<p>I understand your frustration. My own D spent a good bit of time over winter break revising her application three years ago. I don't know how important these essays are in the application, though - whether they count most at the local (i.e. college) level or at the national competition. </p>
<p>Maybe your daughter is just a good, intuitive business person and did an odds adjusted payback calculation, given the low chance of any one person winning. Wonder what hourly labor cost and discount rate she used? :)</p>
<p>nmd, she has already passed school muster. She's a nominee. It's on to nationals. ;) She has completed the process of filling out the app. The procrastination is on the revisions. In fact, the only revision leftm (she says) is a re-do of the main essay. She's scouring the town for wifi sites as we speak. "I just can't work at home". LOL.</p>
<p>My bad, S is one of the Official school nominees for the Goldwater. Now just has to fine tune essay for national recognition. </p>
<p>Here's one time living in KS may pay off. From reading the literature, awards given based on place of permanent residence, not location of school attended.</p>
<p>If I recall, they want to have all states represented and a good number of congressional districts, so they deliberately try to spread the awards around. Not a bad thing, IMHO, unlike some prestigious awards, the Rhodes for example, where in many years (but not this year) Harvard has as many as 6 winners out of 32, even though the awards are made in 16 district competitions. How does H do it? Simple. They draw kids from all over the US and have their students apply in the district of their residence. So this year, one H winner was from N. Dakota!</p>
<p>Good luck to your kids Curmudgeon and TM. Please cross your fingers for my son, whose school has selected 16 semifinalists and will choose the final 4 to enter the competition by the second week in January. All semifinalists at his school have to complete the official application form for the college's Goldwater committee to review.</p>
<p>Cur and TM, one thing to know is that the winners are among the last to know they've won. 2-1/2 years ago, my spouse first learned of the winners from the foundation's website. Then we learned that the U knew a week before that. The formal notice arrived some days later. None of this is published, of course, as the foundation only says "late March". So feel free to start checking the website then? :)</p>
<p>Good luck to all, and please recognize that even being nominated tells you a lot. It is a validation, if you will, of your kid's credentials and tells you a lot regarding how their college views their ability and accomplishments. Remember that nomination depends on both. It is pretty clear, IMHO, that any kid nominated for a Goldwater will have an easier time getting into a top graduate school program or getting that golden first job.</p>
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It is pretty clear, IMHO, that any kid nominated for a Goldwater will have an easier time getting into a top graduate school program or getting that golden first job.
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Good luck to all who have kids in the running. But newmasdad's point is very, very true. Nomination is validation. Regardless of the outcome of this competition, your kids have the goods & that will shine through as they begin their careers.</p>
<p>As this is my job (working with scholarship/fellowship candidates) as well as a parent of a Goldwater winner (several years ago) I've found this discussion fascinating. As an "insider" it's great to see what the parents of my students know/don't know/think . . ..</p>
<p>For the most part, you've all figured things out quite well. There are a few details however . . .</p>
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One rather odd fact in this process, at least to me, is that the winners get posted on the web before the winners are personally notified, although the institutions know at least a week earlier (to give them time to prepare press releases?) So I find it ironic that the scholarsare among the last to know!
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<p>Actually, for the Goldwater, this is not true. I find out if my students have won by looking on the web site. (I obsessively look beginning the 3rd week in March.) No advance warning unlike with some of the other scholarships. It is true that the students don't receive their official notification until after it's posted on the web.</p>
<p>Need is not considered at all. The Goldwater Foundation receives no financial information at all. Can they guess from some other things in the application? Perhaps. But I doubt they bother.</p>
<p>As stated above, generally 1/3 of the winners are sophomores and 2/3 are juniors. This has to do with the amount of research experience a student has. (Obviously, most juniors have more than sophomores.) That said, my school has had great luck with sophomore winners. Research experience (and the ability to extrapolate from it) is, in my opinion, THE most important factor in a successful application. The Letters of Recommendation are also critical. </p>
<p>Gender? It's hard to tell. I believe far more males are nominated than females (which reflects the STEM fields in general). At my school we do not take gender into consideration during our nomination process. Last year we nominated 4 males. This year we're nominating 3 females and 1 male from a VERY competitive pool of applicants.</p>
<p>Cur: Good luck to your daughter! I'm sure the people at her school will get her on the stick as soon as she gets back to school. I've been corresponding with our nominees during the break and they have a deadline to get their next draft to me as soon as they return. Even the best of the nominees has a lot of work to do before the end of January deadline!!!</p>
<p>Thanks nmd and Inthebiz. D has "finished" her "re-drafting" of her main essay. I have not yet seen the rest of the app. :( But she swears it's there. I think it's due when she returns early next week for another "look-over" . There has been one official "look-over" before. It appears her idea of "everybody will understand your science jargon" (or however the prompt reads) and the school's idea of "everybody will understand your science jargon" are two different things. Since I got lost on the directions on how to assemble the slurpee maker I got for Christmas- any such nuance is lost on me.</p>
<p>
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Actually, for the Goldwater, this is not true. I find out if my students have won by looking on the web site. (I obsessively look beginning the 3rd week in March.) No advance warning unlike with some of the other scholarships. It is true that the students don't receive their official notification until after it's posted on the web.
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<p>Actually, for the Goldwater, what you said, Inthebiz, is not true.</p>
<p>I can assure you that what I stated are the exact circumstances. Maybe your institution is just not as plugged in? :) Maybe these things vary from year to year? At any rate, I can only go by what the Dean of Students told me, and I think she was being honest.</p>
<p>D has also been named a nominee for her college. She is a junior. She is being well supported by the fellowship office of her school and there have been several suggestions for revisions to her application. She is working on those now during break, and not complaining a bit! Regardless of the outcome, the process has been a good one for her as she makes her way toward grad school applications next fall and possibly an NSF fellowship application. It seems there have been an endless number of applications, first for college, then many REU applications last summer, the Goldwater and upcoming grad school. The difference is that she is now fully in charge of the whole process, she asks advice and discusses decisions with us, but I no longer need to know or think about deadlines and such. What a difference a year or two makes! Good luck to all the nominees. I have learned much from this thread.</p>
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Actually, for the Goldwater, what you said, Inthebiz, is not true.</p>
<p>I can assure you that what I stated are the exact circumstances. Maybe your institution is just not as plugged in? Maybe these things vary from year to year? At any rate, I can only go by what the Dean of Students told me, and I think she was being honest.
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<p>I'm certainly not going to argue with you, and perhaps your school's Dean of Students has a pipeline no one else I know who does fellowship advising has, but I am not aware of anyone who has ever learned of the Goldwater results before they are posted on the website. (The buzz on the listserv for fellowship advisors at that time of year is deafening!)</p>
<p>Some other scholarships do notify us in advance (for example, the Truman who tells us about 2 weeks prior to the official web announcement and encourages us to surprise the winner with balloons in their classroom or some other such hoopla).</p>
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It appears her idea of "everybody will understand your science jargon" (or however the prompt reads) and the school's idea of "everybody will understand your science jargon" are two different things. Since I got lost on the directions on how to assemble the slurpee maker I got for Christmas- any such nuance is lost on me.
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<p>Don't feel bad. This is the subject of endless discussion among us "professionals"! As a non-scientist myself, I have a very hard time with this. I advise my students that they are writing not for me (a professor in the humanities whose understanding of science is fairly basic) but for a scientifically literate audience (the reviewers are mostly professors in their general area of study) BUT not for the 1 or 2 world's experts in their discrete little field. After several attempts, they are usually able to strike a good balance. She should listen to the fellowships people at her school. They have the experience to know what will work and what won't. Good luck to her!</p>
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for example, the Truman who tells us about 2 weeks prior to the official web announcement and encourages us to surprise the winner with balloons in their classroom or some other such hoopla
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<p>Interesting. That explains the photos I've seen in some campus publications for Truman winners. </p>
<p>Inthebiz, so what do you think of the Rhodes "notification" process? Or the Marshall?</p>
<p>The Rhodes tells the students at the end of the interview day (line them up and point at the 2 winners . . .it seems a bit barbaric but my students who have been through it like the quick closure and as they've bonded with each other through the day and a half together, they like being with all the other Finalists to congratulate the winners and commiserate with the other "non-winners.")</p>
<p>The Marshall notifies the winners a week or so after the interviews. Different regions have different schedules/procedures.</p>
<p>They have, for years, said "late March". Two years ago, the only year my family really cared :) , the word did indeed come out in late March.</p>
<p>Curiously, though, that year, the winners were posted on the Goldwater foundation website days before the official notification arrived, which actually arrived close to May 1. I later learned that Universities (at least some) learn even earlier, but promise to be quiet. </p>
<p>So if you are curious, and who would not, you might want to start checking the Goldwater website later this month. The earliest press release I could find was a March 21 one a few years ago, so that sounds like the earliest date.</p>
<p>Good luck. Winning is a great honor that can set the stage for even better things to come.</p>
<p>Based on the experience of previous students' at D's school, D doesn't feel all that optimistic about her chances. But , hey - if she can get there in the weather she will present her research at a conference this week. The research is the important thing. Though it would be nice to get the recognition.</p>