Gates Cambridge 2017-2018

[luiswel]

Results are in :-) 

[gradapp2048]

Hi All,

I just wanted to include some final thoughts for future applicants lurking on this forum after making it through the process myself. Keep in mind that the Trust emphasizes not just leadership, but social leadership (http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=social-leader)-- took me a while to realize this. I will go ahead and echo previous advice on this forum and say that, for the interview, my experience closely mirrored the info provided on the website-- so do practice with the outline they provide. They really make an effort to lead a pleasant discussion, rather than asking a series of questions or trying to grill you, so go in ready to bounce off their energy and share your research and the importance of your field. Don't spend too much time preparing for ethics-based questions (a mistake that I made, as my field is one that is riddled with ethical dilemmas, but I didn't get a single ethics question...n=1, but take that as you will). In retrospect, once you make it to the interview stage, I would say they are most interested in determining your "fit" with Cambridge (i.e. what have you done, how will that carry over to your time there) and the goals of the Gates scholarship (mostly social leadership). Of course, this all takes years to build, and if you've made it this far, you've certainly "checked the right boxes"! Just be yourself and keep these overarching goals of the interview in mind when answering questions.

Lastly, I just want to say that we are often our own worst critics. I almost stopped myself (so many times!) from submitting an application because I didn't think I stood a chance! No one from my (large) school had ever gotten it before, so why waste time that I could be putting towards something productive? Please don't let these thoughts stop you. Wish you all the very best! 

Edited April 1, 2017 by gradapp2048

[sat0ri]

9 hours ago, gradapp2048 said:

Hi All,

I just wanted to include some final thoughts for future applicants lurking on this forum after making it through the process myself. Keep in mind that the Trust emphasizes not just leadership, but social leadership (http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=social-leader)-- took me a while to realize this. I will go ahead and echo previous advice on this forum and say that, for the interview, my experience closely mirrored the info provided on the website-- so do practice with the outline they provide. They really make an effort to lead a pleasant discussion, rather than asking a series of questions or trying to grill you, so go in ready to bounce off their energy and share your research and the importance of your field. Don't spend too much time preparing for ethics-based questions (a mistake that I made, as my field is one that is riddled with ethical dilemmas, but I didn't get a single ethics question...n=1, but take that as you will). In retrospect, once you make it to the interview stage, I would say they are most interested in determining your "fit" with Cambridge (i.e. what have you done, how will that carry over to your time there) and the goals of the Gates scholarship (mostly social leadership). Of course, this all takes years to build, and if you've made it this far, you've certainly "checked the right boxes"! Just be yourself and keep these overarching goals of the interview in mind when answering questions.

Lastly, I just want to say that we are often our own worst critics. I almost stopped myself (so many times!) from submitting an application because I didn't think I stood a chance! No one from my (large) school had ever gotten it before, so why waste time that I could be putting towards something productive? Please don't let these thoughts stop you. Wish you all the very best! 

Just curious but what does social leadership mean to you? How does it differ from perhaps more conventional notions of leadership?

EDIT - congrats!

Edited April 2, 2017 by sat0ri

[luiswel]

I am interested in starting a group for those that were selected so we can start chatting and share our journey from now until we meet at the Gates Gala. Anyone here?

[sat0ri]

14 hours ago, luiswel said:

I am interested in starting a group for those that were selected so we can start chatting and share our journey from now until we meet at the Gates Gala. Anyone here?

I was interested in something similar. Luisa told me that a group Facebook would go live once the international round concluded.

[gradapp2048]

On 4/1/2017 at 9:40 PM, sat0ri said:

Just curious but what does social leadership mean to you? How does it differ from perhaps more conventional notions of leadership?

EDIT - congrats!

I think the distinction between a social leader and, say, a task leader is that social leaders not only guide the way, but get others excited about their shared vision and/or recruit the talents and interests of team members to achieve their end goal.

[gradapp2048]

Does anyone know when our first event together will be, or tentatively when we should expect to move there?

[sat0ri]

Congrats to those winning the international round. I saw the press release yesterday.

Has anyone heard any further information other than the confirmation of being accepted? Has anyone received an official award letter yet.

[luiswel]

On 4/14/2017 at 0:48 AM, sat0ri said:

Congrats to those winning the international round. I saw the press release yesterday.

Has anyone heard any further information other than the confirmation of being accepted? Has anyone received an official award letter yet.

Not on my end of things but I don't think we should worry? Scholarship formalization letters can take over a month in my experience

[sat0ri]

21 hours ago, luiswel said:

Not on my end of things but I don't think we should worry? Scholarship formalization letters can take over a month in my experience

Ok it's reassuring to hear that I'm not alone, thank you!

[gradapp2048]

Have you all already confirmed your intention to matriculate? Anyone know how to fill out the Financial Undertaking Form? I hope we will be receiving further info on the award soon.

[sat0ri]

47 minutes ago, gradapp2048 said:

Have you all already confirmed your intention to matriculate? Anyone know how to fill out the Financial Undertaking Form? I hope we will be receiving further info on the award soon.

 

I believe we need the official letter to complete that form, but I'm not sure. If I'm not mistaken, my college requires an official award letter before they can reserve me a space :/

[gradapp2048]

2 hours ago, sat0ri said:

I believe we need the official letter to complete that form, but I'm not sure. If I'm not mistaken, my college requires an official award letter before they can reserve me a space :/

Ah, that's what I figured. We will keep each other posted!

[luiswel]

You should all check your account. I got a message about the gates! $$$$

[sat0ri]

15 hours ago, luiswel said:

You should all check your account. I got a message about the gates! $$$$

Hm nothing yet on my end... Did you receive the official award letter and everything else related to the terms and conditions? Was there anything about the facebook group? I'm from the USA round so maybe the international round went out sooner. This is making me very anxious though I bet mine will come in soon too

EDIT: anyone else receive their award letter yet? @gradapp2048

Edited April 25, 2017 by sat0ri

[gradapp2048]

6 hours ago, sat0ri said:

Hm nothing yet on my end... Did you receive the official award letter and everything else related to the terms and conditions? Was there anything about the facebook group? I'm from the USA round so maybe the international round went out sooner. This is making me very anxious though I bet mine will come in soon too

EDIT: anyone else receive their award letter yet? @gradapp2048

Nothing yet. Do you all have a Gates account on the website (I don't...unless I've missed something), or was the comment in reference to email accounts? 
 

[sat0ri]

12 hours ago, gradapp2048 said:

Nothing yet. Do you all have a Gates account on the website (I don't...unless I've missed something), or was the comment in reference to email accounts? 
 

 

I do not have the Gates account on the website either.
I was asking about the official award letter, which the university policy states is necessary to matriculate (especially to fill out the financial undertaking form). I was assuming the email is not the official award letter. However, my college has just emailed me today to congratulate me on the scholarship, so it seems there is some sort of internal communication at the university. 

[littlebun]

What @luiswel meant was to check your self service account (CamSIS). There should be a status update:

21/04/2017: The financial condition has been met with a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Details of your award will be sent to you directly by the funding body. Please upload a financial undertaking form to complete your condition.

[sat0ri]

20 minutes ago, littlebun said:

What @luiswel meant was to check your self service account (CamSIS). There should be a status update:

21/04/2017: The financial condition has been met with a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Details of your award will be sent to you directly by the funding body. Please upload a financial undertaking form to complete your condition.

 

Thank you so much--I actually just checked that incidentally and was about to post to say that my CamISIS was updated (25/04/2017) with that same message. 

[gradapp2048]

11 minutes ago, sat0ri said:

Thank you so much--I actually just checked that incidentally and was about to post to say that my CamISIS was updated (25/04/2017) with that same message. 

Great, thank you both-- I see it as well now! Since we will need to choose accommodation options soon, I am wondering if the amount listed includes everything we will be receiving (e.g. airfare, visa processing costs). Does anyone have further details on this?

[luiswel]

On 4/26/2017 at 8:29 AM, sat0ri said:

However, my college has just emailed me today to congratulate me on the scholarship, so it seems there is some sort of internal communication at the university. 

Has anyone received extra funding/awards/scholarships from their colleges? Does anyone know how would that work?

[sat0ri]

2 hours ago, luiswel said:

Has anyone received extra funding/awards/scholarships from their colleges? Does anyone know how would that work?

 

Before I found out about Gates, I emailed my college (Christ's) which has many scholarships available and they said if they see a full scholarship listed they would not be able to provide any money. Even a small supplemental scholarship would have been nice but oh well. It might depend on the college and/or scholarship though.

 

(I'm assuming everyone got the email from Luisa shortly after we were talking about award letters in the forum.)

[littlebun]

I don't think scholarships stack, unless they are partial and do not cover full tuition fees/living expenses. I guess the intention of these scholarships is to help as many deserving students as possible, doesn't make sense if a few students get multiple awards and the rest get none. I remember Gates has a clause that says they will reduce the stipend proportionately if a candidate is receiving funding from another source. I pulled out of the process for 2 other scholarships too, the moment i found out i got Gates. 

[Gradhop]

Reviving (?) this thread to share some words of encouragement about rejection for any future applicants who might be lurking.

Please do not be dismayed if rejected for the Gates- all hope at funding is not lost!

As stated earlier in this thread,  the Gates panel have specific characteristics that they look out for and these traits can be observed in the bios of the scholars selected ( significant leadership experience with most scholars having established an organisation of some sort ). 

Rejection from the Gates does not mean you do not have a competitive application for other awards,  it just means that you are not a fit for this particular award (notwithstanding the limited number of awards available) and that's perfectly okay.

Be sure to apply for numerous funding opportunities including ones where you feel you've narrowly missed the eligibility criteria eg. selecting so and so college as a first choice preference.

I hope this helps someone out there,  I know I would have loved to read something like this during my application phase. 

All the best and congrats to the amazing new cohort.

I look forward to starting my studies in October.?

Edited June 21, 2017 by Gradhop

[gradbiology]

Just wanted to add some further thoughts for future applicants (I can't believe I didn't find this thread during the application and interview process!) from an International round PhD in biological sciences. 

My experience during the interview was quite different to gradapp2048 - I was expecting a conversation very much focused on leadership, fit with the scholarship/program etc. However, my interview largely focused on my proposed PhD and research background. My guess on why this is: I have a very strong leadership/social justice CV, and had pitched a really tightly matched project to my previous work, but have a strong (e.g. great references from supervisors, high GPA), but not astronomical (e.g. not yet published) academic background. 

Make sure you think critically about addressing all the criteria, and then really make sure you are prepared to nail the interview on what might seem like your "weakest" area on paper. I had one question squeezed in at the end about my leadership experience, and almost all the rest of the interview was about methods, approach, my field of research and how my PhD would combine my (admittedly diverse!) previous experience. 

My guess is that by the time interviews roll around, the panels have an assortment of amazing candidates - so be prepared to sell yourself on all four criteria, and don't hope you can clinch it by just talking about your most impressive area, as it might not come up! (On the flip side, don't panic (as I did!) if you have an interview that feels like you didn't get to "sell yourself" on all four criteria -- it may be that the panel already feels satisfied that you are outstanding in one or two areas, and are just trying to work out where you stand on the others.)

I'd definitely agree that the panel is warm, engaging, ask really interesting (and interested!) questions, and do try their best to make you feel at ease.

Best of luck for all next year's applicants! I'd echo the above -- do apply, even if you don't think you have a chance. I almost didn't bother, which would have been the biggest mistake of my life!

Edited June 30, 2017 by gradbiology
clarity