<p>i think its about time to start the thread for the Gates Millennium Scholarship for the class of 2011 :) </p>
<p>I have one question</p>
<p>it says the essays have to be 7800 characters. i was wondering how many pages did winners of the Gates write?</p>
<p>i’m applying this year as well. My essays all range from 3600 to exactly 7800 characters.</p>
<p>I am a Gates scholar. I wrote at least 6000 characters per essay. Just because it says “question” does not mean you can be brief. However, if you are good at writing concisely, the character count becomes a useless standard…so it depends more about the quality you put in than quantity. Just don’t put very little, be elaborate enough.</p>
<p>so would you say they focus more on the essays, the recommendations,
ec activities/leaderships, or your grades/transcripts. i know they look at all of these. But if you had to say, which one would they lean mor upon. Thank you</p>
<p>the essays are most important in the selection process because its your chance to really show who you are and stand out from the other applicants.</p>
<p>The website shows that the forms need to be submitted by January 2011. Is this for the class of 2011 or the class of 2012?</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>That is for the class of 2011.</p>
<p>This is for the class of 2011. People who are seniors now.</p>
<p>And essays are probably the most important thing; they show who you are as a leader, why they should choose you, why you will be a future leader of America. Things like that. They make you something more than numbers.
Then in importance (in my opinion anyways) would be the recommendation/nomination and the ECs/Leadership (not sure which would be more important…)
Then Grades/Transcripts.</p>
<p>^Would it be a good if an applicant has stellar academic accomplishment, namely medals in competitions and published papers? Is it as important as stellar community service?
By the way, what are the statistics of the previous year’s application? How many applied, accepted as finalists, and actually GMS?</p>
<p>Ideally every scholar would be well rounded with stellar everything, but great leadership/community service can make up for a lesser transcript, but probably not so much the other way around. Somebody with great numbers but no leadership/community service would probably not be as enticing to them.</p>
<p>As far as the numbers go, I’m not sure if it was last year or the year before, there were 13,000 applicants, and 1000 are scholars. That number is divided between AA, hispanic, Pacific Islander and Native American.</p>
<p>The scholarship’s not for Asians right? What if we re just asian not Asian pacific islander???</p>
<p>Is this scholarship super hard to get? I feel like everything seems so circular when it comes to college applications. I want to get scholarships to improve my college resume yet in order to get scholarships I need a good resume which seems a bit…odd. </p>
<p>Anyways, is this scholarship only for seniors? When would the deadline be for the class of 2012?</p>
<p>To chosened, a friend of my son received the Gates last year. She was Vietnamese. Her parents didn’t even speak English. I don’t know if that qualifies under your definition of Asian.</p>
<p>Chosened, just as long as your Asian you’re fine. </p>
<p>Spiffy, it is really competitive. Generally 20,000 high school seniors apply each year and only 1,000 get it. The deadline for the class of 2012 is more than a year from now (Jan 2012). You have plenty of time. My advice, start on the application NOW. don’t wait until the last minute like most and submit a crappy app. the best way to improve your chances is to start early.</p>
<p>I’ve met many scholars. None of them have the same exact range. Some wrote all the way up to the maximum. Other wrote maybe 3000 to 5000 characters. I would say aim to be concise and unique. Tell your story, and tell it in a structured way. There is no minimum, but use the space to really show your personality and daily struggles in a three dimensional way.</p>
<p>Don’t think that filling the whole limit will make you look better.</p>
<p>I’ve only filled out parts of the applications that I could fill out. I printed the questions and will start brainstorming and writing them by January.</p>
<p>I noticed that I needed a nominator and a recommender… can I use only one person or do I need two?</p>
<p>I’ve recently completed the Gates Scholarship Application. It took about a month and a half, but I finally got it finished. Hopefully I get the scholarship.</p>
<p>@Digitalrebel: According to the website’s FAQ and what I rememebr, you could use one person if they know you well enough to fill out both forms. But I’d say you wanna make sure that person knows you both academically and extracurricularly.</p>
<p>SRy for the late reply, Thank you!</p>
<p>I’m applying as well! 
I’m from India, but technically that falls under Asian which isn’t always adventageous, I’d rather have my own category.</p>