<p>Does anyone know anything about these? D was offered nomination by two different groups and we're not sure she should bother. I understand that the student has to apply ED to the school of choice, but I'm wondering if the student is nominated for but doesn't receive the posse scholarship, are they stuck with the ED designation? There are two schools that she might have applied ED if money weren't an issue, but it is, and since she is neither poor nor minority, I can't see how she'd actually be selected, so we don't want to be stuck with an ED commitment because she applied for this scholarship. Anyone?</p>
<p>It sounds like the commitment is to POSSE. Your D's application would be submitted through the organization; if accepted, the scholarship is automatic.</p>
<p>From the webiste: (However, I would call them and confirm this.)</p>
<p>"After I Have Been Nominated, What Happens Next? All nominated students will be asked to attend a large group recruitment meeting. After the large group interview about half will be called back as Semi-finalists. Each Semi-finalist will come to the Posse Office to be interviewed individually by Posse Staff. Between 20 and 25 of these students will be chosen as Finalists for each partner school. Finalists must agree to accept the Posse Scholarship if it is offered to them. This is a serious commitment. Finalists will each fill out an application to their Posse College. In mid-December they will participate in a group interview with all other Finalists for their particular school. An admission committee from the college including the Dean of Admission will attend this meeting. Finalists will be notified if they are Posse Scholarship Winners in late December and begin Posse’s eight-month pre-collegiate training program in January. "</p>
<p>I went with my d to a POSSE orientation meeting this past summer. She decided to pass because none of the schools being offered to students from our area were ones she wanted to attend. If your student isn't interested in the schools offered, then it's not even worth going. I personally know of students who made it to the finals and someone who is on a POSSE scholarship at a great midwest LAC who is about as white, male as you get from an upper middle class family so don't rule yourself out on that basis alone. Call your local office to get details re: applying. Good LUck. It's a great program/scholarship for the right kids.</p>
<p>Hey thanks very much! One school that she is very interested in is on the list, so that might be worth pursuing.</p>
<p>It's a fabulous scholarship! So she might as well go for it. I think even the scholarship process would be a great experience.</p>
<p>Your daughter should definitely go for it. If selected it is a full tuition scholarship. Like questbridge, she would be matched with a school and your daughter would still be able to decide whether or not she wants to commit ED.</p>
<p>She should go for it if she's interested in one of the partner schools. Otherwise not. Some great schools are partner schools, so it's definitely worth checking out.</p>
<p>This is a great program if the match is right--and the program is set up to ensure that good matches get made. I'd suggest checking out the web sites of partner schools that your D is interested in--almost all of the schools will have stories touting the program and the activities of their Posses that will give some sense of how the program works on campus.</p>
<p>Lafayette College has participated in the Posse program since 2002. From the colleges website:</p>
<p>"The Posse Foundation identifies, recruits, and trains student leaders from urban public high schools to form multicultural teams called posses. Following an intensive eight-month recruitment and pre-college training program the teams enroll at top-tier colleges and universities nationwide to pursue their academics and help promote cross-cultural communication. In addition to New York, where Posse is headquartered, there are sites in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Through its five years with Posse, Lafayette has 64 students who have graduated or are current students. Ten members of the first posse graduated in 2006. The classes of 2008, 2009, and 2010 have posses of 11, 12, and 21 students, respectively. The class of 2010 includes a posse from Washington, D.C., in addition to one from New York, making Lafayette the fifth college or university to enroll posses from more than one city."</p>
<p>See this link for some additional information, including a feature by CBS Evening News on the Posse Foundation:</p>
<p>Lafayette's</a> Posse Scholars Featured on CBS Evening News</p>
<p>D2 is friends with several girls at her college (Bryn Mawr) who participated in the Posse program. I had never heard of the program until D2 told me about it. IMO the program sounds like an amazing opportunity if there's a good match college for your D.</p>
<p>Oh my gosh - Here in Ohio, the Posse Programs at Oberlin, Denison and Wooster are awesome. I'd sure recommend it since there is a school being offered to students in your area that is a school she is interested in. Free tuition! </p>
<p>
[quote]
College of Wooster has its first Posse class this year from Atlanta. Oberlin College has its third year of students from Chicago. Denison University, one of the first to participate in Posse seven years ago, chooses students each year from Chicago and Boston.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>From the Plain Dealer:
Posse</a> Program gives urban students money -- and friendship -- at Oberlin, Wooster and Denison - Metro - cleveland.com</p>
<p>They are trying to create multicultural Posses, so they don't want everyone in a Posse to be a minority.</p>
<p>If the student applies ED specifically as part of Posse and is not accepted as part of Posse with a Posse Scholarship, they are not still stuck as an ED applicant.</p>
<p>Congrats. You should be very proud of your daughter. It is a real honor to have a child nominated for such an interesting program. Here in Madison, Posse students come from Chicago and Los Angeles. UW-Madison was the first public research institution to become involved in the program.</p>
<p>[url=<a href="http://posseprogram.wisc.edu/%5Dposseprogram%5B/url">http://posseprogram.wisc.edu/]posseprogram[/url</a>]</p>
<p>"I went with my d to a POSSE orientation meeting this past summer. She decided to pass because none of the schools being offered to students from our area were ones she wanted to attend."</p>
<p>Same here - - Posse works with only 33 schools nation-wide and that list is limited even further b/c applicants from each of the host cities are limted to a handful of schools for which the host city recruits. D was interested in 3 posse schools, 2 of which were matched with other host cities (Wooster/Atlanta, ConnCollege/Chicago), and only one which was matched with our city.</p>
<hr>
<p>"Since she is neither poor nor minority, I can't see how she'd actually be selected."</p>
<p>Many schools refuse to participate in posse b/c the scholarships are awarded without regard for need or academic merit.</p>
<p>Grinnell is also among those schools participating in the Posse Scholarship program.</p>
<p>Made the semi-finals and then was dinged. I wish we had all of that time back! I guess it was a good experience for D, though . . .</p>
<p>
They want good students but they also say they choose students for “leadership talent” or “leadership ability and motivation”</p>
<p>There are 33 Posse Program colleges (after the name of the college is the Posse city it works with).</p>
<pre><code>* Babson College Posse New York
- Bard College Posse Atlanta
- Boston University Posse Atlanta
- Brandeis University Posse New York
- Bryn Mawr College Posse Boston
- Bucknell University Posse Boston + Posse D.C.
- Carleton College Posse Chicago
- Centre College Posse Boston
- Claremont McKenna College Posse Los Angeles
- Colby College Posse New York
- The College of Wooster Posse Atlanta
- Connecticut College Posse Chicago
- Denison University Posse Boston + Posse Chicago
- DePauw University Posse Chicago + Posse New York
- Dickinson College Posse Los Angeles + Posse New York
- Franklin & Marshall College Posse New York
- Grinnell College Posse Los Angeles + Posse D.C.
- Hamilton College Posse Boston
- Kalamazoo College Posse Los Angeles
- Lafayette College Posse New York + Posse D.C.
- Lawrence University Posse New York
- Middlebury College Posse New York
- Oberlin College Posse Chicago
- Pomona College Posse Chicago
- Sewanee: The University of the South Posse D.C.
- Trinity College Posse New York
- Tulane University Posse Los Angeles
- Union College Posse Boston
- University of California, Berkeley Posse Los Angeles
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Posse Chicago
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Posse Chicago + Posse Los Angeles + Posse D.C.
- Vanderbilt University Posse New York
- Wheaton College Posse New York
</code></pre>
<p>Cindy, what is the time commitment?</p>
<p>We had to learn about it (like read the web site, etc.). Then we attended an informational meeting downtown. I think she had to do some paperwork for recommendations (but I may be misremembering that).</p>
<p>Then she had to go downtown for the first “interview.” She was placed into a group of kids (I don’t know the number – 15 perhaps?). The group was given tasks to perform while they were observed. One task that sticks out in my mind is that they had to build a tower or structure out of straws. Each child had to use only one hand, and they had to build the tower together. I think these tasks helped the committee assess “leadership?”</p>
<p>She was notified that she made the semi-finals and would be doing a one-on-one interview with someone on the selection committee, so that was another trip downtown and another round of “How should I prepare?” and “What should I wear?”</p>
<p>D – continuing a very long tradition of Not Listening To Me – did little preparation and wore a cotton dress and flip-flops. Yes, you read that correctly. Flip flops. </p>
<p>She did not make the finals.</p>
<p>Perhaps the time was well spent. When she met the interview for Georgetown, she did not propose wearing flip-flops. Lesson learned? :)</p>
<p>^^ I believe that the students who are ultimately selected continue become a local posse, and they continue to meet and work together throughout the academic year. </p>
<p>Interesting, as I look at the list, there are only 2 schools that would be of interest to D, and only one of them is matched withe NYC. Too bad she’s not a Brandeis/MIdd/Vandy caliber student.</p>
<p>There was quite a long article in the NY Times in the last year or so about LA Posse students at Grinnell. The article had a positive spin, but it seemed that the students tended to hang together, not identify with other Grinnell students, have mixed success, and be happy to graduate (when they did) and go back to LA.
I just googled it- It was the LA Times.</p>