<p>Although I've spent time at the Posse website, I think I must be missing something. I had assumed it was for kids who needed an extra hand...whether it be a 1st generation college student, a URM, a kid who had an unusually tough upbringing. But at my D's school (she's now a junior), i'm astonished by who is applying.....to outline one girl who just made it through the initial hurdles:</p>
<br>
<p>white
middle class
3rd, possibly even 4th generation college student
her father is a successful physician
no hardships....I can state this pretty clearly as I known the girl/family for 15 years.
So what gives? It is because she attends a tough public high school (as does my daughter)? And this girl is one of several students who plan to apply...all of them with a good burst of wind at their backs already.....</p>
<p>You can’t apply to Posse. You have to be nominated. This means that she was nominated by someone who wanted her to get the scholarship. You don’t have to be a URM to get the scholarship or financially disadvantaged.</p>
<p>It’s mainly for people who are amazing students who would otherwise be looked over in the college process because of SAT scores. Well, at least that’s what my daughters counselor told us. </p>
<p>Maybe they haven’t asked for any financial info yet? Maybe the initial hurdles are just academic? I can’t imagine a child of a successful physician being chosen as a finalist. What does she need the Posse program for? I always thought that the program was for low income, first generation students? </p>
<p>"Every year, Posse works closely with its network of high schools and community-based organizations to recruit Posse Scholars. Each Posse Scholar wins a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to attend one of Posse’s partner colleges or universities.</p>
<p>REQUIREMENTS</p>
<p>To be eligible, a high school senior MUST:</p>
<p>Be nominated by their high school or a community-based organization.
Be in the first term of their senior year in high school. Depending on the Posse city, nominations are often taken between the spring and early August before the new school year begins.
Demonstrate leadership within their high school, community or family.
Demonstrate academic potential.
The Posse Scholarship is neither a minority nor a need-based scholarship and is open to students of all backgrounds."</p>
<p>You will see from the last sentence that there is no reason why the student in the original post should NOT be considered.</p>
<p>Interesting. And as i’m reading this, one item does occur to me…my D’s friend is a really bright & sweet girl but she has terrible SAT scores…it’s a testing issue that she has…and now i wonder if a teacher at the school might be trying to encourage colleges not to overlook her…which would be smart & good move! </p>
<p>Wow. That completely shatters my long-standing assumptions about Posse. Who, really, is getting these awards? I’d really like to know, as I’ve probably been spreading misinformation about who might want to consider Posse. As OP said: Any Posse experts out there??</p>
<ul>
<li> Be nominated by their high school or a community-based organization.</li>
<li> Be in the first term of their senior year in high school. Depending on the Posse city, nominations are often taken between the spring and early August before the new school year begins.</li>
<li> Demonstrate leadership within their high school, community or family.</li>
<li> Demonstrate academic potential.</li>
</ul>
<p>The Posse Scholarship is neither a minority nor a need-based scholarship and is open to students of all backgrounds. </p>
<p>It would be interesting if a student who can afford all the luxuries of life, and then some(including college) to take those funds away from a kid who may not go to school due to finances…plus the wonderful support they provide to low income, first generation students once they matriculate. Very interesting to say the least. What’s the point of the program is high ses, students with uber educated parents can be accepted? Maybe I need enlightenment here…</p>
<p>I found out more about this last night and i’m kind of sick over it…Our urban public high school asked kids to apply (internally)…I didn’t pay it much attention…just mentioned to my D that we wouldn’t qualify so why spend the time…so 75 kids did apply & 25 made it to the round of having the school recommend them. Of those 25, 10 (ish) of them are equal to us in income & family background…and then i looked at the 3 seniors who <em>did</em> get the Posse scholarship from our school this year were and, egads, one of them has a mom who’s a Stanford grad! Ugh, I’m sick over missing this opportunity…i truly didn’t understand and I should have researched it better…4 years of college, fully paid…ugh…,i’m consoling myself by thinking that she probably wouldn’t have gotten it anyway…but a 3 out of a 25 chance is pretty darn good…</p>
<p>Actually, it is primarily a leadership scholarship. . </p>
<p>While it is a full tuition scholarship, students must still pay room board and fees (through either need based aid or pay if they are not eligible for need based aid). This can be a challenge for low income undocumented students who are not eligible for federal/state aid to come up with the funds needed to cover the cost above tuition.</p>
<p>No one is taking funds away from anyone as anyone who is nominated by their school will go through the process. Just because someone may have all of the luxuries of life, doesn’t necessarily mean that they have the leadership ability to make it through the rounds of interviews for Posse. Remember students who make it through the cuts are placed in Posses of 10 students. Ultimately it will be the colleges who will make the final decision on who will be accepted to their school (which you are applying to ED). My school has nominated a wide variety of students and have had students from very diverse background win the scholarship.</p>
<p>The scholarship has evolved over the years that now there are Posse scholarships for veterans and scholarships that cover graduate and professional schools for Posse scholarship students.</p>
<p>Again, a child of a successful physician should not get a scholarship or be considered for such a program. I am sure that there are plenty of kids who are low income and have leadership qualities. My own DD will be a Yale grad. She will may very well meet and marry another Yale graduate. Or meet and marry someone in med/grad school. My future grandchildren should not have the same access to programs that children of low income/first generation status have. I just don’t see the fairness of it. Maybe it’s just me. </p>
<p>@sybbie719 Exactly. They don’t put as much weight on SAT scores. Posse shows colleges students that they would’ve otherwise looked over because they don’t have the best scores, but have tremendous capabilities in other areas.</p>
<p>@SouthernHope I’m really confused. What do you mean by apply? You have to be nominated for the scholarship. Are you saying that in your school, you have to apply to be nominated?</p>
<p>And I’m sorry you didn’t understand the Posse scholarship. Hopefully your daughter can get nominated if she wants to go to grad school :)</p>
<p>And technically, it isn’t really 3/25. She would’ve been competing with the entire city. </p>
<p>But yeah, it really is an amazing opportunity.</p>
<p>I would not go that far as a blanket statement. From what I have seen over the past decade many of Posse students do fall in the 25-75 range. The school profile is still looked at and scores are looked at in context of the student and their environment as the student will still have to be a viable candidate for admissions at the school that they are selecting. Kids who are dipping below the 25 percentile are tipped students; first generation low income students, URM students who do well academically despite being at a low performing school where not many students are attending for year selective schools or graduating is going to get more of a wink on scores than, a middle class upper middle class students coming from a high performing school. </p>
<p>While we nominated a the max number of students for our school, the student who got the Posse scholarship is the Val, who probably could have got in to the school that she is attending on her own merits but her one of her ECs and leadership, did push her into being a winner.</p>
<p>The Posse graduate program is for Posse Alumni</p>
<p>@anniebeats Our school is kind of odd…they ask the kids to signal interest (so to speak) by filling out initial paperwork…and then the admin/teachers choose 25 candidates from those that expressed interest and then they send in those candidates. This year, 3 of the 25 were chosen for Posse.<br>
(so i guess we’ll keep it in mind for grad school </p>
<p>At the college level, aren’t the Posse Scholars kept together as a cohort for both support and leadership? The support aspect makes it appear that they need (and deserve) an extra hand. </p>
<p>"Posse’s definition of diversity is not just about cultural, ethnic or racial diversity, it includes economic, academic, religious, political and geographic diversity. It encompasses all ways that people are different from each other, and all the different ways they can learn from each other. " </p>
<p>Posse obviously does not care if one’s Dad/Mom is a physician, Stanford grad, etc… to award them the scholarship. These kids are likely JUST as deserving as a kid from an under-priveleged background. Since it is NOT need based is it fair to say that one of these students should NOT be deserving of this scholarship? The committee obviously sees some greatness in these kids - perhaps they run food banks, donate time at homeless shelters, etc… </p>
</p>