<p>MiamiDAP, I appreciate your viewpoint. I am just in research mode now, we have plenty of time for things to play out. Just wanting to get a better start this time around, a better foundation. (And you can be sure there will be a TRUE Safety school this time!)</p>
<p>It has helped to get a general understanding of what is doable and what could be stressful. D could have handled more stress, S is a different child and might be more prone to crumble under pressure. It doesn’t matter for now, but in final comparison between 2 offers in years to come, remembering to check GPA requirements for scholarships could help make a final decision.</p>
<p>To the OP, you are right to worry about losing the scholarships, but there really isn’t much you can do - if you want Bright Futures, those are the rules, and I’ve known many students who have lost them. They do give you a few chances to keep it. One guy I know dropped classes and then had only 11 credits. Against the rules, so he had a one semester probation, but that he blew too. My nephew didn’t make grades, and they gave him another chance and I think his was restored. His gpa was 4.0 and he had 40 AP credits going into college, but college is harder than high school, and he didn’t take it seriously. </p>
<p>My daughter has to keep a certain gpa for her school merit, but it is rather low because it is an engineering school (2.8 I think?). Also the BF gpa, and an NCAA gpa of 2.0. My head hurts to think about it.</p>
<p>Not a parent, but I’m a student struggling to keep a 3.5 GPA right now for a scholarship. Trust me, you don’t want to do this. I was a top end high school student - NMF, 14 college credit classes, 99th percentile test scores- but I am struggling right now in freshman engineering. I’m taking classes that I’ve already done in high school, so similar that the schools even use the same textbooks, but college weedout courses are a whole different animal. If I can’t keep up, I will probably have to change to an easier major next semester that I’m not interested in. It’s not because I can’t cut it in engineering, but because money would basically force me to.</p>
<p>Now if I was at my state school that required a 3.3 GPA, all those problems would go away. The difference between them is basically an extra B a semester, every semester, and that is huge for STEM majors. I’m not saying that keeping a 3.5 is impossible to do, or that every student who goes into engineering has difficulties adjusting. But I was in the same position as OP’s son this time last year, and I wish every day that I had chosen to go my the state school instead of here.</p>
<p>A 3.5 would be a red flag for us . D1 and d2 have 3.3 and 3.0 requirements respectively . So far no problems but it doesn’t take much- a C in a high credit class and a few Bs and then you’re starting to sweat it. A 3.5 would have really put the pressure on . </p>
<p>First, even if one "IS studying rocket science, at a school with a strict 3.5 requirement ", it is still UG, right?
They cannot put in too much in those heads at UGs. Just got to study a bit harder. 3.5 is not that high. Check out pre-meds, they cannot even afford 3.5, they will not get in with the 3.5 and they know that. Yes, rocket science is more challenging than pre-med, it will call for a harder work.
What I am just saying, this is the time to enjoy and take risks, and have fun with it. And while one is working hard and having fun, there is no reason to expect 3.5, why not aim at 4.0? Risks actualy can take a pressure off instead of putting more pressure. Music minor maybe risky, but it also a great R&R. This is just one example, there are plenty others if they do not miss opportunities.
Best wishes! The shool should be a great match to the student. the calculations may be a great obstacle in achieving this match, it may steer you in a totally wrong direction. Then what? Misery is not a good foundation for achieiving any goals. Happy student has a much better chance at that.</p>
<p>Some schools have a lower required GPA for freshman recognizing that a lot of kids might have an adjustment period.</p>
<p>My D has to maintain a 3.3 to keep her $$. She has not had a problem doing that. And in fact, I think she is somewhere in the 3.5/3.6 range. BUT she has been able to take some risks, pursue her ECs deeply, etc. And I am not sure if she would have felt free to do that if she HAD to keep up the 3.5. </p>
<p>I haven’t done the analysis nor does the data show which of these students were “rocket science” majors vs. other majors, but since all MIT undergrads have to take the core science and math requirements, all of these kids had plenty of academic rigor as undergrads. If 9 kids were accepted to Penn State Med school with a mean of 3.3- I think we can assume that a few had under a 3.3.</p>
<p>I know it’s hard to believe but your daughter’s experience may not reflect med school admissions at every other college in America. Plenty of kids get into med school with a 3.5 GPA, despite your own experience. </p>
<p>I would shy away from the 3.5 requirements to keep the scholarship unless they have some safety features built in (don’t look at the gpa until the end of freshman year, etc.) My oldest ran into some health difficulties his freshman year and missed two weeks of class. He still ended up with excellent grades, but it was nice not to have to worry if he got Bs in his classes instead of his normal As. My second son, a junior, has had no problem keeping up his GPA but he’s lucky he doesn’t have to work and he because loves his field of study it comes easy to him. However, he is more academically inclined so he doesn’t have a lot of social activities pulling at his time. The last son is a freshman and I am glad that his scholarship has a 3.0 requirement. I thought he would have an easy time this semester, but balancing studying, taking care of himself and his social life has been a bit of an adjustment. He has learned the hard way that when a professor says a paper or homework is due at a certain time, it is due at that time. He overslept on one of his classes and came in 10 minutes late, thereby getting a 0 on his paper as it was 10 minutes overdue. Unfortunately this was in an introductory class which should have been an easy A but since there were only a few assignments in this 5 week class, he’ll probably end up with a C (or if lucky a B minus) These are things that can derail a gpa for a freshmen especially. I know that at our state flagship, many of our high school validictorians lost their state sponsored merit of $2,500 per year by not maintaining their 3.5 gpas so it does happen.</p>
<p>Like KF, my son is also a NMF majoring in Engineering. He needed the high dollar NMF packages that some universities offered. If he ended up at a school and lost the scholarship he would have to come back home to school and there are no engineering schools within commuting distance. For this reason he ruled out even applying to any schools that required more than a 3.0. It wasn’t worth the risk - or the stress. Sadly, for me, this included my alma mater Texas A&M. (It was fine with him - he wasn’t interested in being an Aggie anyway.) </p>
<p>Miami - Is your D in Engineering/CS? If yes, that is quite a feat to keep a high GPA. That often cannot be accomplished by simply studying hard, especially the first year. </p>
<p>I have seen 3.0 to 3.5 for different scholarships at different schools as renewal requirement when my D was admitted last year. Now she is studying at UMich CoE with their Engineering Scholarship of Honors that requires GPA 3.2+ to renew. It is reasonable as they are basically asking the student to be at or above average. </p>
<p>Some of these scholarships also have a credit hour requirement. My D’s is 15 per semester. It is evaluated at the end of spring. If the student hasn’t accumulated 30, they can take summer classes, online if necessary, but it can’t be something from the home community college to transfer. Has to be taken at the U to count towards the 30 annual, which is an out of state college, so not cheap. I think students are also allowed to use such summer classes to get the annual GPA up if it is below renewal threshold.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t know how common this is, but at D’s school if the GPA requirement is not met at end of year, and if it is not too far below, then the scholarship is not lost entirely. They have a formula based on where the GPA falls and the student might have 80% or 60% scholarship the next year, and be able to restore the original scholarship the year after that if they do well.</p>
<p>@powercropper, a major peril to be aware of is not maintaining the minimum number of credits. I know of student who inadvertently lost her merit scholarship when she dropped a course she was struggling in, w the aim to maintain her GPA above threshold.</p>
<p>^^Yes, that is a problem with Bright Futures too. Need to be a full time student, and dropping to 11 credits isn’t allowed. It’s all a big balancing act. It can be a problem at a big school if the student can’t get a needed class.</p>
<p>I think maintaining 3.5+ in Engineering especially the 3rd and 4th year is harder than most any other majors, including the majors that meet the requirements for Pre-Med, Pre-Pharm…
You simply need to go read the course description to know.</p>
<p>Not getting a needed class can happen at a small school (e.g. search for “no calc 101 for you”). Of course, the student can typically find some open class, but it may delay progress in prerequisites if s/he cannot get the desired one.</p>
<p>Of course, falling below 12 credits in a semester that is typically the “full time” threshold has other financial aid implications. But the merit scholarship threshold may be higher than 12 credits per semester.</p>
<p>“It is reasonable as they are basically asking the student to be at or above average.” - Yes. But engineering GPAs can be low. At CO School of Mines (mostly Engineering students), we were told avg freshman GPA is around 2.8. </p>
<p>^^That works fine when it’s school merit because since the school knows the average is 2.8, they wouldn’t set the required average at 3.3. It’s the outside scholarships with gpa requirements that are hard. Bright Futures, for example, doesn’t care if you are at a community college majoring in something easy or at UF majoring in physics. Same standards, same requirements.</p>