<p>Hi, I was wondering my chances for receiving some good scholarship money from the University of Arkansas. I’m assuming my stats are sufficient for admission, and, because the scholarship information on their website is incredibly vague, I was wondering if someone here could shoot me a ballpark figure or at least describe some of their scholarships and the requirements to get them in greater detail.</p>
<p>I’m a white male from OOS (Tennessee) and will be a senior in a public school this upcoming year. From what I can ascertain, Arkansas’ Latin American Studies program appears to be a secondary major(?) And I’m looking to major in Latin American Studies, but I suppose I could pair it with international relations, political science, Spanish, etc. Family income is around $80,000 if that matters.</p>
<p>By the time I graduate:
Will have taken 5 AP classes (Eng Lang, Eng Lit, Biology, USH, US Gov) and 11 honors classes (including 4 years of honors Spanish).
Extracurriculars/Volunteering:
Pep Club- 9th, 10th
Beta Club- 11th, 12th
NHS- 11th, 12th
DECA- 11th (won metro competition in category)
Spanish NHS- 12th (will actually start it myself)
Won several state and city-wide essay contests
100+ hours volunteering at children’s hospitals
100+ hours at District Attorney’s office
50+ hours at drug rehab center
25+ hours at local state park
Hopefully I will get an internship at a local Latino organization, but I don’t know yet.
Also will have held a part-time job for 14 months at a fast-food restaurant.</p>
<p>What worries me, however, is that the school seems more geared toward math and science. Can anyone attest to the quality of the departments I am considering? Thank you in advance; any help is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>The maximum amount of merit scholarship you can get is $12,500/year (fellowships). Since you’re OOS, you still have to pay some from your pocket.</p>
<p>For any university scholarship, your residence, your major, your family’s income, and your W GPA do not matter.</p>
<p>You have a pretty good chance of receiving the Honors College scholarship with your 4.0 GPA and 29 ACT (yes, they do superscore); $4,000-8,000. In this case, your class rank, transcript, ECs, and work experience do not really matter.</p>
<p>However, if you can get those science and math scores up, and get a 32 ACT (no superscore), you qualify for fellowships. In this case, your transcript, ECs, and essay do really matter. Try to do a killer resume and essay.</p>
<p>I would write a lot, but I’m on my phone. Lemme know if you have any questions. Work on those math and science scores, again.</p>
<p>*Also, don’t miss the November 15th deadline.</p>
<p>I see now I got my GPAs mixed up- 3.5 UW, 4.0 W. Does that change anything? And, to qualify for the next “milestone,” I should reach a 32 ACT? Also, what exactly is the difference between scholarships and fellowships? Sorry I’m asking all these questions, our school has done a pathetic job at preparing us for college so far lol.</p>
<p>What originally drew me to Arkansas was the OOS tuition waiver, for which I (hopefully) qualify. I really didn’t like UT Knoxville, and Arkansas is actually closer. But it seems Arkansas is a little more stingy in giving money than some of these other big state schools lol.</p>
<p>Okay, so I just looked at the website, and read the following:</p>
<p>“The New Arkansan Non-Resident Tuition Scholarship Award (NRTA) covers the difference between out-of-state tuition and in-state tuition, and is automatically granted to qualifying students.”</p>
<p>It appears I do, in fact, qualify for this. Then, I see the two average costs for out-of-state and in-state students- $12,905 and $7,688, respectively. So, I’m taking it my costs would be closer to the $7,688? Or am I completely missing something? lol.</p>
<p>Yeah, I also meant to say your UW GPA does not matter.</p>
<p>The scholarships range from $1,000 to $8,000, while the fellowships are $12,500. To qualify for fellowships, you need a 32 ACT (yeah next milestone - no superscore) and a 3.8 W GPA which you already have.</p>
<p>You’re right, you do qualify for the NRTA. I didn’t think Tennessee was one of those states. Yeah, you will be paying in-state tuition +$900 fee.</p>
<p>Your English and reading scores are great. There tends to be a good relationship beyween reading and science scores. Maybe if you take a couple of practice tests, you might easily increase your science score. Math, on the other hand, is the easiest to improve. Get one of those review books and review the concepts.</p>
<p>Yeah, I feel I can get my ACT science up, but math is pretty much a lost cause for me. If I can get those subscores above on the same test, then I’ll probably have a 30 and can work up from there.</p>
<p>But this is sounding better lol. I’m cringing when I ask this, but what are my chances of receiving enough to cover that $7688+? I’m looking at the scholarships, and I see the Chancellor’s scholarship is worth $8,000. What exactly does it entail? It’s so frustrating to see “top candidates from the applicant pool” as the only requirement for all these…</p>
<p>I agree that it’s so frustrating to see “top candidates from the applicant pool” as the only requirement for all these. I think that let’s them be much more subjective in their awards. Most schools’ websites are precise in what ACT and GPA are required for different levels of scholarships. I’m not sure why U of A thinks they need to be different. I also called to try to get a better idea of what they are looking for and they said they put more of an emphasis on GPA than they do ACT score. I personally do not think that is fair to someone who took a hard course load that could have caused their GPA to be lower, but who also has high ACT to be considered lower than someone with a lower ACT, but higher GPA who may have taken easy classes. One of the main purposes of the ACT and SAT is to have a standard by which to measure applicants. I am not saying GPA should not be taken into consideration, but it should not override ACT score.</p>
<p>Without at least a 32 on your ACT, it will be very hard to get scholarships. They also do not use your weighted GPA. I am 99% sure that everything they use is unweighted. The U of A does not give out many scholarships to freshman and when they do it is VERY competitive. I have friends with 3.7 GPAs and ACTs of 29 that did not get scholarships.</p>
<p>I know of students with ACT scores of 32 who did not get anything because their GPA was not high enough. They want close to a 4.0 regardless of your ACT. If you are close to a 4.0 you can get by with a 30 on the ACT for U of A. I doubt 3.7 would get anything even with a 32 or higher ACT.</p>
<p>Well this is discouraging to say the least lol.
So my chances of receiving any scholarships are that slim? Why do they value GPA so highly? That seems pretty backwards. Anyway, this is looking pretty grim. Is there any hope? lol</p>
<p>Have you considered that you’d also likely get in-state tuition? The university gives me in-state tuition due to grades/scores and then they deduct another $5K for merit scholarship. This brought out total down to a VERY affordable amount. Since you live in TN, which shares a state line with AR, you should qualify for in-state tuition costs. Deduct any scholarship money you’ll get from that amount, and the end total should be more family-friendly. This is the main reason I became a Razorback two years ago. With your scores/GPA it would shock me if you don’t get offered some merit aid. I would imagine that you would be able to be in the Honors College too. Wherever you end up, I wish you luck!</p>
<p>Hey thanks swissmiss, good to see there’s still life on these boards. If you don’t mind me asking, what were your stats to get that scholarship? I think I’ve just about gotten my finances straightened out. There seems to be so much conflicting information though lol. But I’ve already gotten my app filled out, and I’m debating on how soon I want to send it in. Anyway, I think if I can get about $6,000 worth of scholarships, then I should be able to attend. I sure hope so…</p>
<p>I just found out (yesterday) that I was awarded the Silas Hunt Scholarship for $5,000 a year. My ACT superscore was only a 26 (29 E, 24 M, 28 R, 24 S). My GPA was a 4.0 (unweighted).</p>
<p>Congratulations and hope to see you on campus. </p>
<p>Hey congratulations, Jayfizzy. I also received my offer yesterday and was awarded the Leadership Scholarship worth $2,000 a year. Pretty disappointing. It’s definitely better than nothing and I’m very grateful for it, but I’m not sure it will be enough for me to attend. But I also applied for the alumni scholarships. Does anyone know the likelihood of receiving anything from that?</p>
<p>My son just got an email saying he would not be receiving any scholarship from University of Arkansas! He has 3.7UW and 4.3W GPA and a 33ACT and 2270SAT. I am confused…is it the GPA?</p>
<p>reefblue92 - Do you mind if I ask what your GPA/ACT is? I know they put a much higher weight on the GPA than the ACT. I agree that seems crazy when you consider the extreme variance in academic standards among all of the schools these applicants attend and the differences in the difficultly of courses they choose to take. They also say they do this because GPA is a better predictor of success at the U of A. That may be true in a case like a 30 ACT/4.0 GPA performing better than a 31 ACT/2.5 GPA, but is that the case for a 30 ACT/4.0 GPA versus a 31 ACT/3.9 GPA?</p>
<p>tnmom6 - That is very surprising to hear what you said. Both the ACT and GPA seem outstanding.</p>
<p>tnmom6, Wow, that is really shocking. He has much better stats than me!</p>
<p>gohogs, I ended up with a 30 superscored ACT (29 comp) and a 3.4 UW/3.8 W GPA. And they give weight to AP classes, right? So I’d imagine the GPA they figured was around a 3.6.</p>
<p>I remember hearing on the news that they had an enormous, record number of applicants, and I understand that they are accepting more and more to try to increase enrollment. More students=more competition, right? Perhaps that strained the scholarship supply?</p>
<p>I feel very unqualified hearing what you guys are saying. I am beginning to question why <em>I</em> got a scholarship and others didn’t! I think that it’s a little ridiculous, but I’ve been hearing different things as to why certain people were chosen, so I don’t know. Maybe it was the GPA? The letter I got in the mail said that they were impressed with my accomplishments, both inside and out of the classroom. There were a host of factors that determined the winners, I suppose.</p>
<p>But to those of you who have outstanding scores, just because UA didn’t give scholarships doesn’t mean you won’t get any at all. Those are nationally competitive scores you have!</p>
<p>tnmom-
How familiar are you with your son’s overall application? It took a 3.85 or higher and somewhere around a 29-30 or higher to be competitive for any academic scholarships this year overall from what I heard, so your son should have been competitive from a numbers standpoint. The remaining factors of resume and essay were critically important from that point on, so that may be where the issue was, I can’t say. One of the scholarship staff may be willing to discuss the application with you if you call and ask. With that said, keep in mind that the application process this year was extremely competitive, and it’s been very competitive for quite a number of years now. They had 1700 more academic scholarship applications this year than last (which was a record at that point I believe), so it was pretty brutal. </p>
<p>Congrats to those that received awards and my condolences to those that didn’t- hopefully your applications to the other scholarships out there will come through for you!
-Matt</p>
lol.