<p>Anyone hear back yet? They said finalists would hear back by March 1st... I'm getting nervous.</p>
<p>i didn't get anything yet as well.</p>
<p>Iceangelgt -- I wrote a long answer to your question, but somehow it just didn't post correctly, so here's the condensed version. The Lay weekend is actually 2 days. You arrive in time for morning activities on a Friday (beginning around 9:00 AM), have interviews during the day (group and individual), and then spend the evening sleeping on campus with a host student. The parents, meanwhile, have information sessions with financial aid, services, academics, etc... Parents and students join each other on Friday for a luncheon and again in the evening for a reception at the university president's house. If you are from out of town, Furman paid for (I think this is right) 2 nights of hotel and a breakfast on Saturday (a continental breakfast is provided on Friday), and you are done by Saturday midday.</p>
<p>Oib1 -- My daughter, too, had concerns about being different than the "typical" Furman student. While many students are from the southeastern US, reflect their southern culture, and are Southern Baptist, there is still room to be an individual. The campus atmoshpere is certainly conservative socially and politically, but it is a very tolerant campus (one that accepts individuality). I will ask my daughter to respond to any questions you may have. Moreover, if you would like to have an open and direct discussion about this, please give us an IM address.</p>
<p>MMood87 -- I am going to assume that you are ribbing or joking when you write that you "deserve" a Lay's scholarship. There are many, many bright, talented students that will be invited to compete this year. Part of the selection is based on SAT, part on HS record, and part on how you present yourself at your interviews. If you go in with the attitude that you "deserve" this scholarship, it will be transparent. I know of 6 students with 1450+ SATs who were not even invited to compete for the Lay, while others with slightly lower SATs were part of the event. So, SATs are only a part. And, as an aside, I know of 5 Duke recipients from last year who were 1530+, students with great GPAs, ECs, awards, etc... and were not given Lay scholarships. So, you don't "deserve" these scholarships, you are "selected."</p>
<p>Again, good luck as you all await you letters.</p>
<p>they're supposed to be given out by feb 28, yet no one's gotten any feedback</p>
<p>Received notification yesterday of finalist status for the Lay scholarship.</p>
<p>titanic - Congratulations! did you recieve it via regular mail? What was the postmark date and where do you live?</p>
<p>it came regular mail, dated feb 23</p>
<p>do you live near south carolina? i am worried, i live in florida and haven't received anything. i definately can't go to furman unless i get the 3/4 tuition scholarship atleast... :-/</p>
<p>Still no letter for me, but after e-mailing the admissions office, I was informed that I am a finalist!! I'm so excited :-) The admissions officer said I should have gotten something in the mail already, so the package must have gotten lost. But I'm so relieved and happy to have made it, can't wait to be on campus at Furman once again! </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone else that applied for the scholarship - hopefully I will see you april 8th!</p>
<p>So I just read on the furman message board (the one on their website) that finalists are notified before nonfinalists. That doesn't bode well for me.</p>
<p>Oh well...</p>
<p>Does anyone know approximately how many finalists there are for the competition?</p>
<p>Iceangel,
You should receive a list that shows the name and hometown of each of the finalists. This is the total number of finalists who were invited for the interview weekend and who have responded that they plan on attending. Last year it was around 33 for the spring (the larger group) of finalists. If the criteria is the same as last year, at least one Lay and a preliminary group of finalists/Duke scholars were invterviewed from the ED pool last fall.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I also was chosen for the Lay finals. This year, there were thirty candidates, though four of them backed out. One Lay went to an Early Decision candidate, while 3 more will be given to Regular Decision applicants. The Dean of Admissions informed us that though the specifications for the number of Duke scholarships was 10, it was possible for all of us to recieve Duke scholarships if we all had outstanding interviews. We find out about the results and final award letters on Thursday, April 10. All financial aid award letters were mailed out April 8, I think.</p>
<p>Iceangeljt and titanic, I met you guys this past weekend, right? I'm Ken Ge from Columbia, SC.</p>
<p>Good luck, Ken. The info on the number of Duke's they will give out was the same statement made last year (and, I would guess, is true of every year). Note, however, that the caveat was "if you interviewed well." Last year there were a few attendees who were offered neither Lay nor Duke scholarships. In any case, I'm sure it went well for you. My D was a hostess for this last session and said officialy there were 28 attendees.</p>
<p>Hope you receive the news you are looking for later this week.</p>
<p>As an aside, I think you mean Thursday, April 14th. Also, I believe they FedEX the decision packages to you. So, the final decisions will be made tomorrow and Tuesday and then sent out on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>"Interesting stories. So I was being a perfectionist and editing my Lay essays until I submitted them at 11:47 pm on 1/15, after submission it immediately went to a page that said it was sent to some address at 12:09 am on 1/16. Their server is 22 minutes fast and that made my application a day late. I'm so annoyed. If they don't take it I'm going to raise hell."
Perhaps if they don't accept you, it is not because your application was late.</p>
<p>What are you tiptoeing around spoodle?</p>
<p>I'm not tiptoeing around anything. I'm just saying that if for some reason you dont get accepted, dont blame it on your application being 5 minutes late. And for future reference...never turn in any application be it scholarship or for admission any later than 24 hours before the due date. Its just a good policy.</p>
<p>I never blamed not getting a Lay Scholarship because my application was 5 minutes late. Notice the post a few weeks later where I say the received and accepted my application. Since they accepted my application, I assume they based their decision on the content and not the submission time.</p>
<p>Way to pick something from months ago and read way too into it.</p>
<p>It seems like you have a chip on your shoulder. I've read a few of your posts and quite a few of them tend to be very critical of people you don't even know. Lighten up.</p>