@ccmem3000 yes she got the email; not advancing; good luck to all
Just got notified that I am advancing from MA!
As a note to future applicants, don’t let a high income or subpar GPA keep you from applying. My UW GPA is < 3.5 & EFC is > 120,000 (income > 400). I didn’t have any serious extenuating circumstances, but my extracurriculars/honors/work experience are definitely above average.
Not expecting to move beyond this stage, but am thankful for what I got!
Email finally arrived. Moving on to the next round from Wisconsin.
From PA, still got no email
My son got the e-mail he is not advancing either. Good luck to all.
Didnt advance :(. I have a high income and that matters a lot more in the later rounds. Excited to hear back about the Elks Legacy awards though!!
Didn’t advance:
GPA- 4.23(W) 3.8(UW)
SAT- 1310
Tons of extracirriculars, but high income
S got the email about an hour ago and didn’t advance in Oklahoma; congrats to everyone else that did move on! Last year my oldest son also made it to state but no further. But, he received $1000 from the Oklahoma Elks which was super nice! Keeping fingers crossed for S2.
I advanced and am in Ohio. Received the email at 5:37 PM. Best of luck to all those who advanced and did not advance!
For future reference:
"Your Most Valuable Student application has been reviewed by the State judging committee. We are pleased to inform you that your application has advanced to the next level of judging. You are now a National Semi-Finalist and will receive an Elks National Foundation Scholarship of at least $4,000. Welcome to the Elks family! To participate in the next phase of the selection process, you must complete an Elks Most Valuable Student National Semi-Finalist Application form by March 11, 2018 at 11:59pm PT. "
“If you complete the Elks Most Valuable Student National Semi-Finalist Application by the deadline, you will have a chance to compete for one of the coveted top MVS Scholarships. Of the 501 National Semi-Finalists, 20 Finalists will be selected to attend a Leadership Weekend in Chicago from April 26-29, 2018. These 20 National Finalists will receive a scholarship of at least $20,000 and will complete for the top awards of $30,000, $40,000 or $50,000.”
My daughter didn’t advance but congratulations to all that did!
Son didn’t advance. Good luck to those who did.
Hey guys! Congrats to everyone who advanced. I’m moving on to the next round from NY. Does anybody know what the teacher form looks like for the next application?
S received a snail mail letter today awarding him $1,000, $800 from CA-HI at the state level, and $200 from his district.
That’s wonderful news, @DiotimaDM! Congrats!
Congratulations to your son @DiotimaDM …with stats like you listed earlier, he definitely earned it. All the best on his other endeavors.
Thanks, everyone!
For those analyzing this scholarship for next year, here are S’s strengths and weaknesses as I see them:
Strengths: GPA, SAT score, National Merit Semi-finalist / Finalist
Weaknesses: no job, EFC over $9k, low-ish community service hours (150-ish), SAT was high, but would have been better over 1500. S decided not to retake once he knew he’d make NMF.
For us, I think the EFC was the real kicker. Our AGI was only $60,002 for a family of three, and it included $4k where we won a washer / dryer set (the actual machines, not the cash value) and $10k we took from DH’s 401k after DH had two different companies lay him off and go bankrupt in the same year. The 10K was emergency money just to make ends meet. If you do the math, our AGI was closer to $46k without those two thngs.
When I was doing our FAFSA, that 10k from retirement took our EFC from around 5000 to 9624. If we show all of this to the financial aid office at S’s school, they will probably discount the 401K withdrawal as one-time income and lower our EFC. Doesn’t help at all for Elks, though as I believe they assign very specific points based on AGI / EFC.
They can add points back in if they’re swayed by extenuating circumstance, e.g. getting laid off twice in one year, but I don’t think the discretionary points fully offset the hit for the higher EFC.
Also, we moved over the summer between S’s sophomore and junior years. His new school didn’t have the same clubs, so his ECs look like he dabbled in several things, rather than sticking to something for all four years.
Disclaimer - We are not at all upset or bitter about the result. S has a full ride to his first choice school. I’m posting the above for data purposes only for those trying to assess how competitive they are for future years.
For all the other semifinalists, do you know if we can reuse the essay from the first stage in this stage?
I would not recommend reusing essays from earlier stages but you can if you want.
do you know if the application readers will be able to read both essays? My essay for the first part fits the second part all too well, I reworked it to make it fit the limit
Does anyone know when the next set of results come out? Just curious. Thanks!