Thomas Ketcham thought it was over.
After a months-long application process, the Woodland Hills High School senior thought his chances at becoming a Gates Scholar had dwindled to zero. Earning a Gates Scholarship, a last-dollar financial aid award sponsored through the Gates Foundation, required presenting significant financial need, possessing an outstanding academic record, and demonstrating leadership capabilities.
Ketcham had done all of that. He had a 4.1 grade point average, played the piano and violin, was on the Woodland Hills varsity soccer and tennis teams, and served as a leader at the seventh annual Woodland Hills Student Summit. His FAFSA clearly outlined his financial need, and as a last-dollar scholarship, winning the Gates Scholarship would cover all remaining cost of college attendance.
But there was still the interview.
“It’s really just about answering the questions and trying to show as much of your personality as you can. The thing was, it was a huge it was a huge amount of pressure on me, and I feel I don't speak as eloquently under pressure,” Ketcham said. “After that interview, I completely thought that I was out of the running. I was really upset about it.”
The organizers at the Gates Foundation told the potential recipients they’d receive an email informing them whether they’d been selected. Since Ketcham thought his chances were gone, he didn’t bother checking frequently. Still, when the deadline for the notice came, he opened his email.
There it was. Thomas Ketcham was officially a Gates Scholar. He no longer had to worry about paying for college. The normally reserved Ketcham shot through the roof.
“My mom thought I was really mad at something because I was jumping up and down all around my room,” Ketcham said with a laugh. “It was really exciting. I called all of my extended family immediately. It’s honestly the biggest achievement I’ve ever gotten.”
“I’ve never been that excited, to be honest. Never in my life have I had that feeling. It’s just pure relief. It was a really great moment.”
Ketcham plans to attend Allegheny College in Meadville, where he’ll dual major in economics and political science. But the Gates Scholarship enables him to continue to explore opportunities that he wouldn’t have been able to pursue without it. For example, if he chooses to transfer to a more expensive university down the road, the scholarship will cover it.
“I can look into a lot of different schools that I wouldn’t have been able to do before this,” he said.
The Gates Scholarship wasn’t the only award Ketcham received during the scholarship process. He was selected as a recipient of the Hagan Scholarship, another notable nationwide, need-based scholarship. Since the Hagan Scholarship is also a last-dollar scholarship, Ketcham can only accept one, and he has opted to stick with the Gates Scholarship.
Whether it’s prestigious national scholarships or the numerous local scholarships generously supported through the Woodland Hills Foundation, Ketcham said there were a couple of key things he learned about the process, including the importance of starting early.
“Some of the big scholarships, like Gates, you have to apply very early because it's a long process to get through all the candidates,” he said. “I think about 60,000 were applying this year, so I started pretty much right after I finished my college application.”
He also learned that colleges will sometimes negotiate financial aid.
“I learned that leverage has a lot of importance in this sort of process. For example, when I got my financial aid packet back from Allegheny, where I planned to attend, I found that I actually got more money from Chatham than I would from Allegheny,” he explained. “I sent an email to their financial aid office, and they gave me a form that I could fill out to sort of reconsider my need based on what Chatham was giving me, and they actually ended up giving me about $2,000 more per year.”
The financial aid made a significant impact, but there were other reasons Ketcham chose Allegheny.
“I had toured other colleges before, but the people at Allegheny made it feel so welcoming,” he said. “It’s such a great community. It’s a small school, so everybody is very tight knit. It was just a great atmosphere overall.”
As a dual-major in economics and political science, Ketcham will be able to explore a wide range of potential career options.
“I really enjoy public policy, so I would be interested into going into something like that,” he said. “But I also enjoy finance. I could go into something like that, and it’s a little more lucrative as a career. But there’s not a specific path for me yet.”
No matter his path, Ketcham’s college future is paid for, all thanks to the work he’s done in the classroom at Woodland Hills and an interview where he performed better than he thought.
“It still feels kind of like a fever dream to me. I don't feel like I fully realize how big of an achievement it is,” Ketcham said. “All I can say is that I'm really, really excited to see what it's all about.”
