D was awarded the Foundation Fellowship and is strongly considering it. The 3.5 renewal is somewhat concerning to me, though D is not at all concerned. I would love to get some opinions on how difficult it is to maintain a high GPA at UGA. (D will not be majoring in anything STEM, if that matters.)
I think it depends on a few things. My daughter is a sophomore @uga. She came in as a A student, I think she got 1-2 B’s total in high school. She works really hard and has just under a 3.5. We did not have ± grades in our high school so you need to take that into consideration if your not used to that. She does enjoy her social life so its all a balance and her scholarship doesn’t depend on the higher gpa. UGA is filled with really smart kids and a ton of interesting things to do outside of the classroom. If your D does a good job staying focused it is totally doable!
My d was a fellow. I am trying to think if anyone has lost the fellowship due to GPA and can’t think of anyone. Students are placed on academic probation for a semester before they would lose the fellowship. This is a question you could ask Jessica or Dr Williams.
I understand your concern- but I’m sure your D will be fine.Congrats on the fellowship. PM me if you have any other questions.
I know that people do end up getting cut, because our family friends had students in their son’s class lose their scholarship. My daughter is a freshman FF. She made it through her first semester just fine, and I didn’t hear anything about the rest of her group having trouble. I must admit, I was also nervous about this, but my daughter always says, “I’ll be fine.” If you would like input from my daughter, I can pass it on. She, and the rest, will be very happy to hear that your daughter is strongly considering accepting.
@itsgettingreal17 I was literally just discussing this with my husband today and planning to write to Jessica tomorrow! I have serious concerns about the 3.5 GPA and it’s good to hear there is a semester of probation, but losing the scholarship OOS would be devastating for us since UGA would suddenly be $45,000 a year whereas some private choices would have need-based aid kick in. I’ll PM you anything I hear back tomorrow, but this 3.5 GPA renewal has been keeping me up at nights and become one of (if not the) most critical thing for me in choosing among the top 3 final options. Child’s other scholarship offer at a private school has a 3.0 renewal. For my child, GPA doesn’t rank as high a worry, but in order to give good advice, I feel the need to point out worst-case scenarios. (Call me a pessimist!)
Hi! My daughter is currently a sophomore FF - just home from Spring Break in Tanzania (they had a blast!). Noone in her class has had any difficulty with this requirement. Remember - it’s cumulative GPA… so if you have one rough or really hard semester it is unlikely to cause any problems. Also, if a student does dip below 3.5, they have an extra semester to get it back up without consequences - I am sure that there are a myriad of “helps” available to the student if this were to happen, as well. While they do have high academic standards for the scholarship, it is very, very do-able!!!
PS - We are out of state, so I do feel where you are coming from with the financial concern. Feel free to PM me at any point if you would like!
Sorry, I have been travelling this week and so haven’t been able to respond to all these comments. Thank you to everyone who wrote back on this forum and in the PMs. It made me feel a lot better to hear about other people’s experiences at UGA with scholarships. It is still something my child will have to consider when comparing the final choices, but I feel better knowing more details. I’ll try to respond to the PMs this weekend as well. Thanks to all!!!
An addendum to my above post, the dad who originally told me of the cuts could only remember one person. That one he credited to an over involvement in fraternity life.