<p>D is from Alabama and got notified today that she is a Best Buy Finalist. I would assume that FINALIST means just that... if you get your info in and it matches up, you get some sort of award, but that may be wishful thinking. There was a "Finalist" from her school last year that did this and got an award (I think it was around $1000). There are two levels of "Finalists" - $1000 and $2000 and then some number of National winners that get $25k! Best Buy is AWESOME to do this - tax write-off or not. The letter was actually from Scholarship America - I thought it was a reject because that is the way AXA came... D is a Toyota Semi-Finalist and she got her notification in a big Toyota envelope, so I just assumed that when I saw Scholarship America it wouldn't be good news. I am SO glad I was wrong!
:-)</p>
<p>Best Buy Scholarships </p>
<p>Best Buy Children's Foundation grants scholarships to students who have good grades and outstanding community service. We are proud to award over $2.4 million in scholarships annually. More than 1,500 graduating high school seniors will be selected to receive a scholarship for $1,000, $2,000 or $25,000. Scholarship recipients will be chosen based on community service and academic achievement and must be entering an accredited U.S. university, college or technical school in the fall immediately following their high school graduation.</p>
<p>Scholarships Awards: </p>
<p>For every Best Buy store one scholarship of $1,000 and one of $2,000 will be awarded to students living within 50 miles of that Best Buy store.</p>
<p>50 awards of $1,000 each will be awarded to the most qualified applicants living more than 50 miles from a Best Buy store.</p>
<p>Eight national $25,000 scholarships will be awarded based on strength of student's application. </p>
<p>So its two from each store and 50 where there are no stores. I think you are right finalist means just that and if we get our stuff in we can afford to buy new books not those old used ones</p>
<p>and ~700 stores</p>
<p>eppsas, did your daughter hear from Toyota for finalist?</p>
<p>For those of you that are finalists, what stats/ECs did you put on the application? I applied with above a 4.0 and a perfect SAT, along with some fairly big EC's (the main thing was I've raised $14,000 through 3 big fundraisers). I kinda thought I'd have a good shot at being a Finalist, even if I didn't get any money. Are all the Finalists notified via email?</p>
<p>I haven't received a letter yet? Does this mean that I'm not a finalist? When is the approx notfication date?</p>
<p>stambliark41 i hope you don't live in my area!</p>
<p>my comment.</p>
<p>I don't think you can compare scores and ec's. I think these are done by store with the exception of the greater than 50 mile and national. One store could be in a low income area and the comp not that great. another could be upper middle class with lots of high performing kids. also I think with the internet data entry they must have some computer program do a weed out at some point</p>
<p>stambliark41 look at your community characteristics. that could have something to do with getting in or not. Me i live equal distance from 3 BB's and 15 miles from two more. I checked my store number and its the store in an industrial area with lots of apartments. So I think my comp may have been a little less than yours. </p>
<p>Bottom line is I think once you are at a certain level everyone is the same and then its just luck. My hooks are I work 15 hrs a week during school and f/T in the summer and still have a 3.8+ and 8AP's. Tutor math at hispanic title 1 middle school and do teaching at a sciene camp for poor kids in the summer. Eagle scout as well. I think I have better stats than some and less than others but better than anyone in my BB shopping area. My take. </p>
<p>Maybe it was the outside activity Bungee jumping in New Zealand and yes I really did that and I didn't poop my pants like one guy did..... glad I went before him.</p>
<p>steviewsteve007, I think your right about different levels of competition. Do you know if I'm definitely out for sure if I haven't heard anything yet?</p>
<p>I'm not sure you're right about the computer filter thing though. I would think I would have come up high on that just because I have a high SAT and a lot of community service hours.</p>
<p>what I said was just a guess and I could be way off but how many apps do you think they got. Target got 12k. So how do you sort throught 12 k apps so it does not cost you money or eyeballs.</p>
<p>Maybe they did an eyeball review of each one but I don't think so. If they wanted to do that they could have had you print out and mail in the app</p>
<p>But...... this is just a guess, if I knew how these were done I'd win them all and I haven't. Maybe 35-40 apps with 3-5 hits including this one. A lot of work. </p>
<p>Stam.....You don't know who your comp is. I work which has been a pretty good hook for me. I also have a lot of service hours and while my gpa and sat are not perfect i think i would make the first same cut as would you.</p>
<p>Then its either the total amount of activities and hours or the amount in each of the three cats, work, service, and school. </p>
<p>BB employees a lot of kids including some of my friends I like to think that i got in because I do all three. Who knows. Do you have a job?</p>
<p>As for are you out or in? I don't have a clue.....I know they have a deadline to get this on the web and awarded so I think we would all get a notification within a week of each other. This is too much guessing. </p>
<p>We win some and lose some. Like the one I really wanted to win was the I love math. It was 200 words and only like 250 but I really like math and worked real hard on it. well I have four more to finish before the end of this month. I have a good shot at a union one, not much money but local so not much comp and one from the chamber of commerce which the businees i work at belongs.</p>
<p>Sorry, I haven't logged on in a while because I have been in a training class at work all week. No - no word from Toyota. Has anyone else heard anything?</p>
<p>my school screwed me outta toyota..they sent sum girls application with like 1/10th number of comm service hours and a much much lower GPA</p>
<p>psh, smaaart move</p>
<p>Some assume that the person with the most hours and highest gpa etc will win...they, the scholorship sponsors never say thats the criteria. Maybe they don't want perfect...maybe they want someone the community can identify with and can try to be like and have a chance of being like.</p>
<p>yea just me man the time i put in was not only alot, but it was well spent.</p>
<p>def better then wut she was doin, cause i made it my mission to find out.</p>
<p>and yea if u cant identify with saving lives and u think workin at sum dog pount is better with 300 points lower on ur sat and a gpa that is 4th decile material...you need your head examined (like my principal)</p>
<p>stevie, I am not trying to compare myself to you as I assume scholarships are as random - if not more random - than college admissions. But yes, I do have a job - just something simple at a restaurant for 10-15hrs/wk that I've had since the end of sophomore yr; I also do 4-5hrs/wk of paid tutoring.</p>
<p>For EC stuff I do a lot of other things too. I'm just saying I don't know if the computer thing makes sense, but perhaps I made the first cut on the computer and then got cut within the ones that were actually read.</p>
<p>Not a big deal and don't think I'm bitter or anything. I have this fear that I will actually lose money (not to mention time) on scholarships due to the postage required, so I'm still waiting for proof that that isn't true for me. :)</p>
<p>Well, I don't know if I'm a finalist or not since I've been out of town since last Saturday (March 11th), but we only have 1 week to submit verification? So, what if they sent it out on the 13th and I don't get it until tomorrow (we stopped our mail till tomorrow, so that's when we'll get all the stuff) . . . would I automatically be out of the competition because I didn't get a chance to send stuff in yet?</p>
<p>yeaaa i think ur out of luck...they said no exceptions or something</p>
<p>really? eek, well i guess i won't worry until tomorrow when i get the mail</p>
<p>. . . too bad spring break was this week</p>
<p>my spring break aint for a while</p>
<p>i got the letter saying that im a finalist too
now question, for the volunteer community service verification form, it only allows it to be like community service activities? i'm the accompanist for my school's chorale (elite singing group, rehearsals every week, extra performances, etc) and have been for the past 4 yrs, would it be bad to put that since its not really like community service?</p>
<p>id have to say so cause thats really not wut the scholarship is about.</p>
<p>i mean it is called a volunteer community service verification form...so im gonna have to assume sum sort of community service is required</p>