I’m guessing this has been asked before, but I was wondering about the 3.5 scholarship GPA requirement. How hard is it to keep it while in engineering? Would it be a bad idea to go here if these 3.5 scholarships are my only way of attending? I’m just torn now, because I don’t know if I should risk it when I have another school I’m considering (Alabama) with a much lower requirement. Any opinions?
These are great questions but also really difficult to answer. My freshman engineering daughter was able to maintain above the 3.5 threshold this year and keep her scholarships in tact. However, throughout the years, I have known others who were not able to keep them and some of them were really impacted financially, as they also lost their in-state tuition rate. It would really depend a lot on you – for example, what is your level of experience with these advanced classes, how involved in outside activities do you plan to be and how focused to you think you will be? Good luck with whatever you choose!
Here’s some basics… the way the GPA works is that it is a cumulative GPA - so doing well early benefits you later. Should you falter, you can still have a semester of probation to bring up your GPA without losing your scholarship. Most (if not all) the honors programs also require a 3.5 to maintain membership as well as several scholarships. If they offered you an academic scholarship it is because they believe you are capable of being an outstanding student. If you are struggling, you can take some tougher courses online or at a CC that do not count in your GPA. Lots of students succeed keeping the GPA needed, like NETarrantMom said, it is really up to you to judge yourself as to how dedicated & talented you are at the major you have selected. My D was in a sorority with girls who were engineers & still maintained high GPAs, they were also the same girls in HS that were extremely involved with high GPAs. None of them lost their scholarships. Engineering students, just like other majors have to meet the same criteria for latin honors at graduation, 3.5+. So ironically, the scholarship requirement also creates the pool of latin honors students - a nice reward for your hard work.
We know some who kept them and some who did not. One thing to be aware of is that not only do you have a semester of scholarship probation (pretty funny to call it “probation” when you have a 3.49) and then, after that, you can appeal. I do know of several who were able to appeal successfully and then got another semester of probation. I also know of kids who took an easy load, or stayed for summer and took a bunch of kinesiology classes (yoga, tennis, etc.) to bring up the GPA (but of course they had to pay tuition since scholarships don’t really cover summer courses). Also, at least for my sons, over half their scholarships have below a 3.5. The Honors and National Merit and Presidents Endowed all have a 3.5 requirement, but many other merit scholarships such as departmental scholarships may have a 3.25 or even a 3.0. Also, there are scholarships you can apply for after you begin your freshman year, so be sure to apply for those. If you end up with more money than you need, you will have a cushion in case your GPA drops. If you have any questions about specifics, feel free to send me a PM. Good luck!
A 3.5 is half As and half Bs. No Cs. Yes, it is possible in any major. If you come in with 50 hours of AP credit, it may be tougher because a lot of the classes you could get As in will not be in the GPA. On the other hand, you may be able to take lighter class loads allowing you more time to work on each class. Most people who do poorly overall do so because they don’t know how to study or they party. If you keep your guard up for those things, you should do fine.
My understanding is that there is an appeals process if your grades dip below the 3.5, so you don’t lose the money right off but have a probationary semester to get your grades. Not sure how open they are about that but you might ask.
@luckyem7 I understand your GPA concern. Oklahoma and Alabama have much lower GPA requirements to maintain those almost full-ride scholarships. Even U. of Tulsa has a lower GPA requirement on their full ride scholarship.
Guess check with A&M how many lose scholarships because of that 3.5 GPA requirement. It’s also a concern we are facing and know that it is a possibility to lose those scholarships as the years go by. Wish A&M would lower that to 3.25 maybe (especially for engineering).
Thanks all for the advice on keeping up that GPA and the possibility of appealing if needed.
One more tactic is to NOT accept AP credit until you have to do so. If for example you have AP UShistory credit available and you’re a history buff, you might want to retake it for an easy A and raise your GPA. If you have already accepted the credit, you eliminate that option. It seems counterintuitive to not accept all the credits that you can upfront- but there are advantages to waiting.
I had my D not accept her AP Chemistry credits. She took Honors Chemistry instead and aced it. If you can get a nice cushion GPA going in the beginning, it is really doable to keep the 3.5. We also planned easy A elective courses. She found out she had a love of Sociology. These classes were stress relievers as well as GPA enhancers. She is a Science major though, not Engineering.
https://scholarships.tamu.edu/Scholarships/files/f6/f68be6e1-7d52-4236-84ea-578af50ebfa4.pdf
Page 1 of this guide discusses the probationary process for scholarships. It uses 2.0 GPR examples, but I would assume you should consider the 3.5 in your case.
I’m a second semester electrical engineering junior with a 3.7 GPA. I wasn’t the best student in high school either so…yeah definitely possible, just work for it. If it’s literally your only way of attending though, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to not risk it and go with a safer choice.
I’m an out-of-state student at A&M with a bunch of 3.5 GPA scholarships. If you haven’t made your college decision yet, my advice would be to avoid A&M at all costs - it’s way too risky. If you want more explanation, PM me.
Thanks for all of the advice, everyone! I thought about all of the risks that would be associated with attending, and I eventually decided against attending, mostly due to this requirement. I absolutely loved the school, but I’m happy to attend Alabama. I know it’s possible that I could maintain the requirement- the stress of doing so and not being able to take classes for fear of losing my scholarships swayed me against it.
Does anyone have links for these scholarships?
Judging by the OP also considering Alabama, I think folks are generally talking about the TAMU National Merit scholarships. For OOS students, you get in-state tuition (worth over $17,000 per year) plus $10,000 per year. The net is that you get basically a full-tuition scholarship. National Hispanic Scholars get the same package.
https://scholarships.tamu.edu/Scholarship-Programs/National-Scholars#0-NationalMerit%C2%AEOpportunities
FWIW, my son got a 4.0 in engineering first semester. He did work very hard, but the 3.5 is doable.
In my opinion, graduating with a GPA above 3.5 is not a problem for most of these kids. The problem is that there is very little room for getting bored or distracted with these scholarships. All it takes is one semester in which a kid disengages and it will mean an end to this scholarship. This can be a big problem for kids who experience freshman home sickness, girl friend / boy friend problems, don’t like the field of study and dump one semester. They can end up spending the rest of their time in college earning straight As, getting back to 3.5 without a scholarship.