<p>At our HS, some of the EC booster clubs give small scholarships (as do the elementary school PTAs, community groups, etc.) Every application asks for GPA, class rank and test scores. Last year, my son was the recepient of one of the choir scholarships....he lived and breathed choir, but also had a decent GPA and class rank and good test scores. Every year, however, there are scholarship winners who just "show up" to the EC, but have very high class ranks.</p>
<p>I would like it better if GPA, class rank AND ESPECIALLY test scores were not even included on the application. There was a boy who basically devoted all his time to choir - always there to help the leader, loved it, future music major, etc....but he was in the bottom half of the class, so no scholarship. If I had been awarding the scholarships, I'd have given him the biggest one, for devotion to the EC.</p>
<p>What do you think? When ECs like bad, choir and theatre are awarding scholarships, should test scores and class rank trump devotion to the activity?</p>
<p>I thought it was odd, too. There are usually 6 scholarships…one of them is double the amount of the others. The larger one seems to always go to the person with the highest class rank who is in the choir program and as I said, that person often just shows up for class and doesn’t do any of the outside activities (solo contest, community Christmas performances, etc.) I knew my son would have a lock on one of the scholarships based on his SAT scores which was ridiculous, but he also got the director’s highest award, so he was deserving of a scholarship anyway.</p>
<p>The only justification I can see for asking for GPA/scores is if the purpose of the scholarship is to help the student with his college expenses, where he hopefully will continue his music participation. If he doesn’t have the stats to get into college, then perhaps there is no reason to award him the scholarship. A floor gpa/score would suffice in this situation.</p>
<p>If the scholarship is really just a monetary reward for enthusiastic participation, then I agree that there is no point in requiring that info.</p>
<p>Most scholarships define what they are looking for in a student and why. Perhaps you can find that info.</p>