AWARD ELIGIBILITY
In our recent search for various scholarships and awards, we came across the "John Gyles Education Awards, presented by the "John Gyles Education Center". The award, which can be as much as $3,000, seemed quite attractive, given its simple requirements:
- Full-time university or college student
- Citizenship of United States or Canada
- Minimum GPA of 2.7 (equivalent of B-)
APPLICATION
There are 10.6 million full-time college & university students in the United States and another 750,000 in Canada, so you can imagine how many people are eligible for the award. There are no essays to write, but you do have to provide some information about yourself, including the following:
- Summary of academic status (GPA, extracurricular, etc)
- Copy of academic record
- 3 references
- Description of career plans & personal ambitions
- Outline of financial circumstances
- Application form (1 page)
- Submit by June 1
- OPTIONAL: Include $8 to receive notice of success or failure
RECIPIENTS
Given the wide appeal of this award program, I expected to be able to find additional information about it on the internet. To my surprise, there was nothing available on any sites except for a cut-and-paste of the short description from the official website. Every university and financial aid office had copied the information, but there was hardly a mention of someone actually RECEIVING the awards. It seemed to me that this could be a low-level scam, offering a potential reward in exchange for a nominal fee.
On a Yahoo answer page, I found a discussion of the award, where someone asked the same question that was in my mind: has anyone received this award? One person came back and said that a friend of theirs had received it, but that was it. I could not find any more information about how many awards had been given in the past, or who had received them.
So I contacted the award administrator in New Brunswick, Mr. R James Cougle (who is listed in the Yellow Pages for Fredericton, NB, as a "fundraising consultant"). He said that the recipient list is not published on the internet, but he promised to mail me a copy. In the last six years, 114 awards were given out (19 per year). The list he gave me contained the name and school for each recipient, but not the amount of the award. I found a blog belonging to one guy on the list, where he explained how he applied for 50+ scholarships four years ago as a high school senior and was awarded over $24,000. Looks like he's still going strong, adding the John Gyles scholarship to his list of successes.
There you have it. There really ARE people out there who have received this award.
[Author's Note (April 7, 2008): The individual referred to in the previous paragraph is named Raphael Kang, and he has left a comment here stating that he was NOT a recipient of the award, contrary to the information provided to me by Mr. Cougle.]
WHO IS JOHN GYLES?
In my internet searches for the term "John Gyles", I kept coming across references to a resident of New England who had been captured by the Maliseet Indians in the late 1600s. I disregarded these results, because I didn't think it likely that this man would have established a university award program upon his release from captivity in 1698. I asked Mr. Cougle about the name of the program. He said that it was in fact named after this 17th-Century John Gyles (1678?-1755), and he directed me to a book about Gyles' life, entitled The Ordeal of John Gyles: Being an Account of his Odd Adventures, Strange Deliverances, etc. as a Slave of the Maliseets -- by Stuart Trueman.What a fantastic book. I finished reading it this morning.
Trueman's work is a slightly dramatized expansion of Gyles' own personal account of how he (at the age of nine) was carried off as a prisoner during an Indian attack on his family, and lived with them until he was sold to a French magistrate at the age of 15, freed finally when he was 18 years old. He endured frequent beatings by raging squaws, extreme conditions of weather, and general disregard during his time, but emerged with a good attitude and many useful skills (including the unique ability to speak English, French, Maliseet and Micmac). Most of this took place in the area that is now New Brunswick.
AWARD BENEFACTOR
Despite the great quality of the book, I still wondered why this award (which was founded in 1990) was named after a man who lived 300 years ago. I learned from Mr. Cougle that the original benefactor was one Allie Forbes, who is reputedly related to John Gyles. I still have no idea who Allie Forbes was (or is), but I think I have provided considerably more information here than was previously available on the internet. You can judge for yourselves if you think it is a scam, but I certainly didn't enclose the $8 when I applied.
More posts about cute babies tomorrow...
59 comments:
Learn something new everyday!
Thanks :)
I will patiently wait for tomorrow.
Sherry Woodard
Hey! Thanks for talking about my blog! I'm the guy who applied to 50+ scholarships!
- Raphael Kang
www.raphaelkang.com
I've been trying to find information on this scholarship, which I really think is a scam--especially considering he asks for an "optional" $8 application fee. You post doesn't convince me it's legitimate, but I appreciate the extra research you did.
thanks!
I found your post while trying to discover if this award is actually legit. Like Lucas, I'm not entirely convinced it's for real, but I do appreciate you doing this research!
I'll like to make one quick clarification that I never received the John Gyles Scholarship, as mentioned in the post above. I'm unsure where the author received the information?
- RK
www.raphaelkang.com
The name "Raphael Kang" was one of 114 names provided to me by R. James Cougle in the list of previous recipients of the award. If Raphael didn't receive the award, then I'd like some clarification from Mr. Cougle.
Thanks for the information.
Also - R. James Cougle is listed from a source to have written a book/report entitled "Canadian Blood, American Soil: The Story of Canada's Contribution to the American Civil War"; Fredericton N.B.: Civil War Heritage Society of Canada. c 1994
Thanks again for the info
Hi, have you found out why Raphael's name was on the list given to you by Mr. Cougle? I'd like to find out if this really is a scam or not...
Ana,
I have not been in contact with Mr. Cougle to get an explanation. He responded quite quickly to the questions I asked him in the past, so feel free to ask him directly. If you get an answer, please let us know.
I was just typing a cover letter to apply for the John Gyles award when I came upon your post. Very interesting. I will now certainly not be sending a check. I was inspired to check the Better Business Bureau of the Canada Maritime Provinces, and found this report: http://maritimeprovinces.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=156&bbb=0087&firm=18544
"Based on BBB files, this company has a satisfactory record ...A business identified in our report as satisfactory has, based on BBB files, been in business for at least one year, and has voluntarily provided the BBB with all information requested about the business and its product or service. If any complaints have been received about the business, their number has not been considered by the BBB to be extreme, given the nature of the company's business and the volume of business transacted. ... The BBB processed a total of 1 complaint about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period.Of the total of 1 complaint closed in 36 months, 0 were closed in the last year."
Unfortunately, it can't tell us if he really does administer grants, or whether he is prospecting for counseling or other service customers.
Thanks for the alert.
I so appreciate this blog of yours on the John Gyles Education Award. I was going to apply, but dont think so now, based on the evasive coorespondence provided by the company. I am a poor student and so is my daughter. We need scholarship help, and to be taken in by a scam scholarship site seems cruel. I have received other scholarships from other organizations in the past; ALL of their websites list my name, photo, where I go to school, etc. so it can be verified. I see now such website for John Gyles. I can't thank you enough for diggin into this. You should be an investigative reporter. And also, my current university lists John Gyles on their site as well. Hmmmm.
THANKS, Barb from Minnesota
Thanks for posting this. I just spent a LOT of time making a slick looking application and now I'm a little bummed. I'll send it anyways, but without the $8. If I get the scholarship, I'll leave another comment.
LWF
P.S. Very nice blog--your son's a such a cutie!
Discussion of this award has opened in the Yahoo Answers forum. Check it out
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080528153441AAARQp1
Thanks for leaving your comments. I was going to apply too but I think I have to do some research myself. It was suggested to me to call my college and see if they're willing to verify it. If its fake, that's a lot of hard work sitting on my kitchen table.
Hi, I'm the one who opened the Yahoo Answers question after seeing this blog.
Do you still have the list of supposed award recipients? It would be interesting to see if any of those people have actually received the scholarship money.
I found the John Gyles Education Award listed on at least 23 different university websites, so it's definitely troubling if this is a scam.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080528153441AAARQp1
I don't have the list anymore. I threw it away shortly after writing this posting. Mr. Cougle mailed a copy to me upon request. I am curious enough to ask for an updated copy with the winners for 2007 on it.
Perhaps I'll ask for it. If you think about it, that's a zero-cost method of getting a response back. Instead of paying $8, you can just wait a few months and ask for a copy of the award recipients.
As for the universities, it is fairly obvious that they all added an unfiltered copy of the award description to their databases.
Thanks for this blog.
I'm writing the scholarship right now HAHA
Hey, has any one heard about the scholarship....
Nope, I was wondering about it too.
Here's some information if you're still deciding whether or not to apply for this award. I received information on this award though my university's website and proceeded to apply for it. It mentions an optional fee of $8 for a free edition of Education funding strategies. I thought it was a good deal and decided to include the optional fee. About two weeks after the dealine, I received a letter stating that I was not chosen for the award, but they provided me with a code for the free edtion of the article mentioned above on collegehillpress.net. I visited the website and had problems trying to prompt the website to guide me to the article, so I decided to google it. I google "collegehillpress.net dowload" and some results popped up. To my surprise, the article was in public view for anyone to see it for free whie I had to pay a fee, and the article came from the same website I was trying to get my article from. I thought the reason the article was there because it was an old edtion and I read over my letter. When reading back over the letter I recieved in the mail, it stated that I had to set my security setting to medium or low so collegepress can prompt me for the code, and I came proceed to the article. After I changed the settings and was asked for the code, the article came up. To my surprise, the article was the exact same thing I found on google. If you would like to see for yourself then try this:
Here's my code I had to pay for: KLM148
Visit collegehillpress.net and click on how to use this program and type in the above code (if it doesn't ask for a code, then set your security setting to low or medium by going to "tools", "internet options" and set to either medium or low at the bottom of the screen that pops up)
keep that article up and open another tab or browser, depending on your internet connection
google "collegehillpress.net" and search for the pdf format that comes up
click on it and view both articles side by side and you will see that they're both the same thing
I have no idea why they would ask for a fee on an article when it's article free online. My guess is that this award is a scam and I'm in the process of having this scholarship removed from my university's website. Hope this helps.
so in order to get any kind of response from "John Gyles Education Awards foundation" you have to pay the $8 fee? i've also applied this year and it's already august and i have gotten no response. i didn't pay th $8 fee...
Anonymous, If you haven't received anything from them, I think it's safe to assume that you didn't win the award. I have not heard a first-hand account of anyone winning the award, so perhaps your chances were pretty slim to start with.
Hello,
I have some info on this scholarship. While I know there has been some money awarded it is also a money making endeavor. I also know for fact that there is no connection between one Allie Forbes (deceased 1989) and John Gyles. She is actually the deceased mother of Mr. Cougle's former wife. I would not apply for this or certainly not pay to do so. Mr. Cougle makes all decisions and acts in all capacity for the fund; financially benefiting as well.
My daughter applied for this scholarship in her graduating year of high school in 2007. i too was wondering if it was a scam because of the $8.00 for additional info on overlooked scholarships. just a short time later, she was excited to receive a call that she would receive $1,000. and that she did just a couple of weeks later. She cash the check and purchased a laptop. funny thing that the only one we have reservations about came through!!
Newfoundland, Canada
D - thanks for doing all the legwork on this. Hopefully it will help others.
As for the last "Anonymous" -- hard to believe you're real. Especially since this blog is one of the first things to pop up when one googles John Gyles award. Many more should have commented by now.
I am posting here to follow-up on a post I left in December regarding this scholarship. Mr. Cougle and his scholarship business have been reported to the fraud section of the RCMP and I have noted that he has changed his website to make it appear more legitimate. He has also added a release for personal information to the application package. However, he is still asking for the application fee. I strongly encourage all that apply to forgo the fee as it is direct profit to him and to remember that any legitimate scholarship does not ask for a fee.
I really would like to know if this is fake or not! I just spent like 5 hours doing this application. I emailed Mr. Cougle and it sounded legit, but I do have serious doubts looking at the website and from previous posts... CAN ANYONE OUT THERE GIVE DEFINITE PROOF THAT THIS AWARD IS LEGIT?
If this really is a scam... Mr. Cougle I'm coming to your house... I don't care if I have to pay the money I will fly over to kick your ass!
Last week, I decided to call Mr. Cougle with a question about the application. He was very helpful and did not hesitate to answer my question. i think that if this was not legit he would not provide his address and phone number. Although it was clear to me that the $8.00 was not an application fee and not mandatory, I decided to ask him about it anyway after reading this blog. He confirmed that, as stated in the covering letter and the Message from administrator, it is optional. He said that students who are chosen to receive an award are advised by e-mail and telephone. Sending $8.00 for a written response and additional information on funding your education doesn’t seem bad to me for those who want it. I personally don’t see any problem.
I wish that I had seen this blog site a few weeks ago. My daughter just graduated from High School and is going to college in the fall. My wife found mention of the John Gyles Award on a college website (but not the college my daughter will be going to). We decided to proceed with the application. We spent a couple hours getting all the documents together, plus we sent in the $8.00. If we receive any information back from this application, I will post a new message here. Thanks for all the info and responses!
I sent the $8 last year and was very pleased with the funding program that I received. I knew it was optional but wanted to try it – after all, $8 doesn’t seem a lot for a 130 page funding guide which has some great ideas which I hadn’t thought about. My brother used one of the ideas and started a small business which is making money. I don’t see what all the negative publicity is about. Although I didn’t receive an award I know someone who got one last year.
Oy-vay - I had a funny feeling about this scholarship when my son was working so hard on it. I can't understand though, how all the Colleges and Universities could be scammed together? My hope is this is an 'excentric' operation and if and when my son hears back yay or nay, or if he hears nothing, I will follow up.
Anyting further on the RCMP investigation?
I can assure you that Mr. Cougle works alone; there is no John Gyles Education Centre for research and projects other than his own personal "projects". The "benefactors" are the hopeful students who apply and pay the fee. And who is this Richard B. Lockhart who provides the tips? Probably Mr. Cougle himself. Considering that the scholarship shows up at thousands of colleges, you have to give him credit for a brilliant 20-year money-making scheme! Would like to know if the RCMP has followed up on this.
A Canadian
Since I was coming to Fredericton anyway, I decided to call Mr. Cougle and make an appt. to visit his office which I did. I had no problem locating him since his name is right on the front of the office building. He is a kind, soft spoken gentleman who is involved in numerous benevolent causes. He made me feel very welcome and served me a cup of excellent coffee. I asked to see the recipient lists from previous years and he was glad to show it to me. Since I am a history major, I enjoyed seeing the historical items that he displays in his office including an excellent collection of early and rare history books. He told me that he enjoys meeting with students and that they are always welcome at his office. Just make an appt. first. When I left Mr. Cougle gave me a copy of the Civil War book which he wrote and I gave it to my father yesterday for Father’s Day. Dad was delighted and said he was familiar with Mr. Cougle’s writings. I enjoyed my visit with him and am saddened to see all the negative comments from people who don’t even know him.
Carolyn from Stanley
He cashed my cheque yesterday as well.
My cheque was cashed as well... Keep posting if anybody hears back from this years applications.
We were pleased to receive a call yesterday from Mr. Cougle telling us that our son was chosen to receive an award and that it will be sent to him once we send in the official transcript and proof of registration to university in the fall. Our son wasn’t home so I spoke with Mr. Cougle; he seems like a very nice man.
a proud Mom
My check was cashed as well, but I have not heard back. I am beginning think the whole application really was a scam :(
I go to St. Thomas University here in Fredericton and on Friday I received a letter from Mr. Cougle telling me that I did not receive an award. Since I’m told he is very approachable, I gave him a call and went to see him at his office with my boyfriend. I am so glad I went. Mr. Cougle is a fantastic guy and seemed genuinely glad to see us. Once I looked at the winning applications I knew why I didn’t receive an award – they were so well done that it made mine look like crap. Mr. Cougle explained that the quality of the applications they receive has declined steadily over the years. This year over 60% of the students either stapled their applications (which they were told not to do) or they just put them in an envelope without even a paper clip. Many students didn’t even sign their application. He is recommending that every student and every parent read the book “Think” by Michael R. LeGault. We discussed the book at length and I am going to read it. Mr. LeGault, a former columnist for the Washington Times has written a masterpiece on the decline of educational standards and culture in North America. Mr. Cougle and his associates are going to push this book on the new website that is being constructed which will consolidate all of their various enterprises. I think any student that can, should make an appointment to see Mr. Cougle. A trip to his office is worth it because not only is he an amazing conversationalist his collection of books and historical lithographs are worth seeing. We really enjoyed our time with him – he is funny, witty and can be deadly serious. He really has his heart in helping young people and contributing to the enhancement of education. This fall he will be giving seminars at my university on the human mating paradigm, one of his major interests. I can honestly say that he is like the dad I always wanted. I plan to go see him again later in the summer because he has asked me to be an outside reader for his new book before it goes to press.
Janet
I had sent in the optional $8.00 for the written reply and the program on alternative funding ideas. After receiving the response, I downloaded the program from the website mentioned in the letter and I think it will be very helpful. My dad & I found several ideas in the program which we think are worth pursuing. I know that many of my friends are too lazy to do anything on their own but I want extra money next year and plan to use some ideas in the program. I feel that I got more than my $8.00 worth. I thank Mr. Cougle for making this available.
Student from NH
I sent in my application with the $8.00 check, which was promptly cashed. I have yet to receive any reply or financial aid tips.
As the head of a scholarship department at a large university, I can tell you a little about how so many schools might have such a doubtful scholarship on their sites:
We receive frequent requests from scholarship administrators, asking us to include their award on our website. While we try to do some basic research before posting an award, we don't have the time to verify that each scholarship is really being awarded. We just don't have the time and resources to do so. Instead, we look for some key information, such as whether the scholarship's website seems to primarily be an advertisement for a service or product, and whether there appears to be any cost for applying.
I actually found this blog in performing a search for such info on this particular scholarship. The actual website had very little info and I questioned the sales pitch, so I Googled to try to find more info. This scholarship will not be listed on our site, based on my research, but it's very possible that there are other similar "scam" scholarships listed which I did not identify as suspect.
I just thought I'd give a financial aid person's perspective!
I have a question for Bonnie, the financial aid professional. It seems strange to me, that as a professional doing some research on a scholarship that you didn’t bother calling or e-mailing Mr. Cougle to obtain some information but went on to put his organization in a questionable category. This to me is very unprofessional. When conducting an investigation, isn’t contacting the organization one of the first things one should do? All his contact information is on the website. I am surprised at how few bloggers have bothered to contact Mr. Cougle. I have contacted him and had a very pleasant conversation with him – he strikes me as a very smart man who has dedicated his life to helping young people. I also had no problem obtaining a list of recipients. I find it disappointing that people can make such defamatory comments and hide behind the anonymity of a blog. While I believe in freedom of speech, I don’t believe freedom gives anyone the right to defame another person and make unjustified comments. My son is going to apply for a scholarship and we feel no obligation to send money but are going to because we want the 2 publications for $10. I am particularly interested in: “Love, Sex and The Rest of Your Life: How Not To End Up With The Wrong Person” because I know what it is like to suffer through a divorce and raise 2 children by myself. I see nothing wrong with publications being offered on the website.
A small town single mom.
To Anonymous: Unfortunately, I don't generally have time to go into a detailed conversation with the donor, though I do sometimes discuss a request briefly by email. I receive frequent requests, and this is only a very small part of my job, so I am not able to spend much time on it. If you'll reread my earlier post, you'll see that I didn't actually say anything negative about the scholarship. I simply said that, based on the lack of information on the scholarship website and on the several negative reports I read online, I will not be listing this particular scholarship. If the scholarship donor wishes to be listed on our website, I will be happy to discuss that with him. However, based on the very brief letter I received requesting such a listing, the limited info on his website, and the fact that this is the first contact I've received from him in the 6 years I have been at my current institution, I don't feel any particular obligation to spend hours researching his scholarship, when he hasn't made such an effort on his own behalf.
By the way, you may want to look into the publications before spending money on them. One reviewer (can't remember if it was on this blog, or elsewhere) stated that they found the same publication for free on another website. I'm sure you'd hate to pay for something that you could get for free, so you might want to do a little searching to see if you can find it elsewhere without sending money to the scholarship donor. Good luck on your scholarship application! :)
I recently had a meeting with Mr. Cougle whose eccentricities have proved to be little more than a thin veil to mask his operations. I had done my research and found that Cougle is in fact the pen name of a Mr. R.K. Malloy who has been connected to some less respectable schemes in the past.
He showed me "past applications" - upon detailed inspection they all seemed to be startlingly similar. For about about twenty minutes I kept asking about the awards and for proof that such an award existed. His reply was that he could email me the list of recipients and he quickly rushed me out of his office.
Yes he has a collection of historical documents, which he made sure to show me before anything else. I was unimpressed. I've tried emailing him since and have received no response.
Concerned Citizen.
This site was brought to my attention and I’m glad that it was. “Concerned Citizen” should be ashamed. Whoever they are, I can tell you they were never in Jim’s office, nor have they met him. He is a professional and a gentleman. Never would he have acted in the alleged manner. To prove that “Concerned Citizen” has fabricated this tale, I ask the following questions: 1. The date you were there? 2. What hangs above his desk? and 3. What fantastic object that he has acquired last year and has proudly on display in a prominent place. You could not have missed these things – if you did, he would have brought them to your attention. Jim has been active in politics and environmental causes for many years and probably rubbed a few people the wrong way – that sometimes happens in politics. But this has gone too far. To trash a fine man is totally unjustified. The world needs more people like Jim and fewer people who denigrate others from the anonymity of a blog. You should apologize for this shameful behavior.
A former client and friend of Jim’s
This recent series of comments are heavy on opinion (in both directions) and light on relevant facts.
You know what would be great? If the next person to visit Mr. Cougle in his office asks to get a copy of the most recent list of recipients -- or at least asks some concrete questions about how this award works. How about these questions:
1. From what source are the awards paid?
2. Is there an endowment fund of some kind?
3. If there is an endowment, who initiated the fund and when? What rules govern the management of the fund?
5. What is the target award value for each year? Has the annual total varied and why?
6. What proportion of the revenue generated from the $8 application fees goes to pay awards?
7. What proportion of the application fees go to cover Mr. Cougle's services as administrator?
8. Is this award program for-profit or not-for-proft?
9. Did the program give an award to Raphael Kang? In which year? What information can he give to verify this?
10. Can he give us two or more award recipients as references?
The next person who decides to interview Mr. Cougle, please consider posing some of these questions.
I think my father got it right – this blog was started by a disgruntled loser who didn’t qualify for a scholarship and now he has it in for Mr. Cougle. the person also seems to be very unfair since there was never an application fee and I have applied 2 years in a row. Dad said he figures most of the negative comments were put on here either by the guy who started the blog, or someone else who doesn’t like Mr. Cougle. To me this whole blog is just a bunch of BS.
a student
Hmmm. I guess if I have a blog I should be prepared to have anonymous individuals come on here and call me a loser. While I am not objective enough to fairly judge whether or not I am a loser, I can at least comment on my motives for posting this information.
While it is true that I did not receive this award, I would hardly say that I wrote the posting because I was disgruntled -- I still had not applied for the award at the time (I did eventually apply, but without the fee), so I had no reason to complain. Having looked into the size of the pool of eligible candidates (11 million+), I had no preconceived notions about my chances, and was hardly heartbroken when I wasn't given an award.
The information was posted here simply to help others find out more about the program. I posted it for the same reasons that I posted a series of photos of a local park -- because I couldn't find the information elsewhere on the web. I thought few others would have the time or inclination to wait for the list of recipients to come in the mail, to get the John Gyles book from the library, to contact Mr. Cougle directly with several questions, and try to track down previous recipients. Once again, I think I can say my motives were free of malice.
At the time I wrote the posting (June 2007), I thought I had confirmed that the fund did actually pay out awards, which was enough for me to hazard an application. However, I always thought that the $8 fee smelled a bit like a revenue-generator. Rather than revile Mr. Cougle for possibly profiting from this operation, I actually admired him for his ingenuity. I have to admit that I questioned the integrity of the program when I heard back from Raphael Kang that he had not received the award. Who would not be suspicious? I have had a few people leave comments that they have received the award in the last year or so. That is great. It's too bad that they have all chosen to post anonymously -- just like the people who have left negative comments.
Here is my personal opinion on the subject: paying a fee to apply for a scholarship that is such a long shot is a lot like buying a lottery ticket -- a losing proposition. If you calculate your odds of success times the expected award value, you will find that your expected return is much lower than your cost. Unless you think the convenience of having fundraising materials mailed to you is worth the $8 (since they are purportedly available online for free), there is no reason to pay any money with your application. Furthermore, if any of your $8 is going to pay Mr. Cougle or to fund awards, then this whole thing is just an elaborate lottery for students. You get a large number of people to pay a small fee, a few winners get a prize and the operators of the lottery get to keep a healthy slice of it. The bottom line here is that you are probably better off keeping your $8 in your pocket, since this contest says "no purchase necessary."
This blog has become the defacto discussion forum for this award program. I did not intend it to be that way, but I suppose I should have expected it -- given the dearth of information on the actual website. If Mr. Cougle is at all interested in contributing to this forum, he is more than welcome. As for me, my interest is purely for curiousity's sake: I finished my graduate program almost a year ago.
... and no, I did not make over 400 posts to this blog just as a roundabout way to slander a man in New Brunswick whom I have never met.
Well said, D! :) We've now heard a variety of opinions from a variety of posters. I do think it's a bit odd that most of the people giving glowing references chose to do so anonymously, but that doesn't necessarily mean that their reports aren't authentic.
I hope that students will learn from this blog that it's important to be careful in applying for scholarships, to make sure that you aren't taken advantage of. I caution my students to always heed a particular piece of advice in applying for scholarships: Don't pay money to make money! If it's not free to apply or to have your application processed, just walk away.
If this discussion helps students understand how important this advice is and makes them think before submitting their credit card info, I think it's an effective discussion, regardless of who falls on which side!
This is just my observation; I am not applying for this scholarship but am pursuing funding assistance. It seems to me that many of the posts in support of the scholarship seem like they are written by the same person (descriptions of Mr. Cougle, sentence structure etc). It is my opinion that Mr. Cougle is actually the person writing the comments and this makes sense as it protects his income. I agree with Bonnie that students should look into what they are considering applying for, which also led me here.
Thanks
hmmm.
isn't it a privacy no-no to allow people to see others' applications?
still wondering: It actually depends on what releases the student signs as part of the application or the acceptance form. We do not release any portion of our applications, other than to the members of the committee that choose the recipient. (If a particular committee includes people not employed by my university, the applicant signs a release for those committee members to be able to see the app.) However, we do release basic info about the students selected as recipients, including name, hometown, and type of scholarship; this info is available to newspapers, high schools, etc. to be publicized. Recipients have a chance to opt out of this info release on their acceptance form, if they do not wish for their info to be disclosed.
It seems pretty obvious that the praises arent really that trustworthy. Some random friend of Jim comes out less than a week after a negative comment and im just like LOL. Every one of them sounds the same, there're some that even talk about some random books. Never knew so many students who just went there to check the validity of the award would be so IMPRESSED to post a whole bunch of stories on literary discussions! It was kinda funny to look through them though.
It's definitely a scam. Don't waste your time or money like I did. I just submitted a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. I encourage other people to do the same. I will also be informing my university that it is a scam Monday morning. I really hate people sometimes. Not only did the guy waste my time and energy, he also stole money from me.
I was planning on applying for this award, but the website mysteriously claims to have given out all its applications, which is strange when the application is available online and numbers can't be tracked. I did print out a copy earlier. Maybe it's some kind of accounting issue for this obvious scam - i.e., maybe Cougle fears being investigated if he falls into a particular income bracket or something.
But I will say it was worth looking at the application since it led me to this site. The discussions were hilarious, particularly the Glyes supporters. I doubt if Cougle himself wrote those articles, since someone clever enough to run such a scheme should be smart enough to mix up the style of his writing, so that it does not sound uniform and unrealistic. Either Cougle is clueless in some areas and not others, or a third party has a great sense of humour.
Anyway, I've had a laugh and I hope you did too. I think I've received all the entertainment I can out of this "award", and I'm not filling out an application because I know that entertainment is the only thing anyone can possibly receive from it. The John Glyes Education Scholarship - time well wasted.
- A concerned destitute studious proud poor purple chivalrous generally wonderful smart small town student
I am very discouraged to read all of these comments- because I was really hoping that this award was valid- as I actually qualified. It seems that they have changed the requirements for this award since most of you have posted. The award no longer says to include an $8.00 fee. It now has no mention of money (however, you can add a self addressed, stamped envelope to find out who the award winners are). They also changed the requirements to needing at least a 3.5 GPA. You also need to read a book off a list of books and write a book report. My major problem with this process is that there is no guidance to writing the essay. In fact, I sent this email to James Cougle:
Good day Jim,
I am currently reading "Why we Love" by Helen Fisher for the John Gyles Education Award. I am currently trying to figure out what it is exactly I want to say- but it occurred to me that there are no details in the application that stipulate what the book report should be about. What exactly are you looking for? I'm a bit confused by simply the direction of a 1500 word book report. Does this mean that I can speak about anything? Were you looking for an opinion piece? Or were you looking for a summary of the opinions/data?
Any help in clarifying this would be greatly appreciated."
I thought that I would receive some guidance on where to go with this broad description. The book I chose has a lot of things to talk about. I tried calling- but always got voice mail. I left messages, but never got a response. This is the email response I eventually received:
“The committee wants to see the standard academic book report to the curent level of your education. No diferent from a university assignment. I am not on the committee.
Wishing you well,
Jim Cougle”
Please note- that for such a literary—he seems to have a log of spelling errors! I feel I did not have adequate guidance. After all – in any university class… there are firm directions for the way you are to write your essay.
I’m not sure what to think. But given that I have already read the book—and brain stormed what I want to write about, I feel I already wasted a great deal of time on it. And if he increased the requirements for applying for this award and removed the $8.00 fee- is he trying to correct his misactions—or was it really valid the whole time?
Either way- I think I will just pass on writing the essay in hopes to not waste any more of my valuable time. I think I will hold out for something with a little more credibility. I agree with most of the posts here- the website itself has very little information. It seems that instead of asking for a fee- it now has a bookstore to make money.
Wow.
A man is giving away $1000 to a college student who reads a book from the list of very reputable titles and writes a report about what he or she learned... the man *might* be making some money in the process by providing an optional inexpensive helpful resource... some of said money he turns around and gives away in the form of scholarship.
Someone tell me exactly what is WRONG with this?
Crosskeysmom: One of my duties as the head of the scholarship department at a large public school is to vet possible scholarship opportunities, to make sure they seem to be authentic before promoting them to students. One of the key signs of a potential scam is charging a fee, either to release info about a scholarship or scholarships, to accept an application for a scholarship, or to release awarded scholarship funds. Just like with "the real world", we tell students that "you shouldn't have to pay money to make money".
When I first reviewed this scholarship, I found that the donor required students to pay a fee. I believe the nature of that fee changed from the first time I reviewed it to the next; this was a couple of years ago, but if I remember correctly, it was supposed to be the cost of a free scholarship planning resource at one time, then was supposed to be the cost of receiving a response to the scholarship application. This instantly caused the scholarship to be flagged as potentially a scam.
I believe I sent such a response to the donor and gave him a chance to respond to my concerns, but didn't receive a reply. (That is my standard procedure, when contacted by a donor who wishes to have their scholarship promoted by us. I am assuming I followed the standard procedure, though I don't remember exactly since this was so long ago.)
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