just ask them. I know everytime I go out to the mail box I am hoping there is an Elks letter addressed to my DS!</p>
<p>i got a call today saying that I made it to the state level- past the district level.
I don’t know why they didn’t bother to notify me when I first made it to the district level but… this is great news, so i’m fine with that! =]</p>
<p>My apologies for just posting a one-liner and then not following up in the discussion. My daughter had received a phone call advising her that she had won $600 at the local level and her application was forwarded to the next level. This was followed by a letter posted on Dec. 9th saying that her scholarship application has been reviewed and forwarded to the next level of judging. It also says that National Finalists will be notified in late Feb, and finalists will be required to submit a secondary application, to the office in Chicago.
This letter makes no mention of the $600. I looked up my son’s scholarships that he won 4 years ago and saw that he too won $600 at local and $400 at the state level but didn’t advance further. So, evidently, scholarships are given at various levels. Can’t remember though if he received checks or were they sent to his school directly as were some others that he won.
Someone asked to post stats. Do you mean GPA, test scores etc.?</p>
<p>My DS tried to call our local lodge to check on the status of his application. The person who answered said he needed to call the office number instead. So he tried the office number and got a voice mail. He tried again later and got the voicemail again, but left a message that time. That was days ago and he still hasn’t heard back. So we still don’t know anything. We hope they will be sending a letter soon. Here is what the Elks National Facebook page says about notificiation:
When will we know if our application has made it to the next round? Thanks!</p>
<p>Elks National Foundation Most Valuable Student Scholarship Yes, applicants will be notified whether or not their applications advanced after each round of judging. You should receive a letter in mid-January from your local Lodge. If you don’t hear from them by then, give them a call!</p>
<p>my son had gotten a letter from the local lodge a couple weeks ago saying his app was going up to national.</p>
<p>then yesterday, he got a letter again from the local lodge. I asked what it said and he just said ‘well, this is done’. We didn’t get any award.</p>
<p>My spouse is trying to put a nice spin on it - that financial need is a bigger part of the decision than they let on initially (I had called national last fall and was told need is something like 10% of the decision). </p>
<p>Fortunately with savings / dividends, both of us working, inheritance stock gains (I really should buy / hold rather than churn the account, if for nothing else, to stop having capital gains for these years when income being lower would help), I don’t think we are eligible for financial aid (2009 income around $195K).</p>
<p>Would anyone have any comments about it being focused on need as a key part of the process?</p>
<p>They do a points system: 450 points for grades/SAT/ACT, 350 points for leadership, community service, honors, awards, ec’s…, Financial need is 195 points and exhibits are 5 points. This comes to a total of 1000 possible points. </p>
<p>Babaganoosh00 - what exactly did your son’s letter say? If you make it to National you should be in for the $1,000 per year. But I am not sure yet if the apps are supposed to be that far along yet. The main site says that files should be judged and sent to national by Feb 16.</p>
<p>I feel that while in the initial rounds, grades, activities, leadership etc. play a bigger role in selections, financial need does matter a lot in the national round. Four years ago, DS had perfect scores in SATs, APs, GPA and tons of activities and outstanding leadership but no financial need. I feel that was the reason he didn’t make it past the state level. I guess the number of applications from a state might make a difference too.</p>
<p>when I mentioned he got a letter from the local lodge and he said it said (so yeah, I’m getting it 2nd hand) that he was moving up to national. Seemed weird to jump regional, and state. But foolish me, I didn’t read the letter.</p>
<p>now we got a letter and he said it says (again, 2nd hand… I’ll have to read it myself and repost) he’s out. </p>
<p>Let me get the details and get back to you.</p>
<p>My daughter received a phone mesage saying she was in the finals. I’m assuming that means state finals, as the gentleman said the judging would be in about two weeks. According to the website, national winners are notified around the end of February. I also don’t think it was our local lodge that called, because the gentlemen called from the next town over, and both our town and that town have lodges, which is why I think maybe she is one of the winners in the district round. It’s kind of strange that she never heard anything from the local lodge. I seem to remember that there is a monetary award at the local level, because I can sort of recall them handing out something to a senior last year at honors night. Maybe they don’t notify the local winner so it’s a surprise on honors night.</p>
<p>Well the local lodge called back and my husband was home at the time and answered. The person from the lodge told him that they collected all of their applications and sent them on and it was out of their hands. They told him that our DS would probably hear back before they even did. My husband didn’t know enough about it to ask them if they had actually judged any applications or just sent them all somewhere!? So anyway we are still waiting. I guess by the end of February if he somehow makes it to National I think they have to communicate with him to let him know that they need the more in depth paperwork. Or maybe we will get lucky and district or state will let him know his status. There is still hope!</p>
<p>We are in GA & we have not heard a word either. When S took it to the lodge they said they would send it on to National so I guess they also just sent it without a local judging. Everything on here does say that we will be notified in some way this month. I’ll call the lodge this week.</p>
<p>My brother and I received letters that we moved on to the next level, but that’s it… I wonder what that means!</p>
<p>I know there is a local level, district level, and state level. And then national of course. So I’m guessing my lodge doesn’t give local scholarships. But I’m just kinda confused because everyone else is saying they got letters telling them specifically which level they’ve advanced to… I wish they were a little bit more clear… haha. For now I’ll just wait for my next letter I guess :)</p>