@RainbowBritey did they notify the PTK Scholarship semi-finalists through email?
@writerk123 Yes! For the PTK scholarships an email was sent out notifying semi-finalists and requesting transcripts to verify fall grades.
@RainbowBritey Thank you for letting me know! I just found the email in my Spam box sent 4 days ago. Thank you!
@writerk123 Yay!! I am so excited for us both!
Hi Everyone, I applied as well and I am pretty nervous about this. Do you think they will announce around the first week of Feb or so. Also what do you guys think are the benefits of just being a semi-finalist?
@RainbowBritey Which PTK scholarships did you apply for? I haven’t heard anything from mine or anyone at my school.
Hello @Agoodcalifornian,
Glad you joined us! I also read that they will announce the JKC semi-finalists early February. I’m gonna go on a hunch and say we will all find out between February 6 to February 9. For the benefits, I heard from some people that once you reach semi-finalists, top colleges and/or Ivy’s that you’ve applied to reconsider their merit or financial aid packages they initially granted you. Also, we were talking about the PTK Fall scholarship that opened and closed mid-September and November 21, respectively. You can find info about it on ptk.org in the scholarship section. (BTW, does anyone know how much the PTK Fall scholarship offers? I couldn’t find it anywhere.)
I’ll be honest with you I gave up on hopes of being a JKCF scholar right after I pressed that Submit button cause I heard about some ridiculously amazing applicants soon after.
P.S. I’m just here cause I wanna place as much info as possible on this thread regarding scholarships and transfer universities so that students applying a year or a decade after ours and reading this can have all the info they need. Good luck to you all guys!
Hey, everyone! First off, good luck to all of you!
Here are my stats:
University: Stanford, Wellesley, Columbia, Cornell, Smith, Yale, UC Davis (TAG accepted), UC Los Angeles, UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley
Stats
College GPA: 4.0/4.0
Major: Dual Major Mathematics & Philosophy
Volunteer Hours (approx): 20 as DSS Notetaker
Other stats: ACT 32 (should have 34 above next time)
Subjective
Essays (Personal opinions/critiques): Shows my hardship, but my ability to work through everything I’ve been through an persevere. Show I’m a lifelong learner whose goal to get an education will never been deterred, no matter the circumstance. Unique major, unique applicant. Dual major math and philosophy with goals to attend Yale Law School to become an intellectual property lawyer. Writing quality is exceptional.
Teacher Recs: one from my math professor, one from my critical thinking professor (one male, one female), one from each college I attend
Other Rec: Treasurer for student government; 1st place debate competition; budget advisory committee; MESA; EOPS; AMTRAK railroad conductor; ebay business top-seller, power-seller, top 10% in seller category; IP Law firm internship for 3 years (saved two patents by my own research for UC Berkeley and Stanford); anime fan page content creator and admin, over 55K followers with multiple viral works seen on reddit, 4chan, 9gag, etc; coca-cola leaders of promise scholarship recipient; PTK; AGS; Somerton scholarship recipient; debate team
Hook (if any): Non-traditional, older student, independent. I worked for the railroad as a conductor for 8 years (AMTRAK). First-gen. Female. Professional degree goal. Incredible hardships.
State or Country: CA
Community College: Diablo Valley College & Laney College
Ethnicity: White (European)
Sex at Birth: Female
Other Factors: Grew up in an extremely abusive family. My grandmother (really my mother), died of cancer while in HS. Took care of siblings, switched HS five times, first-generation, EFC 0 low income. Was homeless, but ran away from home to have the opportunity to go to college. Went from homeless to a shelter, then got a job. Worked on healing from severe PTSD for 4 years until I could function well enough to go to school. Because I switched HS 5 times, my education was severely compromised. I spent 2 years catching up and even stacked foundational math classes for an entire year to get to calculus. Left my job in order to go to school full-time. Getting my education has been a lifelong dream and everything I’ve done has been to work toward that goal.
My goal is to make semi-finalist. That at least would make me feel like I’ve accomplished something. I honestly have no expectation of winning.
@Agoodcalifornian The PTK portal selects all scholarships available in the current cycle for which the applicant in question is eligible so in my case I think my app went in for PTK, Hites, Guistwhite and All USA Academic Team. They don’t tell you which one the semi-finalist notification is for, unfortunately, so I am in wait-and-see mode.
@writerk123 I don’t think many JKCF scholars initially rate their chances very highly, I know a couple and they totally see themselves as very normal people while I see them as extraordinary over-achievers haha! My read so far is that most of them are very down to earth individuals with big ideas, solid motivation and high levels of tenacity. That is really what attracted me to the program - imagine the potential for collaboration within a community like that? - GOALS!
@ARousseau To be quite honest, if you put half of the work from that post into your application, I don’t think you’ll have a problem getting to the semifinalists round. In fact I might be a bit mad on your behalf if you don’t haha.
As far as semifinalist decisions go, I wouldn’t be surprised if they come out a bit earlier than expected. Last year we were expecting the list to come out around mid-December, and I got my semifinalist notification email on November 30th. My guess is that semifinalists will be notified between January 26th and February 2nd. Obviously every year is different though so we will see. Some important staff in the foundation seems to have passed away, so that might also be something that can hold back the notification date.
@FinishingTheApp I’m grateful for the kind words in your post, truly! It made my day, and thank you so much.
Also, I think your major is very cool! I love seeing artistic students!
Do they let semi-finalists know through their personal e-mail? I want to make sure it’s not like finalists where it’s the school that gets notified and not the student.
@ARousseau Oh course, and thank you! To answer your question, last year it worked like this:
(NOTE : If for whatever reason you’d rather not know how the process works after semifinals, just read the first paragraph. I understand this can be a scary time with college apps, and if knowing what happens can cause you unnecessary stress or " ruin the magic" then I totally understand and recommend you not read ahead.)
Semifinalists receive an email before the article listing all the semifinalists online is published. Last year my school had about 8 Semifinalists. 7 of us received an email, the one who didn’t was later informed by my schools assigned faculty member. I personally believe that the reason she didn’t get the email though was simply a mistake through the foundation’s system.
Now here’s where the knives come out. 5-8 weeks after the Semifinalists get an email, a second round of emails come out. These emails only go out to few semifinalists, and it’s an email asking for more information. From what we concluded last year, the second email seems to be evidence of a “second cut” that takes place within the foundation. This essentially means that out of the 500 or so students that make it to Semifinals, anywhere between 100-200 make it to the “Finalist” level.
The reason we believe this second email is so important is because none of the people that didn’t receive the second email last year got the scholarship. However, getting the second the email doesn’t guarantee that you’re a winner, because only half of those that got the second email won the scholarship.
School faculty reps get an email with the winners about a week or so in advance of the students. This is for two reasons. If they want to surprise their winners, then it allows them the chance to do so. However, it’s also so they can let those of us who didn’t get it know in person instead of through an email.
Those who for whatever reason don’t find out in that week grace period will still get an official notification about a week later. Rejected Semifinalists get an email, winners get a phone call.
I didn’t get that second email last year and it sucked, so if you’re like me and prefer to just know everything ahead of time then hopefully this helped.
Thank you @FinishingTheApp your post is super helpful for those of us who like knowing all of the bits in advance!
@FinishingTheApp That’s great info. Thank you! I like to know so that I’m not wondering. Like I said, I’m only thinking of making semifinals, and I’m glad that will be taken care of without my school needing to know before I do.
Guys, check your email. Semi-finalists email has been sent out. I, unfortunately, didn’t make it. Good luck everyone!
watching from afar, wishing you all the best
Can’t wait to meet the new cousins in a few months, congratulations to the semi-finalists!
@FinishingTheApp If you’re who I remember (it’s been a while since Ive been on the site lol), then a special hug to you 
I’m glad you made it pal, and I love your new list of colleges!
@Agoodcalifornian …Love the name by the way hahahaha
Semi-finalist notifications are out! Yippeeeeee! Check your email JKCF-hopeful friends!
@writerk123 I am sorry, I was so hopeful that we would all make the semi-finalist list. It doesn’t diminish your magic at all though, you are still doing extraordinary things and I know you will continue to do more!
I’m made it! I’m so happy!
Congratulations to everyone!!
@ARousseau YAY! That is wonderful news! My husband and I both made it too - we did a ridiculous happy dance together when we got our emails.