@RainbowBritey Thanks ! I am glad to have found this thread. Also we now have something in common ! I am applying for the Eli Whitney program as well. Yale is my top choice as of right now. I love the fact of the non traditional program and feel it would be a great fit for myself. Yale also has a really awesome Psychology department !!
@Kmag22 I couldn’t find a way to apply for both on the Common App, so it looks like it’s one or the other. Psychology is awesome, by the way! Yale has an actual Mathematics & Philosophy degree, not two separate ones, so I hope I get in! I can’t find another school that has that!
I haven’t heard anything back yet which is kind of odd. I didn’t expect that much of a delay.
@ARousseau Thanks !! That sounds like an awesome program. I actually plan to minor in Philosophy. Hopefully we will both end up at Yale in the Fall.
@Kmag22 The Whitney app states that students may not apply as regular transfer and Whitney students simultaneously. I wish the Whitney app was done through the common app as that covers so much more in terms of ECs, work experiences and awards than the Whitney app allows. The Whitney app, however, doesn’t require test scores (although they do strongly recommend them) so this is why it is my preferred route - like many students who immigrated as adults I don’t have US test scores.
@ARousseau I am an anthropology major, I have an anthro AA and will be getting a broader social science AA at the end of this semester. My focus is environmental/legal anthropology and there are a couple of professors at Yale whose work I have followed since I became interested in the field so it would be totally incredible to have the opportunity to study under them. That said, I don’t feel like I am expressing myself very eloquently in the current app cycle, I am a bit burned out on applications. I am going somewhere marvelous to write this weekend so hopefully the relaxation and inspiration will help me to find my voice and my purpose again.
@ARousseau Opted to go for more transferable courses as my state school was not willing to accept lots of technical classes. CS major, so tried to fulfill as much GED requirements while having 1 or two CS classes for fun that have a good chance of transferring at least to my state flagship.
Wow, I am really late to the party! ? I would just like to introduce myself formally. My name is Timothy and I am also a semi-finalist for the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Scholarship. I heard the second wave of emails were going out last week, so I was getting really worried for several days now. I had to do some research, and I finally stumbled on this thread! So glad to get to meet and talk to all of you.
I just want to know: Do you think that getting the second email is really a determining factor on whether or not you get chosen as a finalist? Because if that is the case, then…I guess I am not moving on. ? But I am still trying to hold on to a small sliver of hope. Please let me know your opinions on this matter!
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College GPA: 3.71
Volunteer Hours: ~200 hours
Major: Liberal Arts. I will be matriculating as a
Communications/Journalism major at whichever four-year colleges accept me!
College List: (Top 3: Northwestern, USC, Boston University; those schools have the best communications programs in the country!)
Others I am applying to: Vanderbilt, Michigan, Cornell, Columbia, Stanford, NYU, Stony Brook, UBuffalo, CUNY Hunter/Baruch/City College
State: NY
Community College: CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College
Ethnicity: Guyanese/Indian/Asian (Depending on the choices on the various applications, but my parents are from Guyana.)
Professor Recs: My professor who taught “The Mass Media” (a Communciations course). I did an honors project with him for honors credit on my transcript last semester. I just talked to him a few days ago and he seems genuinely proud of me and my accomplishments, he wrote really strong recommendations for all of my colleges. I also took a writing intensive American Government course and the professor from that course really vetted me as well. I feel like my recommendations are strong.
Hook: Low-income, first generation college student. That probably describes a majority of people here! Also got to be on the front page of my school’s website for several months as part of a photoshoot; invites were sent out to those who were involved at the college, so that seems like a good thing. I will have taken a total of five honors courses by the end of this semester. I also had a 1.2 GPA by the end of high school and graduated a semester late; this was two years ago in Janurary 2017. I was supposed to graduate in June 2016, but unfortunately, that just was not the case. I did a complete 180.
Activities: ASAP Student, Phi Theta Kappa Member (since Fall 2018), National Society of Leadership and Success Inductee (Fall 2018), VP of the new BMCC Society of Leadership and Success (Spring 2019), Secretary of the BMCC Toastmasters Club (Fall 2018) Student Representative/Volunteer for the Student Government (Since Fall 2018, 50+ hours), PLUS Volunteer Program (Since Fall 2017, ~100 hours), America Needs You Fellow (Since Fall 2018), Peer Mentor (Spring 2019), BMCC Chorus (Spring/Fall 2018), etc.
It is wonderful to have you here @Timothy5298 - welcome to the party! I wouldn’t worry too much about the follow-up email, let’s enjoy the sheer marvelous potential of it all as long as it lasts 
I am honestly just glad I am a semi-finalist. I have a good chance of securing a spot in at least one of my top choice colleges! I am really crossing my fingers at this point. Good luck to all!!! ?
@Timothy5298 Hi there! Thanks for coming out and joining the thread! I love to see someone involved in toastmasters, by the way! I love that you completely changed your academics since high schools. This is a great hook, especially because of the huge change. Also, nice to have someone from NY!
As far as the second e-mail is concerned, we’re wanting to be the thread that confirms if it is a myth or not. From what we can tell, it’s a myth, but no one knows for sure yet. If any of us who didn’t received the second e-mail get the scholarship, we’re going to make it CRYSTAL CLEAR.
@RainbowBritey It’s good that you can get away! I had a Diff EQ test, have a Calc 3 test after the weekend and have a position statement due for my logic class, so … I guess I’ll write my essay(s) when I have time! Haha!
What classes are you all taking? That might be fun to discuss. Maybe we’re taking the same classes!
@Snekfest CS is awesome! What do you want to do with that?
Do any of you have professional degree goals? Graduate goals?
@zoonbhrogers you got into Smith, Wellesley and Eli Whitney Yale.
Can I ask your stats? I see you were WL from Swarthmore … how did that happen?
@ARousseau Career goals in regards to CS is really anything software related. Will start in Data Analysis/ User Experience and hoping to end up in Project Management down the line.
In regards to Graduate School and such, honestly it will depend on this scholarship. If I actually make it, I will def go to graduate school. Otherwise, will just keep working for a while and wont consider it right away. Also wishing you best on the tests!
QUESTION: What would you guys do differently if you actually make it?
Would you go to grad school? pick a different major? what would you do differently?
Honestly, if I made it, I would work so hard. I would take up a double major in International Relations. I am planning to go to grad school, but with Jack Kent Cooke, my goals would be so much easier to attain.
@Timothy5298 I wanted to be a journalist when I was in high school!! All those schools are great. I actually have a friend studying journalism at USC, so I could get you in touch with her if you end up going there.
But yeah I feel the pressure of the scholarship, too. It seems like such a high-stakes thing, and it definitely would help us all out. But even if we don’t end up being selected, our potential doesn’t diminish at all-- we are still so capable of great things!!
@glassturtle you are right. I am just grateful to have made it this far. Regardless of whether I get this or not, I am still going to work towards becoming a journalist. We will all do well if we keep working as hard as we have been doing so far.
@Snekfest Thanks! I’m just alternating between writing essays and studying. I get that the scholarship would help you pursue graduate school. Really, I think we’ll all get a decent price on tuition if we get into private schools, so hopefully that will make it possible for you if you don’t get the scholarship.
For me, the biggest boost from this scholarship would be the recognition one gets as a scholar and how schools view recipients. Think about it: we’ll all get financial aid to some extent for not being rich, but what does this scholarship offer that we generally can’t get? RECOGNITION. It gives us a better chance of even attending top institutions. We’re at a huge disadvantage when it comes to being taken seriously by certain institutions, and this scholarship helps legitimize us in the eyes of, as much as I hate to say it, elitists.
This recognition is as valuable as the aid itself.
If I were to win the scholarship, I think what would change for me would be how I feel about myself, and there would be opportunities open to me that there weren’t prior. So, though I cannot say specifically what those opportunities would be, I can say they’d exist. Since community college has been extremely expensive, I can say that it would definitely help me not add to the debt I already have and have to pay off.
@Timothy5298 I was pretty down about the second email last week as well … but just hang in there. I truly think it’s a myth and we all still stand a chance regardless. I also am a member of PTK !! What is your chapter ? Did you apply for the fall transfer scholarship applications!? I also am applying to BU and NYU. Did you get a chance to visit BU ?
@Kmag22 and @Timothy5298 I am also a PTK member - did you both apply for PTK scholarships? I keep forgetting that those too are lingering mysteriously in the air! Did either of you make your state academic team? Any other PTK members here?
@RainbowBritey Yay !! PTK pride on this thread . I am also a semifinalist for the Fall Scholarship application. Did you apply ? Also any PTK members going to Catalyst in April !?