Lol, @jakobe2020 you almost ended up giving a heart attack to @ForestryGuy smh 
@Quietlybear of course this requires not only someone to hear something by Friday the 6th but also both of us to win. So a very optimistic bet but well worth it.
@szafir I sent them an unofficial transcript and a midterm report for this semester. Also, I told them I was accepted into BU, UMaryland, and am waiting for decisions from Ivies. Hey, i mean thereās no harm in doing so; maybe looking at my grades and acceptances might cause them to reconsider me if I was out. Or they can reaffirm my acceptance.
@sat4498 Virginia is a fantastic school! (One of my favorite philosophers works there.) Congratulations on the acceptance!
@ForestryGuy @Quietlybear For what it is worth, the first College Scholar recipients were notified a little over a week after their additional information forms were due - or about seven business days (the forms were due on Friday April 1st and the first notification was reported to CC on the 12th). While that could mean absolutely nothing for Undergraduate Transfer applicants, it might serve as a useful benchmark for expectations. Ergo, I would say to assume that none of us will hear anything before this coming Friday but some of us should likely have heard something by the middle of the following week.
@szafir It canāt hurt you to send updated information. It might not help, as it is unclear if they forward unsolicited updates and the last email did not come from the general support line, so just know that - but there is also no way to say for sure that it wonāt help. I would ask this: in a week or two, if you receive a notification that you did not receive the scholarship, would you beat yourself up for not sending this email? If so, prioritize that emotional sense of wellbeing at having done all you could and send it.
As for the loans, I actually donāt think there is a right or wrong answer to this, though some people might contest this. Think hard about your own situation. If you are international, does that mean they would have to be private loans? That is something to weigh heavily. What are your plans post-BA? Would they require and equip you to make payments, would they allow a deferment, etc.? How important is going to one of those schools to you, both now and in the long term? (And congrats by the way at Cal and UCLA! Thatās an awesome accomplishment.) Ultimately, it has to be your choice because you have to live with the loans, so think it through, ask a financial counselor if needed, and make the choice you can best live with.
@ everyone, We are almost there. We are almost there. We are almost there.
All I can keep thinking is that I likely sunk my application with my response to the last email - last semester was a bit rough for me, my response was too long and annoying, I came this far simply to be knocked out in the final round (if that is even what it means), etc. These thoughts are painful, but I know similar ones are peppering many here. Itās O.K to feel those - this process takes a lot out of all of us, from the point we fill it out to the waiting. Just try to distract yourself enough to where it doesnāt consume you. Much easier said than done, I certainly donāt get it right all of the time, but please remember your health and success is more important than Jack Kent Cooke.
Thank you @aritransfer16 and @Keepstriving I think Iām gonna do that, it certainly wonāt hurt me. Just wondering, what email would I send that too? Did you send it to their general email @Keepstriving ?
Iām planning to apply to grad school, either do MA in Psychology or jump right into Ph.D. Gladly some of the big research schools give you money to do your Ph.D at their institution, so hopefully it wouldnāt be that huge of a cost for me. That being said, getting my BA in a school like Cal or UCLA would probably give me some kind of an advantage while applying to those grad schools, I think. I applied to few need-based and need-blind LACs but havenāt heard from them yet. Hopefully Iāll get some financial aid from at least one of those.
And about your last response to their email @aritransfer16 Iām sure you didnāt sunk your application. If your response was long, it mustāve been honest. Also considering the fact that like most of us, youāre really anxious by this point, they definitely understand why your response would be long, itās not going to annoy them. I wouldnāt worry about that! Weāre all just people. Best of luck to you! And everybody else!!!
@szafir I emailed the information to the regular email, but you can ask anyone on here for the ladyās email.
@Keepstriving I personally would not feel comfortable sharing it. Not because I do not want to help everyone here, but I just donāt know if it is appropriate to pass that along without her permission. I would recommend sending it to the general email and asking them to forward it on to the applicable person. Others who received the email might think differently, though. (@nekozuki and @optimisticky, feel free to lend some perspective here.)
@szafir Thank you for the kind words. For what it is worth, she did let me know that none of us have to apologize for the anxious calling - they understand that everyone is jitterish about this and how much it means to everyone.
Cal and UCLA are both amazing schools for preparing one to go on to graduate school. While it would be more difficult to form them due to the use of graduate instructors and teaching assistants, being able to build relationships with the faculty there, access their research funding and lab facilities, and so on does mean something. I think many folks would say that financial concerns should override that, but I donāt believe in universalizing that. It very well could make sense for someone to turn down a UC rather than take out an incredible amount of debt and the financial burden should not be discounted, but I do believe you are entitled to make a different choice. Donāt be afraid to reach out to academic and financial advisers to think through that decision, as well.
That being said, small LACs are also great because of the individual attention you can get and many of them have fantastic graduate school placement records, so do not feel as if Cal and UCLAās name should oblige you to take out more debt than you feel comfortable with. (I exclusively applied to small LACs, actually.) If you have not done so already, it is always worthwhile to look through faculty bioās on different schools websites, reach out to them about potentially mentoring an incoming student, and asking departments about how they help prepare applicants for grad. school and how their students have done recently. I have found this to be super helpful in deciding between schools and figuring out where I would have the best opportunities (it also can give you a feel for some folksā personalities and, erm, rule out the ones that seem less than pleasant.) It might give you a bit more to work with in feeling positive and hopeful about where you end up.
Good luck on those remaining applications. Small LACs can be tough. I have been rejected from two in part based upon my financial need. At the same time, small LACs (that are need blind) have also been really willing to see past some of the rough parts of my application and take a more holistic view, which I think benefits applicants like those who would apply to the JKCF UT Scholarship immensely.
Guys! I got accepted into my #1 school!! University of Southern California! I am so psyched!!
I believe 90% this was due to reporting to my admissionā s officer that I was a JKC semifinalist! Thank you so much JKCF! Your reputation proceeds you!!
@LostUber congratulations!!
@LostUber Congrats!!. When did you inform to your school about JKCF semi-finalists notice? I sent mine on March 11,2016 to one of my top choice school, but I have not received any response yet. 
@LostUber Thatās awesome! Congratulations many, many times over. USC is a fantastic school. If you are interested in research, you might want to look into their McNair Scholars Program.
And in regards to the semifinalist notification, did you know that JKC has worked with USC (along with Amherst and Bryn Mawr) in the past to increase the number of low-income students from community colleges transferring into top tier schools? So they are most certainly aware of the foundation. But do not diminish your own merit, as well!
@sat4498 I notified most of my schools the day I received the notification. Some of them responded to confirm they received and added my update, but not all of them did. Because I had updates to send later on, they confirmed at that time they received it. Oftentimes, these admissions offices are so overwhelmed that they will add something without responding. Now that freshman have long since been notified, they might be more responsive now.
You received the most recent email, correct? I see no harm in updating them again with this new piece of information, as well as the most recent notification estimate that was included within it. For example: āI wanted to update you once more that I was among a small number of applicants for the Jack Kent Cooke Transfer Scholarship to receive a recent email from their Higher Education Coordinator asking for which schools we have been accepted to thus far and for an updated transcript. While we do not yet know the exact significance of this update, according to the email we should know who the recipients are within the next couple of weeks. With only 85-90 scholarships awarded nationwide, this has been an exciting process and it is an honor to know that I am still under consideration in this final stage, and it is an accomplishment I wanted to share with you. [Include note about they are still your top choice school and why.]ā
Even if the email winds up not truly being significant, it does mean that you are still in the running - which is significant in the moment - and I think it justifies an update.
Thank you so much! @Matsilinen
When i first got the notification I reached out to my schools and did a little research to find my admissions advisors and typed a few very informal but professional e-mails. They congratuled me and told me they would update my application. They informed me of my acceptance 2 weeks before the formal deadline! But it was not immediate! @sat4498
And I did not know that! Thanks for the info! I am grateful either way! A lot of people get turned down because of finances so this is seriously a dream come true! @aritransfer16
@sat4498 @LostUber 's point is a good one. While some colleges only make a general admissions email public (admissions@randomschool.edu), others will allow you to search for specific admissions counselors. You would look for the transfer counselor or, if you do not see they have one, the counselor for your state. That is often more successful in regards to receiving a response than submitting to the general admissions email would be.
Thanks @Keepstriving I e-mailed their general e-mail and took @aritransfer16 advice and asked to forward it. Also, thank you @aritransfer16 for your response to my question about student loans. Iām just going to patiently wait for the LACās to give me their decisions and will meet with a financial adviser at UCLA before I take out any loans. Good luck to everybody who is still in the running for this scholarship! Iām excited for you as I am sure all of you truly need and deserve to get it. I think Iām going to try and not go on this forum anymore, cc just promoted me to a junior member so I think itās time to move on with my life Once again, good luck everybody and thank you for being so supportive! xoxo
@szafir Sending love and light. Thank you for being such a supportive presence - feel free to stop by anytime you need or want to.
@ everyone All I keep coming back to is wondering how many applicants they sent that too. While we know nothing for sure, it seems as if there were around 150 remaining applicants at the time the financial forms were due. If this is a final weed out round, that means there are even less now. How many more people could they possibly be hacking off?
They say that coming in second place is more difficult than first. I can feel that right now.
@aritransfer16 how sure are you that there were 150 only? I keep on hearing different numbers and I donāt know which is correct.
@Matsilinen I am not sure beyond a shadow of a doubt - there is no information we have received throughout that I trust entirely. Generally, though, it seemed that in the days before the financial forms were due, JKCF staff members began to tell people that there were 150 remaining semi-finalists. Initially, back when the semifinalist notifications first went on, they were reporting between 300 and 400. There was presumably some trimming down in the interim.
@aritransfer16 thanks for the info.
For everyone that is still in the running I wish you nothing but good luck!!
@aritransfer16 Thanks for your help! I have sent email to my school. Now I have to wait. @LostUber I have not found any email id of the counselor their so I have sent email to the general admission email. Hope they will response.
Also, does anyone here know what happens if you are awarded the scholarship and your final CC GPA dips below a 3.5? @optimisticky @nekozuki