All my high school career I had been told, “take AP/honors classes, they’ll be good for college applications”. I understand that colleges are looking for people who challenge themselves, but no one ever mentioned my unweighted GPAs impact on merit scholarships from colleges. I find it extremely frustrating that someone with a 3.4 unweighted gpa that took AP classes gets much less merit aid (for schools using unweighted awarding systems-which is most) than someone who got a 4.0 with no challenging classes. Everyone has always said it’s better to get Bs in hard classes than As in easy ones, but if you aren’t planning on going to a selective college or need merit aid it’s not the case. Why has no one mentioned or brought this up? If I had known earlier I would have taken much easier classes and breezed through to get great merit aid for a less selective college that has guaranteed merit aid. Also, why do most schools not reward harder classes by using a weighted GPA scholarship system? It seems unfair. Can someone please explain?
Sorry for the long post, I’m a little annoyed right now
Merit aid is based on not only GPA but also on your test scores.
What makes you think that the students who cruise through regular classes get better merit aid?
The schools look at your course rigor; they want students who take the most challenging courses and offer their merit aid to those students who have challenged themselves.
I don’t know of any student who has received merit scholarships based on GPA alone.
Remember this saying: don’t count other people’s money.
You really can’t compare your situation to ANYONE else’s…because really you don’t know all the details…even if you think you do.
You are doing the right thing by taking a challenging courseload. Your the strength of your courseload might actually help you get accepted to a school with more generous scholarship aid.
Concentrate on YOUR situation…and do not compare it to your friends, classmates, relatives, etc.
Does your school report weighted GPA on the transcript? Some colleges will use that to determine merit aid. I think Alabama might but double check.
@“aunt bea”
This is one of the colleges I want to apply to. It is based solely on unweighted GPA and it is guaranteed.
http://www.uidaho.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/out-of-state
@drew44, how do you know that’s unweighted GPA? Does your school give extra weight to AP classes?
There are definitely large universities with thousands of students that focus on the unweighted GPA. They don’t have staff time to go case by case. Smaller schools that have more time to read individual applications will pay attention to course rigor and essays and letters.
Why OOS to Idaho? Are you looking for a major that’s hard to get in your home state?
Your AP classes can give you college credit. Some people shorten their time at university by a semester or a year.
It looks to be only a thousand dollars difference. 3.4 vs 3.899???
What state are you from?? If a WUE state, that program looks much better than the Idaho scholarships listed.
Also @drew44 For the Idaho scholarship, you might notice that for homeschooling, they base merit aid on SAT/ACT scores not GPA. If you get very high stat scores, I would simply call and ask to see if you can get more merit. Sometimes that happens.
Thank you @gearmom
I know that AP classes will shorten my college load but it would still be much cheaper to get $8000 every year rather than $5000. Which would save me about $12000 over 4 years.
It says it somewhere on their website, just can’t remember where. My school does report weighted GPAs but many of the colleges I’ve looked at don’t base their scholarships off of weighted GPAs
@suzy100
@drew44 I hear you but you would have to get a 3.9 which probably isn’t as breezy as you might think. I think it could be realistic for you to make a case for the $6000 scholarship especially if you had high stats and knew your weighted GPA. And if you could get a FULL semester off you would save $15000. A full year off and you save $31000. You need to apply to Idaho early while they still have merit money.
Our state flagship offers summer classes at half the price of regular school year classes. You could check to see if it was the same for you. If your home state school classes could transfer, you really might be able to shave a half year or year off and save money.
@my2caligirls
I’m from Nevada but, even though it is a WUE state, it looks like they only give it to Washington and Oregon residents. I agree I would much rather have the WUE than the discover Idaho scholarship.
@drew44 you’ll need to look into it further but it looks like it’s open to all WUE states if you enter certain programs - Honors was one. Good luck.
Thank you @my2caligirls
What about University of New Mexico. I think you would,qualify for the Amigo Acholarship,there…
23 ACT (1130 SAT) and 3.5 Unit GPA or 26 ACT (1240 SAT) and 3.0 Unit GPA
*2016 SAT
It’s a good deal.
Approximate value of $15,360 per year
Plus a $200/year stipend ($100/semester)
Renewable for 4 years
Your right @gearmom it probably wouldn’t be “breezy” but it would be much easier, at least at my school. Thanks for all your input!
Thanks @thumper1
I’ll look into it.
If you read any articles about whether getting better grade or taking higher rigor course is better, the answer is often “both”. I would never say get a B in a higher rigor course be better getting an A in an easier course. Nevertheless, having a few Bs would not hurt your GPA too much. With GPA 3.4, that means you have a lot of Bs that would be much less impressive than having straight A even with easy course although the latter would be punished by the lack of course rigor.