<p>I am looking at Syracuse, Pitt, Temple, Maryland, and Penn State. What type of scholarships and money do you think I can get from any of these schools?</p>
<p>Weighted GPA- 100.25% Class Rank- 11/335</p>
<p>SAT- 1140 (Math and CR) 1730 (total)</p>
<p>ECs and Community Service- Baseball (will be all 4 years), Basketball (4 years), American Legion Baseball (2 years), Altar Server at Church (8 years), National Honors Society.</p>
<p>To qualify for merit aid you need to be applying to schools where your Statistics put you in the top few % points of their students. A lot of schools look at a combination of SAT and unweighted GPA. Your SAT is probably too low for you to qualify for much, if any, in the way of scholarships. Can you retake it and try and increase it?</p>
<p>If you read this post
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/544559-how-hard-get-full-tuition-upitt.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/544559-how-hard-get-full-tuition-upitt.html</a>
one poster with a 2050 SAT said he got no merit aid from Pitt</p>
<p>I doubt you will get any from syracuse, pitt, maryland, or penn state. I think you are actually on the fence for admission to Pitt, UMD, and Penn State University Park, so I doubt you will see any merit aid. You will be an average applicant for these three schools. These larger schools just don't give as much aid, especially with PSU. I think you will get into Syracuse and might get some aid from Temple. Anyway, best of luck.</p>
<p>On the fence? I have over a 100% and I'm on the fence? Wow. Half of my past high school graduating class went to PSU and some to Pitt; and yea I'm a better student than most of em. SAT's mean nothing and have nothing to do with what you actually learn in school. They just benefit lazy kids who can score well. Thanks!</p>
<p>Ryno, hold on there. Nearly every school looks at the grades AND the test scores. Many of the state schools put far more emphasis on the grades. However, that does not mean the test scores do not enter into the equation. There is an old adage that admissions to Penn State comes down to three numbers: one for the grades/class rank, one for the SAT, one the date of your application, with the first one carrying the most weight, all other things equal. If test scores do not mean a thing, why the heck do you think virtually everyone has to take the SAT or ACT? Yes, you do have it all for part of the resume of a qualified applicant to those colleges, but there are other things in the picture as well. There are many, many kids with the grades you have applying to those schools. The schools do not put each grade category at a rank, but have wide threshholds. You are a 10 on a 10 point scale for grades. If the difficulty of your classes, school and your class rank are way up there as well, then you will be waaay up there in terms of academic achievement. Now the other parts of your app need to be appraised as well. You are an excellent student, and most of the colleges in this country would love to have you. However, when you are talking selective schools and scholarship money, you are in the pool with all of the kids who have your numbers and other attributes as well. There are definitely schools out there willing to pay for you, but you will have to hunt for them. The schools you have mentioned are selective and have top kids with top numbers in everything going for admissions and money.</p>
<p>SATs often favor bright kids; GPAs often favor kids who work hard. Colleges like both kinds, and especially those with high SATs and GPAs. Some colleges will take a chance on a student with a 1600/2400 SAT and low a GPA; they sometimes bloom profusely in college. They may indeed have been lazy and unmotivated in high school.</p>
<p>Kids with truly low GPAs and those showing a downward trend are going to have a lot of trouble getting into the selective schools and many of the state schools that use formula cut offs to screen. There had better be a good reason for those low grades and the admissions offices have heard enough bull to start a a cattle ranch. However, a low GPA from a kid who has had some travesty in life and is recovering marvelously from it can earn exceptions. I know a number of very high SAT, low grade kids who did not get into colleges of choice that were easy accepts from kids with similar combined stats but more balanced. High test scores and low grades usually point to a lazy student which does not bode well for college.</p>
<p>Ryno26</p>
<p>Whether or not the SAT scores are a good indicator of anything important is irrelevant to your question. The fact is that many colleges (including the one's that you mentioned) put great weight on them. In the immortal words of Kung Fu, it is what it is, grasshopper.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree with EMM1 on the SAT scores. Went through the college application process this past year and schools do put alot of weight to the scores. Some schools will let you know exactly what your SAT scores need to be in order to qualify for scholarships but it doesn't mean you will get one! </p>
<p>Son did apply to two of the schools you listed: Pitt and Maryland. Maryland gave him $8,000/year and Pitt gave him the full tuition plus the engineering scholarship. We are OOS and he will be attending Pitt this fall.</p>
<p>An old classmate of mine who lives in Georgia was surprised to find that her honor student daughter was not able to get into UGA despite legacy standing and great grades. Due to the Hope grant, many kids are staying instate and a result is higher test scores. Though her daughter had the numbers for the grant, her test scores did not make the cut for UGA which meant she had to pick another state U to take advantage of Hope and low GA tuition. Another friend's D did not get into UNC-CH despite very high grades. They too were in state, and it was the test scores that did her in. There are apparently a lot of good students out there with high grades. You do need the test scores in tandem with the grades for selective colleges and for merit money.</p>
<p>Agree with EMM and MT and CPT. At my D's school they do list the SAT or ACT needed for each scholarship. Many of them need a minimum SAT or ACT combined with a certain unweighted GPA (unweighted - not weighted). Some just require a certain ACT or SAT. None are just GPA based at her school. Oh except for a valedictorian scholarship which is actually much lower than those for high SAT or ACT scores combined with good GPAs.</p>
<p>My daughter got full tuition waiver plus a cash scholarship at a State U with a 32 ACT which converts to about a 1400-1420 CR/Math in SAT. With 1140 and a 3.8 unweighted GPA the school would have given her about $1000.</p>
<p>You sound like a good student. You should seriously consider doing a bit of prep and retaking the SAT to see if you can bump it up a little to be eligible for scholarships. My daughter actually retook the ACT after she was already acccepted to her college to try and get another 1 point which increased her scholarship by several thousand a year. It was well worth the retake.</p>
<p>Many scholarships also consider other factors besides grades and test scores. For instance, some colleges offer talent scholarships for students who have art or performing arts skills. Others offer scholarships that have a component based on community service. At other schools, there is a "diversity" requirement for some scholarships. Many schools also have an undefined criteria "personal characteristics" written into their scholarships, and that can be really tough to get a sense of in guessing anyone's chances. Some schools do list minimum requirements, but almost always there is another criteria that can't be easily quantifiable. </p>
<p>So, in reality, no one can estimate the original poster's chances of getting scholarships based solely on grades and test scores. The best thing for the poster to do is to go to each of the school's scholarship site, read about the scholarships that are available and what the application requirements to be considered are, and then follow the instructions for applying. The OP could also contact the admissions office at each school to ask: "What have been the average GPAs and test scores of students who have won these scholarships in the past?" Some schools are more cagey than others about telling you that information, but it never hurts to ask.</p>
<p>But, No one can really predict the OP's chances based on the limited information he's given us. We are not on the scholarship committees and we don't have the criteria used for each school at hand. :)</p>
<p>At Syracuse, the largest merit scholarship (need not considered) available is $12,000. The criteria considered for that are grades, test scores, and extracurriculars. There are, however, a variety of scholarships, some of which require a separate application. Here's a link to all scholarships offered by the university:
SU</a> Scholarships</p>
<p>Here's Penn State's:
Penn</a> State - Office of Student Aid</p>
<p>I agree, Carolyn. My son has a performing arts scholarship with a less than 3.0 average and less than stellar SAT score. He would not have gotten an academic scholarship from his school with those numbers, but since he is in the BFA program, his audition and resume overrode those factors. </p>
<p>My other son got some nice scholarship offers based on community service and SATscores. Grades were not so great, but the emphasis of those scholarships were not on that. A minimum of a 3.0 put you into the running for the awards and on some of them, they did not care about gpa or test scores once you were past the minimum needed to be in the running. The focused on other things once you were in the race.</p>
<p>You won't get much at Temple.</p>
<p>Ryno- you have great grades and obviously will succeed in college. There are schools that will give you merit aid; perhaps just not the ones you want. I actually emailed schools my daughter was interested in (anonymously) and asked what type of GPA/SAT typically gets merit aid and how much. They were very nice and gave me a better idea of what they were looking for.</p>
<p>"On the fence? I have over a 100% and I'm on the fence? Wow. Half of my past high school graduating class went to PSU and some to Pitt; and yea I'm a better student than most of em. SAT's mean nothing and have nothing to do with what you actually learn in school. They just benefit lazy kids who can score well. Thanks!"</p>
<p>I agree, at least on the SAT part. I was also someone with really good grades, but lower SAT scores. The thing is that most schools want to give the merit aid to the full package student, and, while your grades are really good, your SAT score is just ok. The scores do mean a thing, especially when you start talking about financial aid. Honestly, why would Penn State pay for you when they can probably get a similar student for full tuition OOS? Which, as one of the most applied to schools in the country, they definitely can. </p>
<p>Many of those "half your graduating class" probably went to branch campuses or went to University Park without any financial aid. Let's not start grouping branch campus and main campus admission together, because it's far from the same. Also, Pitt and UMD get many great applications as well, so they should be in a similar situation. You have done well and I personally think grades are 10x more important, but they want the full package to shell out money for you. I truly do hope they give you the money you want at Penn State University Park, as I do want the best students there possible. Anyway, best of luck.</p>
<p>I was not mad or saying I should get a full ride. All I was saying was that I'm pretty sure I can get into those schools. I just think you all took that as I was saying I will get aid, but really I just mean I should be accepted. And jec7483, I didn't say they got aid from PSU. And when I said that I meant main campus University Park, I wasn't counting the branch campus because I know it's different. Thanks for all the input everyone, and I just want to say I don't want to sound arrogant; I just feel like I've worked hard and earned my grades and it's annoying to see a lazy kid with a 95% at my school and a 1400 SAT and be viewed as better than my 100% and 1140 SAT.</p>
<p>Well I think they would be viewed better...</p>
<p>One last thing to think about:
GPA- 4 YEARS OF HARD WORK!
SAT- ONE DAY OF NOTHING</p>
<p>
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To qualify for merit aid you need to be applying to schools where your Statistics put you in the top few % points of their students.
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</p>
<p>exactly. To be honest... I wouldn't expect any merit aid. Acceptance... probably.</p>
<p>
[quote]
One last thing to think about:
GPA- 4 YEARS OF HARD WORK!
SAT- ONE DAY OF NOTHING
[/quote]
</p>
<p>eh you seem a little... biased lmao. i wouldn't exactly argue standardized tests mean nothing. While you could make an argument that GPA is based off of years of hard work and that SATs are just one day of luck, you really can't deny the importance of SAT/ACT in admissions. They are virtually the only way to compare students across the country on an equal playing field. GPA and class rank is all relative to the high school and more specifically teachers, courses (available), and competitiveness of the school. You simply cannot say that the standardized tests are worthless. This is coming from someone who doesn't have scores to brag about either. </p>
<p>
[quote]
I just feel like I've worked hard and earned my grades and it's annoying to see a lazy kid with a 95% at my school and a 1400 SAT and be viewed as better than my 100% and 1140 SAT.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>now a 95% at my school is an A and very respectable. no lazy kid at my school comes close to that average. just an example of how GPA is relative to the specific high school. </p>
<p>
[quote]
I have over a 100% and I'm on the fence?
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</p>
<p>seems like you think 100+% is rare or 4.0+ is rare when really it isn't for top schools and scholarship considerations. we don't know anything about your high school so how we are supposed to know how impressive your GPA is? that's why unweighted GPA is more useful and specific letter grades and courses.</p>