Chances of College Merit Aid Scholarship?

<p>I've been trying me best in high school, and so far my GPA is 4.4 out of 5.0 weighted. I'm in 11th grade.
This is around 3.55 or 3.6 unweighted.
I know that my GPA is low due to my lovely school system and its harsh grading policies.
My class rank is 8 out of 389, so would this offset the low GPA for merit aid?</p>

<p>Also for extracurricular activities, here's what I've done
Marching Band - 9
Concert Band - 9,10
Junior Honor Society - 9,10
Varsity Cross Country - 11
Tennis - 11</p>

<p>Does this show little commitment?
Any chance of a nice sized scholarship?</p>

<p>Most “nice-sized” scholarships are only partly based on GPA…a bigger consideration is your test scores. What are your SAT or ACT scores?</p>

<p>The way it works is this…</p>

<p>There is a huge pool of students with high GPAs. </p>

<p>There is a smaller pool of students with high SAT/ACTs. </p>

<p>There is a very small group of kids that have both high GPAs AND high SAT/ACTs. Those are the ones who usually get the big scholarships. </p>

<p>Many times ECs aren’t considered at all, but some do.</p>

<p>Generally your class rank is taken WITH the GPA. Being in the top 10% is excellent.</p>

<p>^^
that may be true for competitive scholarships, but for assured scholarships, rank isn’t considered…just GPA and test scores.</p>

<p>If you need a scholarship to go to college, you need to apply to some schools with assured merit scholarships. Applying to some schools with competitive scholarships is fine, but you may not get those, so you need to apply to some with assured merit scholarships.</p>

<p>Thank you all for the advice! I haven’t taken the SAT yet, but I plan to take the next one aiming for a 2100+. I’ll see how it goes!</p>

<p>And btw I tend to look more at unweighted GPA more than class rank because some of my state schools have GPA and SAT cut-off scores for merit scholarships just as mom2collegekids stated, but some don’t have specific criteria, leaving me guessing.</p>

<p>Take both the ACT and SAT. You may do better on one than the other…and if you want merit money, getting a better score can make a huge difference!!!</p>