I have pretty good grades but a low class rank (competitive school). Would I be able to ask for an exception for class rank reqs for merit scholarships?

so im in a super super competitive high school. its designed so all students are supposed to graduate with an associates. you have to apply to get in (though im not really sure how selective it is). my class size is at most 79. we started with 100 freshman year. my weighted gpa is slightly over 4.00 and my unweighted is about 3.9.

im not even in the top 25%.

for freshman and sophomore year i was right at the cutoff, then last year i dropped. my computer says im at 21/80 but i know thats not updated bc i know at least one more kid has dropped out. not being in the top 25% disqualifies me from a ton of merit scholarships. if i was at a regular high school i have no doubts i could be top 10% or maybe even top 1%, but i go to a competitive school.

for example, texas state university gives a $2,000 annual scholarship for people who are national hispanic scholars (i am). you must also have a 1270+ SAT (i do), and be in the top 25% of your graduating class. (i havent applied to this school its just am example i found)

if i dont get a scholarship due to my class rank being low, does anyone think i could call and ask for an exception for special cirsumstances? idk if it sounds pretentious (i hope not) and it might be a dumb question but its frustrating seeing so many scholarships require a higher class rank when my school is small and competitive

Talk to your guidance counselor about it, and ask them to mention(in a LoR or something) how competitive your school is. I think it’s better if they say it than if you called.

You make a very valid point, that the top 25% of a highly competitive high school with very high standards is a lot more accomplished than the top 25% of a high school with low academic standards.

This is why acceptance schemes designed to increase economic and racial diversity, that state that the top 10% of each graduating class of every high school in the state will be admitted to the flagship state U, may seem unfair. Affirmative action for underrepresented minorities (from which you will benefit), may seem unfair. Preferential admission for legacies, athletes, and donor children may also seem unfair.

Life isn’t fair. You can ask for an exception, but don’t expect one, and don’t be surprised if they don’t make one. However, if you are highly qualified, there are often scholarships that are specific for various interests, ethnic/racial groups, etc. I suggest that you begin your search for scholarship funding based upon your particular profile.

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i know, just hoping to get as much financial aid as i can lol.

ive talked to my friends and its pretty much fractions of a decimal that divides us for gpas. i can only imagine what its like at the top. yea it def feels unfair, but thats life i guess lol

ooo thank you, i will. my teacher required us to ask someone for a letter of recommendation, but said we shouldnt ask the teachers at the time because they already had a lot of people ask

You can try for non rank based scholarships, like the PVAMU full ride for 3.5 HS GPA and 1260 SAT.

https://www.pvamu.edu/faid/types-of-aid/scholarships/university-scholarships/

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oooo thank you! i will def look into those

Here’s a thread I found of scholarships for National Hispanic Scholars:

It doesn’t seem like many/any care about class rank.

I think UCF has a National Hispanic Scholarship too.

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ooo yea i was looking at those. i also found this spreadsheet: http://hhscollegeandcareercenter.â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– /uploads/3/7/6/4/37648011/nhrpcompbined.pdf but its a bit outdated. def hoping to get some scholarships for that, and it does seem to give a fair bit

NHRP is part of or replaced by College Board National Recognition Programs now: For Students: National Recognition Programs - BigFuture

So you may want to search college web sites for College Board National Recognition Program based scholarships if you are trying to find what used to be NHRP based scholarships.

thank you! i think the name chance is fairly recent, which made it a bit confusing when i first heard of it lol

One other thing to note is that ASU and UA in Arizona have scholarships for “National Scholars”, which includes National Merit and College Board National Recognition (though it is not always obvious where to find that definition on their web sites). So you may want to check them to see if their scholarships can make them affordable to you.

oh yea, some colleges give scholarships for national merit and nhrp separately lol. i think i might have to email some to see if the scholarships are also for nhrp