<p>My top choice is the Colorado School of Mines for geology/petroleum engineering.</p>
<p>@LocoArts: Really? Everyone’s stats just look so waaay out of my league to compete with. Thank you. That sort of eased my spirits a bit.</p>
<p>The essays are intimidating, however. I’m a pretty sheltered child, so how do I stress that in my essays? And possibly stick out? Are you a Gates scholar? </p>
<p>My reach schools are:</p>
<p>1)St. Lawrence University
2)Hamilton College (at the advice/urging of a friend who goes to Williams)
3)Hobart and William Smith Colleges.</p>
<p>I’ve already been accepted to a few Tier 1 (although they rank in the hundreds on US News) colleges, through Early Action.</p>
<p>Rosary94: This is my first year applying… I’ve actually been following this program for a while though. I need all the funding I can get for the college degree I want since it’s a risky investment. But you do have the criteria needed for this scholarship. To your surprise, all you NEED to qualify as an applicant is need(pell grant eligible), be of some minority, 3.0 gpa, at least 1 service, 1 honor and 1 activity, and people willing to sponsor you. Its all going to come down to your essays. </p>
<p>as for the sheltered thing: Do you have any bad experiences(sheltered kids are usually prone to worse experiences since they have that need for discovery and an andrenaline rush) Or maybe you can talk about how you may be treated differently because of it… Or maybe talk about what the problems seem like in your perspective… if its in your comfort zone to be sheltered, talk about how its like to step out of that zone and actually do something to help others in need… talk about how this affects your school life, social life…Talk about risks(If there were times you tried to go “under the radar” to get something done)…lol. There is a lot to talk about.</p>
<p>I have applied to many schools but am especially considering NYU Poly and UAHunstville(local)…</p>
<p>Both NYU Poly and UAlabama have been getting a lot of recognition in the past few years.</p>
<p>borborkbork:especially in optical physics engineering…this is why I find myself stuck now.</p>
<p>I had an engineering expo a feww months back; found out petroleum engineers are the second best paid engineering profesion after systems engineering. However, it’s tough. I also have a contact(from an internship project) that is currently a petroleum engineer working off the coast of Angola. Says its a really rewarding carrer.</p>
<p>You guys a little stressed? I am, especially since I just started a new quarter as well, assignments are coming left and right. I’m down to about 5 hours of sleep a night, better than nothing 
I’ve got 3 essays that I haven’t even touched!</p>
<p>btw, I’m the one who said I was indian, by that I meant my parents came from India, I’m a US citizen, thank you to those of you who tried to help out though.</p>
<p>Loco… This is kinda random but I have a friend going to NYU poly next year. I haven’t talk to him in a while but hes really smart. He even created the textplus app for iPods and iPhones. </p>
<p>I’m trying to go to university of Chicago and major in political science. My ultimate goal is to become a lawyer.</p>
<p>Yea I’m really stressed I have three more essays to write! My chest was hurting so bad today because of the stress I had to stay home.</p>
<p>I have three essays to write too! And four of them need editing.</p>
<p>I wonder if one or two bad essays will hurt us? I feel like 5 of my essays are really strong while the other 3 are just ok.</p>
<p>LocoArts: I have no idea how competitive it is, and have always wondered that. I also think though, probably, a lot of people wouldn’t come back to post in these forums “I didn’t get it :(” when everyone else posting is celebrating their receiving it, so it’s hard to say just based off of this forum what the competitiveness of the second round is. It is stressful though, because you are anxiously waiting to hear about the scholarship of your life…and (in my case at least) they send the notifications by ground mail so a lot of acceptances come at different days so if you are farther from the scholarship office the mail takes longer to come and it’s like unknowing while hearing others’ good news.</p>
<p>I have seen it posted here that if you don’t qualify the second year for Pell grant it’s okay, you still get the scholarship money, and I agree that they shouldn’t take it away…but I am not sure.</p>
<p>yankeesgirl13: I think that’s a great idea :)</p>
<p>@imagine18: I was in the same situation last year. All those forms are supposed to arrive by Jan. 31st and they will definitely come in time for the tax forms to be filled out so you can do your FAFSA (same situation with the forms coming late happened to me last year). It may be rushed afterwards filling out the forms but they ought to come in time.</p>
<p>@ZhengMaster: If you got Questbridge I believe it counts. I think NHS is more of an activity than an honor.</p>
<p>Thank you NYSP2010!</p>
<p>I have another question, anyone can answer. For the question about leadership experiences, does it have to be a specific leadership occurence (like a standalone event) or can it be like I’m the president of yadda yadda club?</p>
<p>Hey i wanted to know how i should report my GPA. Should i include all of my classes i have taken throughout High School and do i include classes such as Engineering and Computer Science? Also, how should i report my individual class grades. For example i have a year long class in which the first semester i got an A and the second i got a B. What should i report the grade as? Also, should i report the grade as it is on my report card or subtract points from the grade that were added to it?</p>
<p>salzahrah: report “as is” on your report card. Those added points are legit.</p>
<p>yankeesgirl13:Thats exactly it. Thats a good leadership role</p>
<p>NYSP2010: Thanks. Right now the only thing stressing me out is my nominator…I can’t imagine how stressed out I will be be selection time :/</p>
<p>JSea11: I got a couple of accomplishments but nothing like that. That’s amazing. All I got is plans to do stuff…never really put anything into practice( invention-wise)</p>
<p>My nominator STILL has not filled out the nominator form.</p>
<p>borborkbork: neither has mine… I had to change nominators at last minute today</p>
<p>NYSP2010 when you applied did you think all you essays were amazing? Because I feelike like I have about 5 strong essays while the other three are just decent.</p>