Hi, I had two questions. First, I wanted to know based on my stats if should I apply to Gates in the first place. Then, I want to know what happened to the essay prompts: are they doing it anymore?
GPA: 4.2 weighed, 3.3 unweighed,
African American
Leadership Roles: Team Captain of Cross Country, Media Manager for English Honors Society, Founder of Savvy and Beautiful - blog catered to African American girls
Circumstances: Was in foster care for 6 years, adopted at 6 years old
Activities: Cross Country, Track, English Honors Society, Online Business Owner, Part-Time Worker at Jamba Juice, Blogger
For clarification: I would like to know if I should even waste time applying to Gates when my SAT score is low (1150) and my unweighed GPA is 3.3. thanks
You are eligible for Gates with your weighted GPA (see https://www.thegatesscholarship.org/scholarship)- but there only 300 scholarships awarded annually – so it is very competitive. But you can’t get it unless you apply – and no particular reason not to apply. So if you were my daughter, I would encourage you to apply… you never know, and the process of completing the application will help you with preparation for other scholarship and college apps.
My foster son won Gates in 2015 when the essays were part of the initial application. I believe they decided to go first to a screening method, cut the pool of potential winners down, then move to essays, cut again, and then to personal interviews. My guess as to why is because the essays were voluminous. 8 essays by applicants and additional 8 from the applicant’s reference. Having a pool of Gates’ people reading through that many applications seems like an awful lot of work.
I would make sure to look at what merit scholarships are offered by colleges. Do not spend all of your time on applications for competitive scholarships, dreaming of attending a very expensive school when you win. Spend some time on that but spend more on reading the threads on Col Conf. about merit scholarships and making a list from here. @emojib
The people on the Financial Aid and Scholarships page are very willing to help out - tell them your major field of interest, state you live in, test scores, GPA etc. They aren’t always squishy and sweetly kind, but they are knowledgeable and very helpful
You may also want to look at Horatio Alger Scholarship, depending upon how challenging your childhood has been.
Best of luck to you!
but spend more on reading the threads on Col Conf. about merit scholarships and making a list from here.