Gates Millennium Scholars program was established in 1999, and this was funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The main objective of Gates Millennium Scholars Program is to provide a higher-education opportunity for minority students. This program takes the student’s academic reports and their income into consideration. Students with higher merits coupled with low income have a great chance of being accepted by the Gates Millennium Scholars program.
According to Gates Millennium Scholars program students from African American, Indian, Asian Pacific Islander Hispanic and Alaska Native are considered minorities, and these students can apply for help. The student must have good leadership qualities with high academic performance. The aim of Gates Millennium Scholars is to provide quality education needs for bright students to realize their dreams and to reduce the failure rate.
The academic areas focused by Gates Millennium Scholars program.
If the student has a great interest in the following academic areas like.
Education
Engineering
Public health
Science
Mathematics
Library science
Then this will be an added benefit for that student to get through the Gates Millennium Scholars program.
The GMS scholarship award ranges between few hundred to several thousand dollars annually. Gates Millennium Scholars program covers many types of expenses, which include tuition fees, leadership development program and other much related academic expenses.
The eligibility factors for enrolling into Gates Millennium Scholars program.
The eligibility criteria for students to be considered for the GMS scholarship program and to receive the financial aid from Gates Millennium Scholars program
- Must be a permanent legal resident and a citizen of United States.
- Must have attained a cumulative high school GPA of 3.3 or must have earned a GED.
- He/she must have participated in community service, extracurricular activities, which demonstrate their leadership qualities.
- Must also meet the eligibility criteria of Federal Pell Grant.
- Must matriculate at a college or university that is accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education.
- American Indian or Alaska natives must provide proof of tribal enrollment or certificate of descent issued by their respective state.
One must go through the GMS program website and find more information related to eligibility rules.
If you want to have your GMS scholarship application processed successfully. The student must choose the right recommender or a nominator for his or her entry to GMS program to get the required financial aid.
A nominator can be the person who evaluates your academic records. The person can be your high school principal, teacher or even a professional educator. And regarding recommender, he or she must be an adult who is familiar with your (student) community activates, such as a supervisor or a community head.
The book, “The Black Excel African-American student’s College Guide” provides some great in-depth information on college funding, and it includes chapters on how to prepare for tests like the SAT exams. This book has some admission essays to make your admission process simple.
The Gates Millennium Scholars program is not only limited to help American citizens it has launched a program to help and focus on the agricultural research and development program for Africa, and this helps the development of Africa.
Finally, we can say that Bill Gates along with his wife Melinda Gates are providing the best humanitarian service by providing and funding educational need of many through their pet project Gates Millennium Scholars program.