I'm a Coca-Cola Scholar AMA

[Anonymous]

Spin off that other thread.

I was one of only 100 kids to get it (2 from each state). I was picked by the local bottlers association.

I met who became and still is my best friend from MIT (I convinced her to come with me).

My parents weren't involved in any of it, but I did have a college coach. I started an organization at our school, was the VP of another, did crazy amounts of community service with the Red Cross and other organizations. I won multiple national business competitions and awards.

I won many scholarships and it resulted in my financial aid being taken away. So I did all that work for nothing. It was the first of many life lessons in failure at MIT.

[Anonymous]

My best friend - probably the most insanely giving person you would ever meet. Before she went to college she had a patent, played at the Kennedy Center, recording artist and very involved in giving back.

In college she started an organization and built a community center abroad. She was involved in that organization for years giving back to the community.

Her parents were also not involved other than supporting her where she needed it to succeed.

[Anonymous]

I have a question OP: why in the world do you think any of us cares?

[Anonymous]

I was wondering the same.

[Anonymous]

How often do you drink Coca-Cola?

[Anonymous]

Sorry OP. People on here just like to be mean!

Other than meeting your best friend, would you apply for all those a scholarships again? Would you have received financial aid otherwise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was wondering the same.

I'm glad OP posted. Folks push their kids hard. Here's someone who did all the things.

You say the community service and awards were all for nothing because you lost the financial aid. What was driving you to accomplish so much? Sounds like external motivators. And if yes, what do you wish you had done instead with all that dedication?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry OP. People on here just like to be mean!

Other than meeting your best friend, would you apply for all those a scholarships again? Would you have received financial aid otherwise?

I would have rwceived financial aid in almost the exact amount of the scholarships and no I wouldn't have applied for scholarships. It was a ton of work at a time I had tons of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was wondering the same.

I'm glad OP posted. Folks push their kids hard. Here's someone who did all the things.

You say the community service and awards were all for nothing because you lost the financial aid. What was driving you to accomplish so much? Sounds like external motivators. And if yes, what do you wish you had done instead with all that dedication?

Oh no, I dod not mean to imply I wasted my time on community service. I only wasted time on those applications. That said, the Coca-Cola Scholar Program was definitely worth it.

I worked at the Olympics in Greece and got to meet other scholars and access VIP areas. I've kept up, many years later with the people I met. Some of the cooler experiences in my life like meeting Paul McCartney came directly from the volunteer work I did too. Definitely a good use of my time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How often do you drink Coca-Cola?

Lol fairly often - maybe a 1-2x per week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a question OP: why in the world do you think any of us cares?

People are arguing on that other thread about it all being fake. Now I don't know the current scholars, but the people I met weren't fake and most were the nicest people. There was only one (that most of us agreed) was really hard to stomach. She was very off putting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spin off that other thread.

I was one of only 100 kids to get it (2 from each state). I was picked by the local bottlers association.

I met who became and still is my best friend from MIT (I convinced her to come with me).

My parents weren't involved in any of it, but I did have a college coach. I started an organization at our school, was the VP of another, did crazy amounts of community service with the Red Cross and other organizations. I won multiple national business competitions and awards.

I won many scholarships and it resulted in my financial aid being taken away. So I did all that work for nothing. It was the first of many life lessons in failure at MIT.

The other thread was about the high school Coca Cola scholars program, which is 150 kids total and not limited by state. You seem to have participated in a college version which is less selective (the high school one generally has ~100,000 applicants for the 150 winners)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spin off that other thread.

I was one of only 100 kids to get it (2 from each state). I was picked by the local bottlers association.

I met who became and still is my best friend from MIT (I convinced her to come with me).

My parents weren't involved in any of it, but I did have a college coach. I started an organization at our school, was the VP of another, did crazy amounts of community service with the Red Cross and other organizations. I won multiple national business competitions and awards.

I won many scholarships and it resulted in my financial aid being taken away. So I did all that work for nothing. It was the first of many life lessons in failure at MIT.

The other thread was about the high school Coca Cola scholars program, which is 150 kids total and not limited by state. You seem to have participated in a college version which is less selective (the high school one generally has ~100,000 applicants for the 150 winners)

+-. i don’t know what program OP is claiming to have been a part of. There isn’t a college level one -just the undergrad one tgkkkloijhj by

[Anonymous]

Private schools often don’t allow you to stack outside scholarships (Coke Cola) with need based aid. Coke Cola would send the scholarship $$ directly to the school and the school will remove that amount from the aid given to the student.

Question for the OP and others who have seen the scholarship application. Do they ask for the parent’s financial information?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a question OP: why in the world do you think any of us cares?

Here is the interesting tidbit that some of us parents of 1st gen kids might not know in advance. We surely didn't.

Outside scholarship money your kid earns can be deducted from financial aid. That can come as a very bad surprise and trigger a deflating and 'what the heck did I do all this for?' feeling.

Congrats to the poster to have been selected!