<p>JohnN, I don't know the specifics of your fin. aid. package, but I would just call your school.</p>
<p>I called Brown and they've had GMS scholars before and I just asked what GMS would cover in my package (obviously loans & work study, stuff know as "self-help aid"). Brown also lets GMS cover Student Contribution, but not Parent Contribution.</p>
<p>congrats to all the scholars!! i have a quick question for y'all...do u guys work? i mean, did u put work experience on ur app? cuz i don't work and i didn't put anything for the work experience and they (the gates ppl) might dodge me for that and don't give me the scholarship...
i am just very, very hopeless now cuz it seems like EVERYONE is a scholar but me!</p>
<p>
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Speak_Easy, I was wondering the same. How do we calculate our personal expenses (books, meal plans, housing, etc.) into the unmet need portion?
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<p>
[quote]
I called Brown and they've had GMS scholars before and I just asked what GMS would cover in my package (obviously loans & work study, stuff know as "self-help aid"). Brown also lets GMS cover Student Contribution, but not Parent Contribution.
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<p>I would highly recommend to everyone to do three things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Let the system work for you and stop worrying about the technical part. Calling the schools is NOT a very good idea because the chance that you''ll get a wrong answer (or you misunderstand it) is very, very high. In the end, the ONLY thing that will matter is your OFFICIAL offer of financial aid and the verification by GMS of the COA. </p></li>
<li><p>Go back and read the GMSP threads of the past three years. You'll see the same patterns of students speculating ad nauseam and then finding out how it really works.</p></li>
<li><p>Relax ... there is nothing you can do. GMSP knows exactly what they will fund and knows how to work with the schools that are trying to undermine its efforts. YOU do not need to calculate your package. All the expenses are part of the COA or Cost of Attendance. So, your tuition, room/board, books, travel, personal expenses will appear there.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Haha, I work...a lot. I don't remember if GMS asked about work experience/how much work, but I did mention it in my essay. I don't think work experience, or lack thereof, would make or break your application. Don't worry about it.</p>
<p>Xiggi, I disagree. Everyone's situation is different. Some people might be like me, and already have good financial aid packages to work with, others might not. If you already know your fin. aid package, it's easy to figure out where the Gates money will go. It's also easy to see where you could move things around, it doesn't hurt to ask your school about their policy. You can't wait around for them to figure it out, especially if your ability to attend a school is dependent on this scholarship and you have to decide by May 1st.</p>
<p>If I hadn't taken the initiative to call Brown:</p>
<p>1) They wouldn't have known I was a GMS scholar. I'd have to notify them eventually anyways, so better sooner than later.
2) FA offices aren't incompetent. Brown has had GMS scholars before, they even included GMS-related specifics when they revamped their FA policies so the counselor knew exactly what to do and how to help me maximize my GMS scholarship. I'll be honest, Brown pretty much had me covered to begin with and since I wasn't bothering them for more, they were very helpful in sorting out how and where the GMS money would go.
3) I don't doubt that GMS and schools work together, but you can't just be a spectator when it's your future is on the line.</p>
<p>I submitted my stuff 3 days after receiving the notification of making it to the next around which I believe was the 15 of March and I also haven't been notified.</p>
<p>jmandujano, which organization r u under?</p>
<p>SpeakEasy, I am not interested in debating this issue. </p>
<p>As I said, it happens every year when idle speculation among new scholars leads to a general confusion about the inner-workings of the Gates award.</p>
<p>ok, I just sent everything in last sunday. Did someone say earlier that the last day they'll notify people is April 15th?</p>
<p>well...I submitted mine on the 5th.....when I ask the person, they said the latest I will find out is the 15th....</p>
<p>Xiggi,</p>
<p>I'm sure some CC-ers may appreciate your advice, but it's not helpful for anyone to hear only one side of issue. </p>
<p>You think new scholars should just sit back and let GMS figure everything out and I just wanted to share that getting involved in the process actually worked out very well for me. I didn't even do much, I just called my school and let them know about GMS and asked how that would affect my package.</p>
<p>I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you didn't intend to come off as very condescending and your tone simply didn't translate well via internet.</p>
<p>However, I'm going to be very clear. I'm the one who's not interested in "debating", but you keep referencing my posts or calling me out by name and I won't just sit by as you accuse me of spreading misinformation through "idle speculation" that causes "general confusion."</p>
<p>I may have just won the scholarship, but that doesn't mean I'm an incompetent noob.</p>
<p>Has any other scholars received any hate lately? When people found out I was selected as a scholar, a lot of people, including my so-called friends, acted as if I did not deserve the scholarship. This is absolutely not true or else why would APIASF choose me over other applicants? I worked my ass off for this, and I makes me angry that ignorant people think I only received the scholarship "only because I was poor". I guess this shows me who my true friends are... Sorry about the outburst, but I just had to vent it out a bit lol.</p>
<p>well, i got hatred when ppl found out that i was one of the finalists but i haven't received any notifications yet so idk how ppl will react to that (i bet they will be hating if i get it...if i don't get it, they'll be happy...stupid retards!)</p>
<p>to all the scholars, r u able to log in? did u call the gmsp to get ur username/password or did they send it to u in the envelope?</p>
<p>I didn't get a username/password, so I haven't even tried logging in.</p>
<p>And about the hate, I haven't gotten any hate for GMS. It's not very well known in my school and I think I was the only person who applied and first to win from my school.</p>
<p>I got tons of hate for getting into Brown. I guess people just always knew I had good grades & EC's but never thought of me as a "threat." Also, a lot of kids in my class kind of talked themselves into thinking they were a shoo-in for the Ivies, so the rejection hurt.</p>
<p>I'm sure there will be people who resent me for GMS once they find out (I'm not planning on telling many people), and especially after they figure out how awesome this scholarship is.</p>
<p>Do you guys expect any hate for scholarships you've already won? Like I can see that in my near future. "Why does she need that when she has a full-ride & Gates to pay the rest?"</p>
<p>You have to call for your username and password - which I did. Nothing really exciting going on the website so don't worry about it. </p>
<p>In terms of hate - yeah I got some hate from kids who either (a) didn't get to the Finalist stage, (b) didn't finish the app in time or (c) realized how great the scholarship is and are jealous because of it. But whatever, that's their problem, not mine.</p>
<p>I also got a lot of hate because at my school we have to give our counselors a list of scholarships we won so that it can be put in the program at graduation. Since I applied to many schools, the scholarship list is kind of long. People were constantly going "OMG!" or "Why did you get so many scholarships?" or "Ugh, loser.".</p>
<p>But again, at least now I'm free from worrying about paying for college!</p>
<p>hmmm, well, it's natural for people to be jealous of other people. I don't think I've gotten a lot of that except from the people who I really don't get along with anyway, which is just one or two at my school. I haven't received anything yet from Gates but I did feel a widening rift between those people and I after I got into my colleges. I guess yeah, they did feel like I shouldn't have gotten in since I'm not exactly the hardest working guy at school. Still, I work my butt off at home, they just don't know it :D</p>
<p>hamman, when did u submit ur docs?
i don't know when I will get notified...this waiting is killing me...after all this waiting, i do not want to get disappointment - i really NEED this scholarship!</p>
<p>The announcement of me winning the scholarship spread very quickly throughout my school (we are a pretty large school to 2.5K+ kids). It's funny because the only people I've told was my counselor and my close friend. An hour later, everyone knew about it. I got congratulatory remarks from a lot of people, some I rarely talked to. I don't think anyone was jealous or had ill-sentiments.</p>
<p>I Have a question. I looked at my student aid report again, and it says my efc is 0. So does that mean, I get a full ride with the Gates scholarship?</p>
<p>I've been reading posts about how people interpret that, and it's confusing the mess out of me. </p>
<p>My expected family contribution is 0. So what should I expect to pay? (I'm a gates scholar)</p>
<p>Only the most daring people will say it to your face, but seeing how it's high school, I'm sure there is plenty going on behind your back. :)</p>