How hard is it to get a Gates Scholarship?

How hard is it to get a Gates Scholarship as a student? This question is important because the Gates Scholarship is among the best and biggest available scholarships for students. You are going to learn everything possible to know about the Gates Scholarship in this post and also, how to make yourself one of the favorites ready to win the scholarship when next you apply for it.

If you consider applying for the Gates Scholarship or your dream to win the scholarship when you apply. You have to meet some specific criteria which will be provided here.

What to Know About Gates Scholarship

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awards the Gate Scholarship, to make sure enough children / young people succeed and survive.

The goal of this foundation is to completely remove poverty through the provision of high-standard healthcare and education.

Before 2017, the Gates Scholarship formally was the Gates Millennium Scholars program, with over 20,000 students served to that point.

However, this new Gates Scholarship provides funds for the education of 300 Minority students, a Pell Grant eligible a year with the view of lifting the underserved students to attend their highest potential in life.

Note that the current Gates Scholarship program will run till 2027, and will fully sponsor the education of a total of 3000 students.

Why is the Gates Scholarship Hard to Win?

What a Gates Scholarship winner stands to get if he or she wins the scholarship is the reason why it is not easy to win this scholarship program.

For instance, the Gates Scholarship gives full funding to its winner’s academic pursuits, which isn’t obtainable in other scholarship programs or grants.

However, the Gates Scholarship has an upfront of five years of renewable funding, which takes care of your whole undergraduate academic year in as much as you can graduate within the time being.

The Gates Scholarship also provides a variety of different online support services, such as career counseling, mentorship, a network of other Gates scholars, etc.

Note that the cost of education includes tuition, fees, room and board, transportation, textbooks, and other costs related to the institution. Hence, this is why you must stress yourself to get or win it.

The  Eligibility

The scholarship scheme is not for everyone, hence you have to fulfill the following criteria according to the current eligibility guidelines:

1. You to be a school senior
2. Must be a minority student, in this case, refers to someone from one of these ethnicities: Asian/Pacific Islander American, and/or African American, American Indian/Native Alaskan, and Hispanic American.
3. You must be eligible for a Pell Grant, which is given to undergraduate students who qualify for financial assistant
4. Being a US citizen, National or permanent resident is of great advantage.
5. A cumulative GPA of 3.3 out of 4.0 in academic standing is also needed.

Some Other Eligibility Facts About the Scholarship.

1. You are not qualified to apply for the Gates Scholarship if you have a GED rather than a high school diploma.
2. You must be enrolled in a 4-year college or institution in the United States or Puerto Rico that is accredited. Community colleges are accepted, but you must be able to show that you are starting a 4-year program as a freshman.
3. You are not permitted to apply if your goal is to obtain an Associate’s Degree from a 2-year institution before transferring to a 4-year institution.

Steps to Apply for the Gates Scholarship

If you have all the needed documents for the Gates Scholarship application, then do the following:
1. Before you can log in to apply, you’ll have to create a TGS account and start a personal profile. In Gates Scholarship everything you must summit is through this portal.
2. If you are new to the scholarship portal, select “student” from where you have the drop-down menu.
3. select and confirm your password. The process is quite fast and simple.

Note that all applications must be through this portal, not mail or any other site.

The Gate Scholarship isn’t as hard as some people might think or feel. All you need to do is to have all the needed documents for application and also fulfill the eligibility criteria presented here.