Understanding the Application

You will review 6 elements of each Semifinalist’s application.

SEMIFINALIST SUBMISSIONS (parts 1-4)
These sections will likely be most useful in rating Leadership, Service, and Personal Characteristics.

• Part 1 – Questionnaire & Family Information: This section provides family and community context. This is the space to note first-generation status.
  
• Part 2 – School & Community Activities: Semifinalists were asked to submit up to 6 school activities and community activities in order of importance to them and to describe their leadership or role and impact in each. Honors and awards may also be included for both school and community activities. 
• Part 3 – Volunteer & Employment Activities: Semifinalists were asked to submit up to 6 volunteer/service activities and 6 employment activities (including internships) in order of importance to them and to describe their leadership or role and impact in each. For volunteer activities, Semifinalists were instructed that it is acceptable to include volunteer/service activities related to participation in school and community activities, meaning you may see an activity in both sections (e.g., president of Key Club would be in part 2, and the Key Club service activities in part 3). Honors and awards may also be included for volunteer activities. 
• Part 4 – Essays & Short Responses: Semifinalists submitted responses to three short prompts (up to 50 words) and three essay prompts (up to 300 words).

TRANSCRIPT & SECONDARY SCHOOL REPORT (part 5, submitted by school official)
This section will likely be most useful in rating Academic Achievement. Note that Bs on a transcript are fine; one screening criteria for Coke Scholars is at least a 3.0/B average overall. Based on their self-reported grades, each Semifinalist presents an academic record indicating the potential to be successful in college. Please pay close attention to any variation in the school official's report of GPA, rank, and rigor.

This section will provide context through the school report to understand the Semifinalist’s academic accomplishments. You will be able to view the uploaded transcript within the portal by clicking the “Form Attachments” drop-down menu. If the optional School Profile was uploaded, you may view this through the same drop-down. Otherwise the official should have submitted information about GPA, rigor of curriculum, graduates’ continuing education, and other relevant academic information.

Do not get caught up in going course by course and grade by grade through a transcript. The most useful considerations of the transcript and school report information are:

• Did the applicant attempt a rigorous course of study, as available at their school?
• Do the applicant's grades trend up or down from 9th grade, either overall or within a specific discipline? If down, that could be a concern, if not otherwise contextualized by either the applicant, school official, or recommender.
  
• If few students at the school enroll in 4-year college, that may make the applicant stand out from school peers. However, if the majority do and that's the contextual expectation, that's not necessarily impressive and may be considered in context of family educational attainment.

RECOMMENDATION (part 6, submitted confidentially by an individual selected by Semifinalist)
This section can inform your ratings in each category, including Discretionary Points, and may also present information about a Semifinalist not found elsewhere in the application.

You will see only one recommendation. The Recommendation Form is from a teacher, counselor, coach, advisor, manager, community leader, etc. Semifinalists were advised to select someone who could speak to their character, potential, and the impact they have made in their school and/or community through leadership, service, involvement, and other accomplishments.

Recommenders could choose either to answer three prompts about the Semifinalist or to upload a letter that addresses the topics of the prompts. If a letter was uploaded, you will be able to view it within the portal by clicking the “Form Attachments” drop-down menu, similar to viewing the transcript.

Recommenders were asked to rate their engagement with the applicant using this drop-menu of options: