<p>No, that year I believe it was the 20 finalists that went to DC, and I know last year it was less than that.</p>
<p>I just got a letter from Cornell today acknowledging that I’m an applicant for the Ron Brown Scholars Program. Is this something that is important (that, are the offering scholarships or just trying to recruit me to their school?) I’ve gotten a lot of mail from Cornell before and wasn’t interested…</p>
<p>I received the same letter last year. As far as I could tell, it wasn’t terribly important, as I had been receiving lots of mail from them before. However, since I didn’t apply, I can’t say how it would have affected the final outcome.</p>
<p>However, I would imagine that since most of your things will be in by the time decisions come out, the import of the Ron Brown program is very small.</p>
<p>I’m definitely applying.</p>
<p>What do they look for when they award this? Anything specific, or is it just well-rounded applicants?</p>
<p>Looking at [the</a> scholar profiles](<a href=“http://www.ronbrown.org/scholars/ScholarProfiles/ScholarProfilesByClass.aspx?GalleryProv=Libraries&GalleryItem=3640a33b-ec1c-4b8b-9412-3ef662ef9d55]the”>http://www.ronbrown.org/scholars/ScholarProfiles/ScholarProfilesByClass.aspx?GalleryProv=Libraries&GalleryItem=3640a33b-ec1c-4b8b-9412-3ef662ef9d55) can give you a good idea of the type of students they’re looking for.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link, Harambee! :]</p>
<p>My S applied to Ron Brown last year as well as to every major scholarship targeting “URMs” that didn’t have any income requirement. His stats very comparable to those in the final selected Ron Brown pool in the past several years. He’s bi-racial with an Asian last name-- did that factor in against him- possibly?</p>
<p>I agree with Ksarman’s speculation- income played a factor in the final choice. Our EFC nothing elaborate-- but I think that eliminated him fairly quickly.
By way of comparison to RB, S was a semi-finalist and was interviewed for the Jackie Robinson scholarship and in the end didn’t receive that one either. (He was phoned without warning-- he was literally the only one home and in the middle of online video gaming–it was a terrible call - totally out of the blue on a Sunday afternoon last Spring…be warned if you apply for that one! He was confident his unprofessional answering of the phone contributed to his demise - lesson learned.)</p>
<p>RB is extremely competitive and I suspect a bias towards HYPSM schools and non-technical majors as looking over the list of finalists over the past decade, there’s only 1-2 per year majoring in STEM fields and/or enrolled in a non-HYPSM school. Ideally, the program aims to identify tomorrow’s future leaders - and I think there’s a bias toward those who are projected to be leading in business and law (future donors?). </p>
<p>There are tons of prestigious scholarships for “minorities” (I hate that word), and nearly all of them have some sort of official or implied income requirement in addition to the obvious scholarly/community service/leadership qualifications. Competition is stiff - harder to win one of these than gain a spot at Princeton!</p>
<p>If you have to decide between spending time on polishing a college application and this scholarship-- you should focus on the former.</p>
<p>In answer to the ? about whether applying RB yielded other scholarships-- nope, absolutely none! Several top schools sent an unsolicited application fee waiver inviting S to apply (including Michigan and Dartmouth)-- and mentioned they received his name from Ron Brown (he did apply by the early and recommended Nov date). Do they sell the applicant list off to schools - probably. (Yes, that’s a pretty hefty accusation!)</p>
<p>Best of luck-- don’t bother wasting your time unless you have stats that would earn you a spot at one of the top schools. Look at the profile of those selected and spend your time accordingly.</p>
<p>My two cents.
Congrats to all RB scholars- an amazing group of young talented scholars!</p>
<p>“There are tons of prestigious scholarships for ‘minorities’”.</p>
<p>Really? I’ve only found a few, including Ron Brown and Jackie Robinson. It’s really hard for those of us who are in the middle income range – not Pell Grant eligible, but not well-to-do either. If you have a list somewhere that you can direct me to, I would appreciate it.</p>
<p>If you’re in a STEM field (science, technology, engineering, math),
Try:
Xerox, ATT, Google, Qualcomm, Microsoft, SMART, NSA, CIA, NASA</p>
<p>^Thanks! I’ll take a look.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Spot on, overachieversmom. Though I ended up being a Pell Grant recipient, strangely enough, I feel that since RB only asked for the first two pages of income taxes, they did not see a good deal of the capital losses in later pages, which made me very sad. :(</p>
<p>Folks, get into a good school that’ll give you money. That’s all you can wish for, because those scholarships are no guarantee.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That, my dear friend, is the cold, hard truth about living in America.</p>
<p>Hey ksarmand! I’m back for winter break (no surprises). I hope everything’s going well at Hahvahd … btw, this is lowkey sketch now that I semi-know you and we have mutual friends. I hope you’re taking care of them =D</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m RBS '10 and it was extremely competitive last year. I’ve gotten whim that it may be worse this year. They selected 15 finalists and 12 of us were chosen for the scholarship. But please, do not let that deter any of you from applying. I applied thinking I wasn’t going to get it and during the Selection Weekend in DC, I was PRETTY sure I wasn’t going to get it. Everyone was phenomenal and it was absolutely impossible to try and pin point who the judges wanted to get the scholarship … to this day, me and fellow RBS from 2010 still ponder about this.</p>
<p>But just know that this is honestly the best scholarship program in the nation … minority or not. The money is nice, but the bonds you form and the connections you have are unparalleled to anything else in the nation. Though the majority of scholars in the past have represented HYPSM, I honestly just think it’s coincidental. In my class alone, we had a girl go to University of Florida and another go to WUSTL. </p>
<p>My .02 cents? Just apply and see where it goes from there. And DO NOT slack off after mid-grades are submitted. RBS will cut you without mercy.</p>
<p>The deadline is fast approaching, so anyone interested in applying should do so soon.</p>
<p>Thanks for giving us some insight about the program, justadream92.</p>
<p>So how do we now who the semi-finalists are? Do they email us?</p>
<p>I’m a Junior. I’m really interested in this Scholarship. But it seems extremely competitive. My GPA isn’t very high, I’m not sure if I would even stand a chance? Anyone know what the average GPA should be to at least be in the running?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes. If you are a semifinalist, you will receive an email from Vanessa Evans in early February. I know last year’s batch of emails was sent out on Thursday, February 4.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone who applied! I hope as many people from cc get semifinalist as possible!</p>
<p>Alright thanks ksarmand</p>
<p>How high would someone’s GPA have to be to stand a chance at this scholarship? I’ll probably have a 3.5 UW by the middle of Senior Year.</p>