<p>I can't wait until we find out if we are possible scholars. Its so stressing because I want to know now, so I can start making future plans..I like to plan things out...this is no fun.</p>
<p>How do you check the status of your application?</p>
<p>When the deadline was past, it said my recommender still hadn't done his part yet. However, he did submit his stuff two days before... I'm worried that my app is auto-disqualified!</p>
<p>They probably just haven't processed it yet.</p>
<p>Do any of you know of a person who won the scholarship? If so what were there stats.</p>
<p>I applied and so did my twin, but I do not believe that I can win. I never won a scholarship yet!</p>
<p>im sad i filed my fafsa and i'm not going to qualify for a pell grant. i did one of those efc calculators beforehand and i was deep in pell grant territory but it turns out we have other dumb stuff that i never knew about...</p>
<p>and my friend's efc is literally 0 cuz her dad owns a business so all of their expenses are just filed as business expenses... they end up having negative income that cancels out their assets. and shes not even applying for scholarships.</p>
<p>One of my friends won the gates scholarship.
It's hard to see why he won, except that he came to US from ethiopia in the middle of junior year, had extremely good english, was practically a 4.0 student and had only a mother that made an income small enough for him to recieve free lunch in a school where less than 5% of students get free lunch. I can't top that, but I still have a chance of qualifying.</p>
<p>I'm a Gates Millennium Scholar and also a GMS Student Ambassador (fancy title). I'm willing to answer all questions to the best of my ability that you guys might have about GMS.</p>
<p>The requirement for GMS base on EFC is a max of $3,800. If your EFC is higher, tough chance. </p>
<p>There are two rounds of application. You guys already finished the first round obviously, and by late March to mid April you will be notice whether you're advancing to the final. At the second round you will need to send up your SAR (get this from FAFSA) your admission and financial aid letter of the college that you choose to go and your high school transcript. You will find out the result on mid-May.</p>
<p>Now about the competitiveness of GMS, the word VERY is an understatement. A fellow Gates scholars and I sometime joke about GMS being an Ivy League Scholarship for low-income students. I'm currently attending Boston College, a far cry from Ivy (but not that far,) and I felt out of place when I met up with the other scholars last fall at our national conference. Most of the students there are Ivy-League or belong to the top-50 schools. Several students that I met who seem to be at normal schools were in actuality accepted into Ivy and MIT and turned them down (for some strange reason). One such student was admitted to med school (7 years program) Scary! However, this does mean that only students of prestigious universities are Gates Scholars. There are numerous students who are attending regular schools and are just as bright and talented. I believe that it's not the school that you got into that determine your status, but the personality of your application and the circumstances of your case.</p>
<p>Good Luck.</p>
<p>ok, most schools require that an applicant decide by May 1st...so how can that be if we only know by mid-may whether or not we are picked for gmsp? Quite frankly, i'll decide what school to attend based on whether or not i get this schollie. However, i need to decide by May 1.</p>
<p>My dad didn't want me to fill out the FAFSA until he completed his tax return papers, so I finally turned it in today. Did you guys say the deadline is Feb 1? Does this mean I'm disqualified since I completed the FAFSA way after the deadline?</p>
<p>Hey guys, Im a gates millennium scholar and I received the award last year. Yes, it is stressing cause you want to know if you made it. Here is the deal: Those who submitted the application on time and is complete if they are selected as finalist should receive a letter around March notifying that you made it to a second round of selections. They will ask you, to send in your "unweighted cumulative GPA" and have it signed by your H.S counselor. My suggestion is that you send that form back to GMS as soon as you can because the sooner you send it in, the faster you will get a response of whether you were selected to be a GMS scholar. The reason I say this is because i received my first letter notifying me i had made it to the second round of selections around March 16 and I sent the form back like in 2 days after i received the letter. I received a reponse telling me I was selected a GMS scholar, with the letter being dated April 26.</p>
<p>Well guys if you have any questions, just send me privates or I will occasionally get on the forum, or let Reddune answer questions as well as I remember Reddune was on this very forum stressing like you guys for this scholarship a year ago along with me of course! </p>
<p>Good Luck,</p>
<p>Victor</p>
<p>To Vega07</p>
<p>No, you're not disqualify by any mean. They just like to have the material by Feb 1, but that doesn't mean you get booted because you submitted it a few day late.</p>
<p>To Slacker101
I understands what you mean. I was the same way last year, the school I'm going depend on the scholarship. However, you can ask for extension from your school, state the reason why you need the extension because you need to wait for GMS reply. Most schools would accommondate you.</p>
<p>Oh, you arent disqualified if if you turn in your Fafsa late? I wish I had known that earlier. The thing is, when I submitted my Fafsa the EFC was way too high, but I have a feeling it'll go down once my dad gets his tax returns and I make corrections to my already submitted Fafsa. But will it be too late? Will they have already disqualified my application because the EFC was too high?</p>
<p>hello,</p>
<p>The way you qualify for the GMS scholarship is that you qualify to receive the pell grant. If your EFC is "way too high" then you might not qualify for the Pell and therefore disqualifies you for GMS. How high is your EFC? You are supposed to send your SAR to GMS after your fasfa has been processed, but make sure you qualified for the pell grant.</p>
<p>Wait, so I'm supposed to have sent the SAR to GMS already? Darnit, now it's gonna be way more than "a few days" late...
I thought maybe they only asked for SARs from people who have passed the first round or something...</p>
<p>No you're not supposed have sent in the SAR form. You only do that after you made it to the second ground sometime in late-march to mid april.</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion, guys. Thanks Reddune for clearing that up. Sorry have so many things going on right now, but either way guys keep up the good work. I just got my SAR today actually and im looking at it for renewal of GMS. By the way reddune, when does GMS ask for renewal info? Thanks!</p>
<p>When I contacted them They told me they will send us the Renewal package. The Renewal package is due August this year, so it's going to be a lone while. They're waiting for our school to reply back with our financial aid and we then must submit it to GMS. So don't sweat yet Victor, just make sure your college get the FAFSA from you.</p>
<p>So we will not send th renewal info until August? Thanks Reddune, and good point on saying that not all GMS scholars go to ivy leagues schools and shouldnt be discouraged.</p>
<p>The renewal is due on August, but I think we could send it once they send us the application and complete to our liking.</p>
<p>I am freaking out cause my recommender status was "incomplete" right before the deadline. My recommender says he submitted it several days before though. My nominator turned hers in on the day of and it told me that she completed her part the same day. Ugh!</p>
<p>I spent so much time on the application--I hope it's not for NIL.</p>