@anythinghere awesomesauce!
@anythinghere Congratulations many times over! Have you received your financial aid package yet? I wouldn’t lose hope if you don’t receive the JKCF, Ivy League schools tend to be incredible generous with need-based grants. For example, I know that Yale commits to meeting full need without loans and considers any family with an income of under $65,000 per year to have an expected family contribution of 0. Even if you would end up having an EFC, it might very well be low enough that loans could make up the difference.
@anythinghere That is an incredible accomplishment. Last year Yale accepted only 4 community college transfer students, and many fantastic JKCF scholars I know did not make it in. You should feel tremendously proud.
I can also confirm the decision coming closer to the end of the month, unfortunately. Although school will be over and done with for most people, the foundation is working hard to make sure JKCF alum will be around to help guide you through the process.
@nekozuki Honestly, that almost brought me to a panic attack. I am not going to be able to go to school this year even I get it, nevermind a top one - I can only push deadlines back so far. If I am out of the running. I just want to know. Why can’t they at least send out some rejections? I know they are trying as hard as they can, but this isn’t OK. I am borderline withdrawing my application because of the toll this is taking. I would rather give up on my first choice and know where I am going than simply have no idea what my life will look like in a few months. I have been homeless more than once; I need some stability with a transition as significant as transferring - like knowing where I will be going.
I called again. The representative took my name and passed it along to the main office asking if they could reach out to me with at least a notification date, hopefully with knowledge of my status (not giving it to me - I just mean them knowing). Hopefully making that contact won’t be used as reason to eliminate me, but I have gotten multiple emails from schools in the past 24 hours asking about enrollment decisions and deposits and putting pressure on me to make a decision (why I am suddenly going from being reasoned and reassuring to panicking). I have already asked them to offer extensions, but they are starting to become skeptical when I keep coming to them with “They said we will know by X” and then having to ask again. Now my adviser is paranoid that even asking this to JKC would count against me; hopefully that’s unfounded.
I am sincerely, sincerely honored to have made it this far; even filling out the application has provided me such an opportunity for reflection and growth, and going through this process has been a lesson. I am committed to my education no matter what and I am committed to seeing this process through - obviously, I am not going to withdraw my application - so I hope none of this is read as ungratefulness and bitterness. As stressful as it is, this experience has been so meaningful. But circumstances are beginning to make it difficult to manage from a purely material perspective.
Hey guys, I called and talked to a representative and to let them know that several of my schools want a deposit by the 15th. They said to email scholarships@jkcf.org with this and that they would let me know of my current status with the scholarship. Just thought I’d pass along the information to you guys.
@leeminho It is a relief to know that others are experiencing this as well and are reaching out to them.
@aritransfer16 yeah, I honestly had no choice but to contact them, since I can not put a deposit down for more than 1 school since that would be illegal and could lead to the revocation of my acceptance.
Even my honor’s coordinator admits that this process is becoming a bit problematic, considerng people are waiting to make life decisions.
Thanks so much guys. I’m still in shock. People are telling me that I should be able to pay for it whether I get the JKC or not because of Yale’s financial aid policies. I hope that’s true.
I think I just fit really well into one of their programs. When I got rejected from Vanderbilt Monday I lost all hope.
@LostUber My coordinator is frustrated, as well.
@aritransfer16 @LostUber @leeminho I know I sound like a broken record, but I am so, so sorry you guys are stuck waiting this long. I remember how difficult it was making final decisions on schools and placing deposits when we were notified that last week of April 2015, but going closer to the end of May? Yipe. A logistical nightmare for trying to select schools. I don’t believe for a second that emailing JKCF is going to take you out of the running for anything. They are so, so understanding of all the difficult situations everyone is in. As I said before, even us scholars were recently contacted and made aware of the unusual delay in this year’s selection process.
@anythinghere Wow! Vandy passed on you when Yale snapped you up? Ha, jokes on Vandy, they can eat their heart out. I would also pass along your Yale acceptance to JKCF if you haven’t already.
@nekozuki I appreciate your empathy and kind words. It actually does make it easier having that frustration validated.
I will be ok, I’m just in limbo. The worst that happens is the same thing that will happen without the scholarship - I only go to the one school that gave me enough money to make the gap left over from my loans. I am thankful to have that; it was not impossible or even unlikely that I would get to the end of the process without a school I would be able to attend.
Please tell us
@skaday Hi again! I totally know who you are.
Creep
So I just called the foundation… and he plainly stated “In a couple weeks.”
I asked why that always seems to be the default answer, and now, it’s going into mid May. He said "About a week ago, now nearly two weeks ago, the foundation informed us final decisions were being made and would be out in the coming weeks. So we were told to inform you it would be in two weeks. "
I asked if they could give me my individual status and he said " We wouldn’t be able to because we don’t have the information about the winners from the foundation yet. They haven’t told us."
sigh I’m just out of words… This sucks so bad… I think I should stay off of this site for a while. It’s not doing any good for me @ this point… have fun guys.
@LostUber Did you send the email to scholarships@jkcf?
@dvdgtrz Yes! I’ll be in this beautiful desert until graduate school.
@forestryguy If we both are selected as scholars we will definitely need champagne come August. Especially after all of this.
@ everyone For me, this suspense has been causing some serious psychological effects to my academic performance. It’s hard to focus knowing that I’m a semi-finalist, and received both emails. This scholarship means whether I’m going to be dorming in the fall, immersing myself with intellectual pursuit and unlocking the secrets behind mathematics, astrophysical phenomena and thinking deeply about ideas, OR whether I’m going to be homeless again. I’m currently crashing at my father’s house, and his wife never liked the idea. I had until I “finished community college” and now the time is up.
But if I lose this scholarship and become homeless again, I’m determined not to stop my academics this time. I need to see my dream come into fruition, at any cost.
As always, best of luck to you all.
I need to get back to my studies, but maybe I can leave you with something that has helped me. I’ve been re-reading the Stoic king, Marcus Aurelius’s “meditations” and found an interesting passage that I’m (perhaps unsuccessfully) attempting to embody to get through this uncertainty.
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”
Keep moving forward. Keep building your future. Stay focused.
@Quietlybear I’m in the same place as you, as is our other semifinalist who received both emails. Sending love and good wishes.