<p>I've recently been offered admission to a great top 25 private university with a great scholarship that makes tuition almost completely free to me. Obviously this is an amazing offer and I am grateful for the opportunity, but it comes with conditions I am wary of. I must maintain a 3.5 GPA to keep my scholarship, and I'm worried that I won't be able to. I've done well in HS, but I'm sure college is a whole different ball game. Without my scholarship, I cannot afford this college. How feasible is maintaining a 3.5 GPA? </p>
<p>Depends totally on the school and the grade inflation/deflation!</p>
<p>The school is NYU Gallatin and it’s the MLK scholarship, if that helps clarify. Thanks for all the help! </p>
<p>Also depends on your major?</p>
<p>Well it’s Gallatin, so I’ll be creating my own major. It will be something in sustainability/environmental studies. </p>
<p>Well it’s good that you are considering this and I tell you why. My son went to Hofstra beginning in fall 2012. In HS all honors, 6 AP’s, 30 ACT, 1350 SATS. Hofstra scholarship was 21000.00 per year, 3.0 GPA to keep it. Fall 2013, finished the semester with a 2.85 GPA, 2.9 overall. His scholarship was not renewed, he appealed and lost. He withdrew from Hofstra, and is now at CC, waiting to transfer somewhere for Fall 2014. He did not want to pay full price at Hofstra.</p>
<p>I am not trying to scare you, I am saying it is good you are thinking of all the possibilities. This may not happen to you, but 3.5 is high to maintain. </p>
<p>He is an engineering major, so classes were bio 1 and 2, Calc 1 and 2, physics 1 and 2, chem 1, all hard classes.</p>
<p>Part of it is going to depend a lot of you, as well. Did you go to a good high school that prepared you well for college? Have you taken AP/honors classes and did you do well in them? Did you do well on standardized tests, such as the SATs or AP exams (I’m not asking because I think it will automatically correlate with college GPA, but because it can suggest how well your school prepared you for college work)? Are you an independent learner or are you used to a lot of time management or homework help from parents, tutors, and/or teachers? Do you have the dedication to study instead of going to a party, or do you think that you’ll have a lot of adjusting to do with the independence of college?</p>
<p>I’ll provide a counter example to ddotjon’s, just so you can have both sides. I went to UCSD and graduated with a 4.0 relatively easily, and my scholarship only had a 3.0 requirement. I wasn’t an engineering major like ddotjon’s son, but I took advanced courses in all of those subjects (the next courses in physics and calculus sequences for STEM majors, organic chemistry, upper-division bio classes because I had gotten AP credit for all of the intro courses). But I also went to a good public high school, where I did well in AP courses, and I was always a primarily independent learner. I knew other students who were valedictorians at their schools, but went to schools that poorly prepared them for college and struggled to maintain a 3.0. I know others that completely let the freedom of college go to their heads and didn’t put in any of the work or underestimated the effort that they needed to put in. So it depends on a lot of things.</p>
<p>I’m inclined to believe that they wouldn’t have given you this scholarship if they didn’t think you could maintain the GPA requirement. If you’re going to be designing your own major, as well, you will likely take many courses that interest you and that work towards your natural talents. I hate to see people limiting themselves prematurely, but I’m glad that you’re thinking ahead about this. You know about this requirement ahead of time, and you should be sufficiently motivated to maintain a high GPA, which I think will do wonders. Take it slow in the beginning, until you figure out what you can handle, and make sure you ask for help if you need it as early as possible. Make sure you stay on top of your schoolwork, and don’t slack off. The upper limits of a GPA usually aren’t based on intelligence, but on hard work and past preparation. If your past preparation wasn’t as great, you may have to work harder. If you aren’t willing or able to work harder (or take lower level classes in the beginning) for whatever reason, then it might not be a good fit for you.</p>
<p>That is an onerous requirement. What are your other options at this point?</p>
<p>@baktrax, thank you, that is very helpful. I’m a senior at a Catholic private HS and while I of course don’t know yet how well prepared I am for college, I have received 5s on all of my AP tests thus far and I got a 2100 on my SAT. You bring up a lot of good points about self motivation, priorities, and the type of learner I am. I hope you are right that I would not have received the scholarship if admissions did not believe I could handle it. Did you enjoy the UCSD experience? </p>
<p>@BrownParent, I have gotten into UCSD, UCSB, UC Davis, Boston U (no aid), Smith (small amount of aid), and Reed (no aid). I have yet to hear back from Brown, Tufts, Vassar, UC Berkeley, and Barnard. As I am a CA resident, the UCs are highly affordable, although NYU with the MLK scholarship is actually cheaper. If admitted to UCB, I would probably choose it over NYU’s offer. If not, I’m not sure what to do, as it’s unlikely I’d be able to afford any of the privates. So it’d be NYU with a 3.5 requirement or UCSD/UC Davis. </p>
<p>I really enjoyed UCSD. I chose to go there over both UCB and UCLA, and didn’t have any regrets. Great location, great experiences, and great education–but it really depends on what you want from a school. The schools you’re mainly considering (UCSD, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and NYU) are all in vastly different locations, and I’d recommend you take that into consideration, in addition to the academics. They’re all good choices, and you’ll get a fine education at any of them but your college experience may be very different in those different areas.</p>
<p>Location wise, I know I would vastly prefer NYU or UCB over UCSD or Davis, although I did enjoy the Davis vibe. I am visiting UCSD on Triton Day this year, so reserving judgment. However, I am so hesitant to pass up the MLK scholarship because it includes stipend and seminar style weekly discussions and activities with the other scholars. It seems like such an interesting program, I’m just worried about setting myself up for failure. What made you pick UCSD over 2 traditionally higher ranked UCs? </p>
<p>I didn’t like the area that either school was located in or how their campus was set up (and to be honest, what I’ve heard from friends or what I’ve seen when visiting friends on campus hasn’t made me feel any differently about that–it was the same issue I had with Davis). But it just wasn’t something I was interested–I know others who would have loved it (and I know people who went there and hated it). I also know many students who didn’t like the UCSD environment or the UC Davis environment. It just depends on you. I liked the laid-back atmosphere of UCSD, the great weather year-round, the college system, and the way the campus was constructed (that it was large and spread out so it didn’t feel quite so claustrophobic, but that it was broken up into the smaller colleges and that it was built smartly for walkers so that you don’t have to walk forever to get anywhere). I also wanted to go into biology, and UCSD had a great biology program, lots of research in diverse areas, and access to a lot of nearby research labs and bio companies. I was also a Regents scholar at UCSD, which gave a bunch of perks and some money. I didn’t feel like I could get anything from Berkeley or UCLA that I couldn’t get at UCSD, rather than ranking (or not having to explain myself to everyone) and that wasn’t enough for me.</p>
<p>But I only applied to UCs (I wasn’t particularly interested in or invested in the college application process, and it just seemed like the easy thing to do). If I had been in your situation, I probably would have taken the scholarship offer because it would have just seem like too good of a deal to pass up and I would have just done what it took to get above a 3.5 GPA. But it’s a very individual decision, and people have brought up good things to consider. You’re the only one who can really figure out which of those things are the most important to you.</p>
<p>3.5 GPA requires you to think/act like a pre-med or pre-law student in protecting your GPA.</p>
<p>What would you do if you lost the scholarship? Would you be ok paying for whatever NYU would cost otherwise (check the net price calculator; do not be optimistic given NYU’s financial aid reputation) or dropping out to transfer to another school?</p>
<p>Imagine the stress you will be under as soon as you have a rough semester. Walk through the situation where you don’t make the grade requirement. What happens now? Maybe you should do a search of the forum to find the thread from people who get into that situation. I would never take that offer.</p>
<p>I know I have read terrible threads but I can’t find them</p>
<p><a href=“Might Lose Scholarship - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1498704-might-lose-scholarship.html</a></p>
<p>Stars, can you talk to some other NYU students about grading practices there? My d. would have loved the opportunity you now have – she applied to Gallatin but was only offered a very small grant, so could not attend - so she opted to attend Barnard instead, with fairly generous need-based aid. If you aren’t getting much aid from Smith or Reed, I’m guessing you don’t have enough need - at least on paper – to qualify for a lot - so the merit award might be your best bet. My d. came from a public high school and probably a lot weaker prep than most of her classmates – and was entering with SAT’s in the ~1900 range - but she graduated with a GPA above 3.9 and the only time she ever saw grades lower than an A- was a couple of B’s her first semester. Once she figured out what she needed to do for an A, it was pretty smooth sailing. She had to work hard, but she really didn’t need to worry about grades. But even though her college was pretty tough, she might have had the benefit of inflationary grading practices – so maybe you want to talk with someone at NYU about how the MLK scholars usually fare over time. </p>
<p>I know its scary to be faced with that GPA requirement – but with the course of study you are contemplating, you will probably want to pursue a graduate degree – so you may end up putting pressure on yourself for high grades anyway. </p>
<p>Also, if you lost your scholarship - it wouldn’t be the end of the world. You would just be faced with the need to transfer to a more affordable school – not ideal, but there I think there would be value in that experience at Gallatin even if you couldn’t complete your degree at NYU. </p>
<p>I think that baxtrax raises some good points and I do think you should wait until all offers are in before making a decision – but don’t sell yourself short. </p>
<p>It totally depends on you. I think if you work hard it won’t be too difficult to maintain CGPA 3.5. I hope you will be able to do it. </p>