DOI: 10.3886/icpsr34438
title: Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) Survey Data Cohort 3, United States, 2002-2007
title: Archival Version

description: In 1999, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation started the Gates Millennium Scholars Program (GMS), a 20-year initiative which intends to expand access to higher education for high achieving, low-income minority students. In addition to its academic objectives, GMS also has the goal of creating future leaders in minority groups. The program is administered by the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). Awardees can receive the scholarship for up to 5 years as an undergraduate and 4 years as a graduate student. The scholarship is renewable through graduate school in math, science, engineering, library science, and education.
In order to see how GMS has impacted students and to know how to better prepare minority students for college, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has commissioned a survey of recipients. Cohorts are composed of both recipients and non-recipients. Non-recipients are defined as individuals who were asked to go on to the scholar confirmation/verification phase, but did not become a scholar for one or more reasons.
Baseline, first follow-up, second follow-up survey, and longitudinal survey data have been collected from both recipients and non-recipients.
description: The purpose of the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) Tracking and Longitudinal study is to gather data on the lives of scholars and selected non-recipients in order to analyze the effects on the educational, civic, and personal lives of selected sample members. The Gates Foundation sought to generate research that will help improve education attainment and achievement of minority students.
description: This study was conducted using cross-sectional survey files and a longitudinal survey design. For this study, a cohort is defined as all Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) and a representative sample of non-recipients. Non-recipients are defined as individuals who were asked to go on to the scholar confirmation/verification phase, but did not become a scholar for one or more reasons. Each cohort will be asked to fill out a baseline survey and five follow-up surveys.
The baseline survey occurs after the first year out of high school, when they have made the transition to college or the workforce. The first follow-up will corresponded to their third year out of high school, which for many will be during their junior year in college. The second follow-up will occur at the end of the applicants' fifth year out of high school, which may mark the transition to graduate or professional school, or into the workforce.
description: The survey included questions that addressed the topics of:

(a) Social, cultural, linguistic, and economic background; 
(b) Race/ethnicity and gender patterns;
(c) High school preparation and experiences; 
(d) The role of financial aid;
(e) College choice; 
(f) Major choice;
(g) Engagement and leadership in college; 
(h) Academic achievement, persistence, and completions;
(i) Graduate education plans; 
(j) Career choice and transition to the workplace; and
(k) Democratic values and leadership after college.
description: In this study, the entire population of scholars and non-recipients were asked to participate in the survey, so weights were only needed to compensate for sub-population differences in non-response to the survey. The response rates for non-recipients are weighted to account for differences in the selection probabilities of the sample members. No such adjustment was necessary for the scholars since all scholars were selected for the survey with certainty. For the cross-sectional datasets (baseline, first follow-up, second follow-up), the weight variables are named <strong>BL_R1_WGT</strong>, <strong>FU1_R2_WGT</strong>, and <strong>FU2_R3_WGT</strong> respectively.
description: Response Rates: Approximately 90 percent of the Cohort III Scholars and 75 percent of the sample of non-recipients completed the baseline survey. Close to 82 percent of the Cohort III Scholars and 70 percent of the sample of non-recipients completed the first follow-up survey. Additional response rate information is available in the study documentation.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert Scales
description: Cross-sectional data collection contains the responses of approximately 1,000 scholarship recipients in the first year of Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) and additional sampling of approximately 1,000 non-recipients.
To be eligible, students had to meet several qualifications. They must

(1) be of African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, or Pacific Islander background; 
(2) be full-time students entering college or university;
(3) have a GPA of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale; 
(4) be eligible for Pell Grants;
(5) be leaders in community service, extracurricular, or other activities.

A stratified sample design was used for non-recipients in order to enable powerful comparisons at the level of racial/ethnic group between freshman and continuing undergraduate students. All Pell-Grant-in-place non-recipients were included in the samples for each racial/ethnic group. The remainder of cases was drawn from the pool of non-recipients without Pell Grants in place. The goal was to obtain 300 complete interviews from each racial/ethnic group except American Indians. Due to their small number, all non-recipients were included in the samples of both populations. The designs are likely to produce a design effect for non-recipients because the samples are not proportional to their representation in the population as a whole. This effect is likely to be offset by the stratification. By weighting the responses with respect to their relative response rates, the population estimates accurately reflect the proportion of the groups in the population.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Freshmen Survey - Public Use
DS2: Freshmen Survey - Restricted Use
description: Population of American high school students graduating in the year of 2002 who meet the criteria established by the Gates Foundation, as stated in the sampling section. Smallest Geographic Unit: City
description: web-based surveyThis study is related to the other studies within the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) Survey Data series. For similar study information and characteristics, including administrative data applicable across cohorts, please refer to all studies within the data series.The questionnaire documentation is the exact same version for both the public (DS0001) and restricted (DS0002) datasets.Some variables in the data collection reference industry and occupation codes from the 1990 Census. No documentation was provided to ICPSR to supplement these codes, therefore users are encouraged to visit the United States Census Bureau website for additional information.For additional information on the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, please visit the GMS website.