The letters will on there way very soon. So, I just wanted to see what the general opinion of my shots are, although no one really knows how the process truly works.
Since I am a finalist, I am just gonna share what my counselor and I had for to send in for the finalist portal.
School Acceptance Letter: Duke Early Decision from December
Financial Info: I am certain that I qualify for the pell grant, and without giving too much info, my family's annual income is around $60,000.
School Profile: My school is an above average Magnet school in Wake County of North Carolina
Transcript GPA (Weighted/Unweighted) and Rank: 5.25/3.98 and 3rd/~600 students
These may not be the things that the GMS committee look at, instead, this was what I assumed they did look at.
I think you have a fair shot at the scholarship! Let me know if you win so you can help me out for next year. Thanks to GEAR UP, I’ve decided to start on my essays a year early. :-bd
@tierra137 this is the last year they are doing the Gates Millennium Scholarship, there will be a new version of the scholarship but it will just be for undergraduates until they graduate (so it will no longer cover a Master’s and PhD)
@amanmibra My relative is a 2015 GMS. The selection is based on your essays and references. Your income, GPA and university acceptance are only used to determine eligibility, i.e. you don’t have a better chance the higher your GPA or the lower your income. It really is based on your leadership potential. Good luck. You should hear Friday (the letters last year were dated April 15).
@tierra137 There was another thread entitled, “Is it possible for the class of 2017 to receive the Gates Millennium Scholarship?” and within that thread @ScubaMom9026 posted this article:
According to many other threads on this forum and many other news articles, this is definitely the last year of this scholarship, but not the last year that Gates will host a scholarship.
Just to provide a bit more solace: a significant number of Finalists do not end up qualifying, either because they aren’t Pell Grant eligible, don’t meet the GPA requirement, fail to submit their documents etc. So your chances are better than would at first appear. Keep the faith!