Rachel patteson

Does anybody know the list of contacts for each country to ask questions? (Specifically UK for me).

It says in the original semifinalist email that they won't email you if they receive it and ONLY if they didn't receive it

Is this for the at-large study grant?

Any update on the UK-UCL interview? I'm guessing at this point, if we haven't gotten an interview notification, there won't be an interview.

have you already been through the semi-finalist rounds before, is that why you know about the interviews? What are you going to study/research at UCL? I'm actually a 'study' grant, I don't know if that's different from a research grant. I'm applying for the Geosciences Msc Thanks for the insight though! It's been very confusing so far about what happens with interviews, etc.

Hi! Thanks for the tips! I am applying for the master's research grant at UCL. I have only received notification I was a semi-finalist in late January, sent in my transcript, and I haven't heard anything else back. When do we hear back about having interviews or does everyone have interviews for research grants?

I thought I would leave a couple tips here for future-seeking applicants. I got selected to interview for the American Gates Scholarship in late January and didn't get selected for the final scholarship. Here are a couple things I wish I knew before the interviews. I applied for an Earth Science Ph.D. on the Physical Sciences panel. 1. Getting notified of acceptance at Cambridge and interviews for your department: This is wide-ranging for everyone. I noticed that some people got interviews for their department and program at Cambridge as early as late October and as late as early December. I actually didn't have an interview for my program -- they just accepted me and this isn't anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes your application may be good enough they don't need to interview you, etc. You will get accepted to the department and program before you get accepted for an interview. 2. Getting notified of the interview for Gates Scholarship: I was on the Physical Sciences panel and I got notified December 13th. Which around that time is usual. People get notified all the way up until December 21st. The interview took place in Seattle and it varies from Seattle to Washington, D.C. every year. I would contact your school ASAP if you're notified as a finalist to see if they will help you will travel costs because Gates only covers 1 night at the hotel nearby the Gates Foundation and nothing else. The interview takes place on a Friday and Saturday in late January and you get to pick your time slot and day. But pick fast because they fill up! About 100 people are selected for interviews and only 35 are finalists. 3. The process up to the interview on January 28th: A women named Luisa Clarke usually emails you with more details about the interview (confirming date and time and travel details). She also sets up a facebook group for all interviewees beforehand so everyone can get to know each other. Use this group to solidify rides/dinner plans/whatever else when you arrive in Seattle or D.C. It will save you money. Read books, study, talk to your supervisor at Cambridge, and start solidfying down what you will say in your interview asap. You can't ever be 100% prepared (I was really prepared but one question in the interview threw me off haha) but really know who you are and what your project is. 4. Interview weekend: I arrived Friday night, the night before my interview on Saturday. I honestly wished I got to Seattle a day earlier than Friday to really prepare myself. So I would recommend coming as early as you can and exploring and getting used to the environment. The hotel was about a 5-minute walk from the Gates Foundation where we have our interviews. I would, if you have time, the day before, walk to the foundation so you are prepared and know where it is. For the night Gates provides a hotel accommodation, you will room with another applicant on your same panel. Use this time to get to know them too! 5. The interview: So compared to other applicants I talked to, my interview went pretty bad. I applied for an Earth Sciences Ph.D. There are 4 panels: Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Arts, and Social Sciences. The panels all vary in their personalities and approaches to interviews. All the panels were nice, but the Physical Science's panel was a bit more straightforward than what I was expecting. Also, remember that applicants can apply for Ph.D. and Masters programs. From what I know, they will grill you about your Ph.D. project and not so much about the 'philosophical' why this and that; and for the Masters, they ask less about your proposed project/program. In either case, you should still prepare for the "why" questions and the "what" questions. My problem was, I didn't have a lot of experience in the field I was going into (paleoceanography) and so I couldn't explain a lot of the side details of my project. Unfortunately, the first question that was asked of me was a bit of a weird question I didn't take into account about my project (something about my methods)... I didn't know and this question really threw me off and flustered me and it just ended up being a bad interview. Towards the end, they started asking about why this and that. In any case, prepare for every question you can think of and really know the ins and outs of your project. 6. Final Notification: I got the final notification about 5 days after. So I interviewed on January 28th and the final notification was on February 1st. It was just the generic email: It was a tough competition, etc, etc... We're sorry we can't offer you a scholarship, etc, etc. The way they tally up the end is based on a ranking system. Your initial application has a ranking and the interview has a ranking. After you're interview, they basically compare you with the other 100 people and tally up where you stand based on the application and interview. So although my application was excellent, my interview sucked and that brought my ranking down. DO WELL AT BOTH. Also, I don't know if Earth Science is a hard field to really connect and apply research to "helping communities"... but I feel like the program was a little bias towards biological sciences and more health related stuff... which is great! but my area was climate change and helping communities mitigate and adapt to changing environments but it was a little underwhelming to see the panel/committee not as excited about climate change as they are about diseases and health-related issues (which are both equally important). I think if you're on any panel, and you aren't doing applied research (i.e. engineering that will apply some invention to directly helping communities or health research that will research a protein to cure a disease, etc), then you really have to sell how your research will directly help communities. Me doing an Earth Science Ph.D. and understanding climate change to better predict future changes, etc I felt wasn't good enough when compared to other applicants. so find your strengths in your project and contact your supervisor early and know the ins and outs of your project (My supervisor was great but we never skyped because he was so busy -- and it would have been more helpful if we had solidified contact and details sooner). Other Tips: It really sucked to not get the final scholarship because I made so many friends and great memories based off my experience in Seattle and I won't be able to go off with them to Cambridge. Everyone was really nice and it seems like an intimidating experience but everyone was really friendly and freaking out together. Although there are still opportunities for further funding at Cambridge, I really wanted to be apart of the Gates community as well because it's a truly remarkable experience. Have a backup too! I met a lot of people who didn't know what they were going to do if they didn't get the scholarship -- I applied to 5 fellowships to make sure if I didn't get the Gates that I would have somewhere else to go. Hence, my last backup after not getting gates was Fulbright which is still a great backup! I will be applying again next year, after my masters at UCL Good luck and hope this helps!

Got the Semifinalist notification for UCL (Earth science study award) yesterday. Anyone else for UCL here? I heard 60ish applicants apply for UCL each year, and there's only 1 award. Yikes! I wonder how many semi-finalists there are then

I got an official interview invite for physical sciences on Dec. 13th. I'm from the midwest, so I don't know if that says anything