<p>How hard is it exactly to get this scholarship? Thinking of applyinggg.</p>
<p>This is an EXTREMELY hard scholarship to get. Less than 1% of applicants will receive the scholarship. There’s over 10,000 applicants and less than 20 received the scholarship.</p>
<p>I’ll also be applying</p>
<p>LOL, Harambee. The contrast of your first paragraph versus the last line amuses me. It kinda sums up how I view CCers in general, in a good way. </p>
<p>I’ve applied for the hell of it, figured why not? and knew that I have nothing to lose by sending in an application.</p>
<p>Wow, I didn’t see the contrast when I wrote that. But yeah, I’ll apply for basically the same reason. I’ve got nothing to lose, so I might as well try. I’m still surprised at how competitive it is though</p>
<p>i’m applying 
i’m in the process of writing my essay and then sending it off once i get back the 2 recommendation letters.</p>
<p>I’m applying. I’ve yet to start the essays though…</p>
<p>The Ron Brown Scholarship is extremely competitive. From what I remember, last year’s competition went from upwards of 6,000 (or 8,000 - I’m not too sure here) to 67, then about 20. It’s absolutely brutal.</p>
<p>Weren’t you a semi-finalist, ksarmand? Could you offer any advice or tidbits you learned from applying?</p>
<p>My only word of advice: Don’t do what I did. After being named a semifinalist, I procrastinated until the afternoon the essays were due and ended up turning in something terrible. </p>
<p>Other than that, I was pretty sincere in the first round, which is rare (for me). They’re looking for quality writing, a compelling narrative, and a strong personality. Though this is nothing but a hunch, I believe that my parents’ income, along with my not-so-brilliant essays, played a large part in the fact that I did not make it to the finalist stage - perhaps even more than the quality of my writing - because usually, the finalists come from low-income homes.</p>
<p>Does the fact that they forward your application to other scholarships help? Anyone benefited from that?</p>
<p>^I’m wondering the same thing. I don’t know if I should rush and turn my application in early, or wait until the January deadline.</p>
<p>^^I did get several offers from HBCUs that included a full ride, stipend, and travel grant (mine came from Winston-Salem, Alabama A&M, and Rust College). They only required that I sent in my transcripts and verified my SAT scores. However, I did not accept those offers, and I didn’t receive any other scholarship information. I have no way of knowing if I received those college offers as a result of my participation in the Ron Brown program, either.</p>
<p>To Harambee: Turn it in now. Never save for tomorrow (or December 31st) what you can do today.</p>
<p>Yeah, I figure i’ll turn it now as there’s always something that i’ll have to do later on.</p>
<p>^Wait until you get to college to talk about always having to do work, brutha!</p>
<p>Thought I’d bump this. The postmarked deadline is January 9th, but with the holidays coming up, you would want to apply soon.</p>
<p>D got hers in prior to the November 1 deadline. Crossing our fingers that she makes it.</p>
<p>^Oh, good luck! I thought I didn’t even have a shot at becoming a semifinalist, and yet I did. Strange things can happen. :)</p>
<p>How many people are chosen as semi-finalists? I submitted my application on November first so it could be forwarded to different programs, so far I’ve heard from Virginia Tech!</p>
<p>My daughter was a semi-finalist 3 years ago, and IIRC, there were 63.</p>
<p>^Were all semi-finalists invited to DC?</p>