Hi, I am wondering about the merit-based money offered. I see there are academic scholarships and academic achievement scholarships. The first requires a 3.5 GPA to be maintained while the other is 2.75. What are generally the criteria to receive these awards? I am going to be an engineering student and am concerned about keeping a 3.5.
Also, are there any other scholarships that are offered for merit, but do not require financial need?
The scholarships you mentioned above (such as President’s Endowed Scholarhip and McFadden and Lechner Scholarships) do not require need.
None of my son’s academic/merit scholarships have required need. Some of the scholarships he received are published on the tamu website and the criteria for them are easily viewable. Others were not easily viewable on any website that we could find prior to receiving the awards. Not to worry – if you are awarded a scholarship, the criteria required to maintain that scholarship will be presented along with the award.
You ask what the criteria are to receive an award. On TAMU’s “Available Scholarships” webpage you can find out more about what they’re looking for by clicking on the name of the scholarship you’re interested in and reading the “Eligibility” paragraph under each award. But keep in mind that some of the criteria are subjective and that objective ones are minimums.
For instance, the SAT and ACT scores listed under the Academic Scholarships heading are the minimums required to be considered for those scholarships. Merely meeting those minimums does not mean you will receive one of those awards. In fact, we know plenty of people who far exceeded those minimums who did not receive an Academic Award or an Academic Achievement Award.
Like you, as an incoming student, my son was also concerned about maintaining the various gpa minimums for his awards. It’s hard to know how well you’ll do when you haven’t attended college before. As it turns out, he hasn’t had any trouble at all maintaining any of the minimums. I don’t know what percentage of people do have trouble with that. But I think tamu does a really good job choosing candidates to receive their awards and that they want candidates who will be successful. Therefore, if you are chosen for one, that means that they think you can handle it. That’s pretty good news! 
Wishing you the best of luck, midwestaggie!