The Amazon Student Scholarship (basic info on it: http://dcinno.streetwise.co/2014/08/27/amazon-announces-5000-college-scholarship-for-50-students/) is something new from this year, so there’s not much information about it online generally and none at all here. It was a pretty quick application so I applied when I first heard about it-- and I just got an email today saying that I’m a semifinalist.
I don’t really know how happy I should be about this (does becoming a semifinalist mean much, how many semifinalists are there, etc)… but I just wanted to create this post so that there’s at least one post on it here on CC.
Post if you applied back in November, and what you heard back from them today. Also, if you somehow have other information, that would be great!
My son also received notification that he is a semi-finalist today, and we are also wondering how many semi-finalists. I can’t find any relevant information online.
One of my daughters is also a semi-finalist. Apparently the only thing left to submit is an essay on leadership or innovation. 400 words. Seems like there are probably a lot of semifinalists for only 50 awards. But good luck to all of you :)!
I too got a “semifinalist” notification today. I figure, since it is merit and leadership based, they weeded people out based on GPA and what they put in their resume. 400 words isn’t much room to differentiate yourself and really stand out, but I suppose its doable. Good luck, all!
I do think it’s a lot about promoting their $49 a year student Amazon program. As far as we know everyone could be a semi finist …lol. There is no information on how many applied and how many semi finists there are. Is this the first year for this schlorship?
Yes. This is the first year for the scholarship. I believe they probably did some preliminary weeding out based on a few factors. After all, why go through the trouble of reading more essays than absolutely necessary. However, that doesn’t mean there’s not a crazy number of semifinalists. That being said, the application was super easy (far easier than many other scholarships I’ve applied for) so if writing a short essay and uploading transcripts could potentially win me some money towards tuition, I’m game.
I am also a semi-finalist. My suspicion is that anyone even remotely qualified is picked as a semi-finalist so that those who got the trial last summer have to renew it for $49. It seems like a clever marketing ploy to me as nearly everyone thinks that they can win the award and will therefore renew their Amazon Student membership.
Thanks for the responses, everyone! I’d thought as much, but I just wanted to check in and see. Like most of you, I’m planning on doing the essay since its not too bad.
Let’s post back on this thread if we get through to later rounds or if there’s any new info.
Awesome, I’m a semi-finalist as well, I’m a junior undergraduate student. Not sure how many semifinalists there are though, but I’m excited to have been chosen and really hope I can continue progressing!
The suspense is driving me crazy. There is literally no info on this scholarship. I asked the help desk where we submitted are applications at if they knew how many semi-finalist were selected and they said “they couldn’t release that information at this time” I wish we had any idea about some of this info. I did read winners would be notified April 2015.
