To all members who got school scholarships:

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

If you got any sort of money from your college which you attended in the form of scholarships, what were your following: ACT (Regular, and superscore if you know it), and GPA? Also, what kind of extra-curricular activities?

I’m asking because I’m doing research for my oral comm class. I had a 34 ACT, and many other things outside of school: band (jazz and regular), quiz bowl, ACE (another academic competition), Knowledge Master, and the list does continue… for about 5 or 6 more things anyway. I’ve gotten some sort of honors in almost all of them. The only thing I can think of that would keep me from getting even a dime of scholarship money is my 3.2075 GPA. For the University of Arkansas, not exactly known for its selectivity, I don’t think that should matter much with my other achievements, but they certainly do. Do you think I was perhaps asking too much when I applied for these scholarships?

2

I went to a state school and I got basically full tuition based solely on my SATs. (Sorry, didn’t take ACTs). NJ at the time gave anyone who scored over 1200 on the tests (this was on the old SAT) tuition to a state college. I was also in the top 5% of my class academically, but I don’t think that was an issue.

Colleges look for other things thatn GPA, though. Did you take honors classes? Were you well-rounded? Did you work part-time? I don’t think that a GPA will be the deal-breaker in any situation. You have a lot of other things going for you. And you know, a 3.2 is hardly a bad average!

3

3.7GPA, all Honors classes, 30 ACT (dunno what a superscore is), didn’t work, Editor of the yearbook and newspaper, National Honor Society. Got some damn good scholarships to private and some decent ones to state schools.

4

Lessee. I get 10K a year from a private college, and I had a 1390 SAT (didn’t see the point in taking the ACT after that), with a 3.5ish GPA, marching and concert band, a couple of academic and band letters, National Honor Society (though I never went to any meetings or anything; people have got to stop giving me these sorts of awards because I never show up), and I’m an Eagle Scout. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if some part of it is because I’m the only person from my entire freaking state to go to this school.

5

I got a full scholarship because of National Merit. Never took the ACT, but my SAT was something like 1530 (that’s when they took my better math combined with my better verbal score because I took it twice). GPA was 3.6something. Sports editor for the yearbook, played a bunch of sports and was captain of the basketball team. Took the highest level of English and History classes that were available, and the equivalent I guess of six years of Latin. Other than that I didn’t do any of the typical extracurricular stuff- no clubs, no NHS, no music or anything like that.

6

I went to a State school that was not in my home state (ie I was an out-of-state student). I received Pell grants from my school to cover roughly 1/3 of my education. The school I attended was one of my “safety schools” meaning I was basically overqualified comparable to their pool of applicants (at the time. In the years since I entered, the school became much more popular & competitive). I was rejected from my top 3 choices and waitlisted at #4.

My SAT was 1360 (630M/730V) in 1993, that was before they recentered the scores. 730 verbal recenters to an 800 or “perfect” score while the math remains a 630. So that makes a modern-day 1430. The ACT was not given in my state (NY) so I never took it.

My main activities were working on, and later editing, a humour magazine (no faculty advisor, we did everything from pasting up to printing on our own) and progessive responsibility in the theater (from tech crew Soph. year to Assistant Tech Director my Sr. year.) I also worked for a public relations company and volunteered with a local Parks group (doing cleanup, planting flowers, fundraising, etc.) My GPA was 92% out of 100, and I went to one of the most famous and challenging public high schools in America, where I was considered a sort of middle-of-the-road student in terms of academics & extracurriculars.

7

I haven’t made my college choice yet, but I have received a 20K/year scholarship offer at a private college in California, in addition to a couple smaller scholarships and grants.
ACT: 33 (30 Sci, 31 Math, 36’s in the two English-related sections); SAT: 1530 (760 V, 770 M); GPA: 4.0 w/o weighting.
I’m not involved in a lot of extra-curriculars. National Honor Society, Quiz Bowl, and a couple smaller things are basically it.

With your ACT and extra activities, I think you’re in good shape. A 3.2 GPA is far from poor, especially if you took honors or AP classes. You seem quite well-rounded, and colleges will take notice of that.

8

1540 SAT, a 730 and two 800s on the three SAT 2s I took, a 3.9 or so GPA in high school. Extracurriculars were mostly sports (soccer/indoor track/track), other stuff included student council, science bowl team, and a few other things. I could have gotten full tuition to most of the state colleges in CT, but I got very little in the way of scholarship offers from any of the private schools I applied to, and the one I ended up attending and am now at, I got less than 5k in scholarships.

I kind of think I got screwed because most of the colleges I applied to were more weighted towards financial aid than scholarships, and I don’t have any of the “characteristics” for either (not much financial aid because I’m an only child from an upper middle class family, not much flexibility in terms of applying for scholarships for a number of other reasons). In the end we worked out that I could come to my current school and, between parental contributions, my savings, and what I’d make during college, come out with a very reasonable debt amount, so I picked here over UConn. Of course, if I had picked UConn, I’d be getting much better grades and I’d have just been part of a crazy double national title weekend… but that isn’t the reason we go to school, is it? :stuck_out_tongue:

-K.

9

I got a pretty good scholarship (tuition, room and meal plan in the dorms or equivalent cash, plus a stipend) for being a National Merit finalist. My ACT was 33, my GPA was 3.9 something, I was on the academic team, in NHS, the French club, Future Homemakers of America, the Beta Club (another academic-based club with more relaxed membership requirements than NHS), and I regularly volunteered at a local elementary school. I wasn’t an officer in any of the clubs, but I did win departmental awards in science, math, and English.

The scholarship I got was something UK automatically gives all National Merit finalists, no matter what. I also applied for their better scholarships (like the full ride Dr.J got) and was turned down. It wasn’t that I was a bad candidate, really, it’s just that there were enough other people who were better candidates to fill all the spots. State schools are full of people with 3.9 GPAs and 33 ACTs who were officers in all the clubs I was just a member of. Some of those people are athletes on top of it. That’s what happened to you, most likely: there was a large enough pool of applicants with your scores or better, and your extracurriculars or better, who had higher GPA’s to bump you out of the running. It sucks, but such is the nature of competition. It doesn’t matter how good a competitor you are, if there’s a better one, you’re going to lose.

10

Honors/AP Classes? Hrm.

9th grade: Honors English, history, geometry, physical science
10th: Honors English,AP history, chemistry, and trig was technically honors b/c I was a sophomore.
11th: AP Chem, AP Physics,
12th: AP calc BC, ap german, ap euro, ap lit

sigh I wish I’d applied to some other schools…

11

I’m still in college, state school.

1300-1400 on the SATs (can’t remember). They are the only test I took; never took the ACTs or SAT IIs.

High School:
All honours classes, one AP US History class. Slacked off a bit in senior year and took trigonometry, Microsoft Office and Driver’s Ed.

High school GPA: 4.33 (AP US History was weighted heavier than an A)

Regents in Math I and II, Global Studies I and II, Biology and Chemistry. Moved to PA right before graduating and so never got the Regents diploma.

Student Council, choir, soccer, Multicultural club, National Honor Society, Newspaper, service club, probably some other things I forgot.

College (I assume you wanna know this because I’m starting senior year and still getting money):
Chemistry major, GPA 3.95.

Undergraduate research, newspaper, Student Government Association (president last year), choir, band, intramural soccer, a national sorority, Golden Key, Phi Kappa Phi (honor society).

It’s a good thing that you applied for that scholarship. You might not get the scholarship that you applied for, though. Colleges have a lot of money that they have to give to someone, and many scholarships aren’t application-based or even need-based. I’ve gotten 5 scholarships in college and never applied for a single one.

I put in two semestres on the college’s scholarship committee, deciding who gets money. If you have any questions for me about how we operate, feel free to ask away! :slight_smile:

12

1470 SAT, 3.9 GPA, honors/AP classes, band, etc. Got full tuition to one school (the one I’m going to go to) and big scholarships at the other ones I got into.

13

My SAT score was 1500, ACT was 32. GPA was either 3.2 or 3.4, because I was damn lazy. I got a full, all-expenses-paid scholarship. Sure, it was only to Mississippi State University - and I kick myself EVERY SINGLE DAY that I didn’t go to UT or A&M instead - but still.

14

I currently attend a Texas state school, and I have a few pretty nice scholarships almost entirely based on the fact that I was a National Merit Scholar. All the schools I was checking out seemed to really want National Merit scholars, but participation in extracurricular activities, good grades, and community service also were very attractive for scholarships. Of course, there are even more scholarships that require essays, so if you can write really well on what they want, you are even better off.

I hope this makes sense, I am really tired from having studied for a differential equations exam all day. Wish me luck, I need it.

15

I got an out-of-state tuition waiver from my chosen college and I would’ve gotten some scholarships from the other one I got into (in retrospect, I really should’ve applied more places) if I had bothered to send the FAFSA in to them.

My ACT score was 33, my SAT score was 1500, and my GPA was a weighted 3.9. I didn’t have nearly as many extracurriculars as my friends, but I was in the band (was section leader for 3 years and won various awards for basically showing up for 4 years), National Honor Society, JROTC (I held a leadership position there, in addition to being in the honors program), calculus club, and French club. I was on an academic team through my JROTC program that won 3rd place in a national competition and I competed in a local math competition once. I got a few other random academic awards and was in a regional honors program that was basically an excuse to get more cords to wear at graduation.

From the sound of it, you’re about on par with most of my high school classmates and they all got plenty of money. I’m sure your GPA won’t really matter that much, especially with that class load. D’you know if you’d have any guaranteed scholarship money? Some of the schools I looked at had ridiculously low GPA and SAT/ACT requirements for guaranteed scholarships…they were mostly private schools, but even some state schools were like that.

16

1410/1550 SATs, 3.0 GPA.

Good enough for the Florida Merit scholarship (which of course I lost at the end of freshman year… ah the folly of youth).

17

ACT was a 31, unweighted GPA was good enough for Cum Laude so I guess somewhere around a 3.3 or so, but I was like a day away from getting kicked out(19 days baby!) if I didn’t show up my senior year. My weighted GPA was much higher since I took AP English and Latin that year and English, Latin, and Biology the year before.

But I got my scholarship because I was a national merit scholar and had a 1520 on the SAT.
Extracurriculars: oh, I was good at these too.
Beta Club
National Merit Society
Cum Laude
Mu Alpha Theta
Latin Club (president one year and treasurer another), plus I was really into all of the conventions and stuff. We had a great time.
Contemporary Issues Club(where we did Model UN and stuff) I was president of this one too, I think senior year when I rarely showed up, also headed up one of the State Model UN delegations, we were Vietnam, got our asses sued off by Cambodia, but what can you do?

-Lil

18

Juvenile Detention High School
GPA approx 2.8 or so…top of my class of 6!
No real extra-curriculars. I did the lit mag but it was a bit of a joke
SAT 1270

First year free ride awarded from two schools…including the one I selected.

19

Since you’re talking about going to the U. of Arkansas, I’m assuming you’re in Arkansas, and will understand parts of this others might not. I had a 1450 SAT (780V/670Q), 32 ACT (no superscore back in those days, unless I’m mistaken), and a relatively mediocre GPA – don’t remember what it was, but I’d made my share of Cs and Ds in my days at Fayetteville High School. Just before my senior year of HS (1981-82), we moved to Harrisburg, AR, where (once we found enough classes to take that I hadn’t already taken) my GPA shot up after the first semester, but it had a way to go. When I completed college applications, my GPA might have been about where yours is – maybe a little higher or lower, but comparable. I was active in band, but that was about it for extracurriculars (at least for extracurriculars that you’d want on a college application, leaving out disc golf, pot smoking, hanging in music clubs that couldn’t get liquor licenses, and minor vandalism sprees). I was a National Merit Semifinalist, and received a half-tuition National Merit Scholarship to Hendrix College, which was my first choice. Along with other merit- and need-based aid, I was able to attend Hendrix my freshman year paying only about $400 out of pocket, plus books, etc., with no loans (at the time, tuition/room/board at Hendrix was about $9K/yr – it’s now up to about $24K). I also had applied to U of A and ASU as backups, and was offered full-tuition merit-based scholarships at each.

After my freshman year, Reagan administration cuts in financial aid programs meant I had to pay an increasing amount every year – to the point that I had to max out on both GSLs and NDSLs by my senior year, despite steadily increasing amounts of merit-based aid based on my academic performance in college (never made anything lower than a B). I ended up having to borrow about $12K by the time I was done with college – a pittance by today’s standards, and less than a lot of other people even then, but it seemed like a lot to me, especially since I started college at the same school without having to borrow any.

Perversely, you might have a better shot at merit-based aid at a small private school than at a large state school; you’re more likely, in any event, to be considered as a whole rather than as merely a GPA and a test score. Also, if you can manage to get by financially and succeed academically for a year, you’ll probably find financial aid officers will be even more eager to roll up their sleeves and help find more aid for you; a big part of their mission is retaining successful students, and once you’ve shown you can get it done for a year or so, you’re a much lower risk for them.

20

I got a 30 on the ACT which qualified me for “Bright Flight” which is $2000 a year to go to any school in the state of MO or special deals with eight other states with reciprocal agreements. I went to KU and got a deal where I paid 150% of instate tuition instead of out of state. Good deal. I had a 4.0 in high school (or something close… maybe 3.98) and a 3.75 in college. :cool:
Of course, KU isn’t selective…at all.