Wish I had joined discussions sooner to learn more about Posse. We watched videos from prior recipients to learn about the process. My daughter made it as a semi-finalist and no further. It was a great experience, though ultimately disappointing.
We have learned a lot about the Houston selection process. Historically, they choose finalists from HISD schools and disregard suburban schools that might be considered affluent. The focus is on minorities from the inner-city. Somehow, our school is required to nominate students even though they will never be finalists. I feel that we should have focused on other opportunities and early decision (unable as a semi-finalist) instead of Posse.
Posse is a great program and it was a privilege to participate. However, would not recommend to a non-minority or any student from a suburban Houston area school.
Posse is designed to be a support program for underprivileged minority youth by providing a cohort of similar kids, with full scholarships at identified selected colleges. There would be no reason for applicants from affluent high schools to be selected for this program.
I stated that some suburban high schools might be considered affluent. This does not mean they actually are or that all kids have the means or support for college. Posse says it is not need based and they open it to all area high schools. Our school has nominated low-income minorities in the past and they were not selected for the second round. Posse is a fantastic program and I am a fan. It’s just geared for one demographic and excludes many other great kids who could benefit from this leadership and mentoring to make a positive contribution to our world.
Posse provides full tuition scholarships, not full scholarships.
In addition you can be full oat and still get a Posse scholarship. It is a leadership scholarship. Someone who is full pay and the school feels is a good candidate should not feel that she should not apply or there is no reason for a college to award them a s holarship.
It is also not specifically designed specifically for Underprivileged minority students.
We are in Posse Chicago. We come from a fairly affluent suburb, but it seems that 6 of the students who were nominated by the school have made it to the finalist stage. As @sybbie719 wrote, it’s a leadership scholarship. Except for the fact that he’s transgender, my kid does not fit many underprivileged categories. We have a two parent, Jewish middle class, educated suburban home. He has, however, shown amazing leadership in multiple situations.
It may simply be numbers. There many more low income minority kids in high schools in the Posse cities than affluent White kids. Only 37% of the people living in the Houston area are White, and the White population of the Houston area is older, so the proportion of White kids is likely much lower. So it may be less that underprivileged minorities are preferred and more that, in Posse cities, minorities make up the majority of the high school students.
There are a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds in Posse. Different schools use different criteria for nominating kids. Some schools allow kids to apply, some select based on WGPA, etc. I know a handful of kids from NY and Chicago who all made it to the third round. Those I know well range from full pay to something less than that. @MWolf it sounds like we probably live in the same Chicago “suburb.”