<p>
And you still say GPA is weighted more? They don’t have a cut-off for GPA’s (maybe 3.8).</p>
<p>I had a 28 ACT and 3.9 when I applied for scholarships. Happily received a $4,000. Pretty sure could have received $8,000 or even $12,500 if I had that 32 ACT.</p>
<p>Your example is exactly what I am talking about. You had a very high GPA of 3.9 and a good, but not great ACT score. I think you are correct in that without at least a 3.8 GPA you will not receive any scholarships from U of A no matter how high your ACT score is. As far as weighted or un-weighted goes, I am not sure what they use. I think they do accept weighted GPA based on AP scores. To me, the problem with putting more emphasis on GPA than on ACT is that there is a large variance in the rigor of the coursework a student takes in high school. The ACT is the same for everyone.</p>
<p>Well, 3.9 is not 4.0 like you said.</p>
<p>I had four friends in my calculus class that had <3.8 GPA and 32+ ACT, all four got $4,000 scholarships because they did not have that 3.8 - it’s a requirement for bigger scholarships. For $1,000-$4,000 scholarships, I don’t think they have a GPA cutoff.</p>
<p>You really should not worry about your GPA unless it is less than 3.8 and your ACT is also less than 28.</p>
<p>(They don’t use UW GPA)</p>
<p>That is good to know. I guess most people assume that a 32+ and a GPA of 3.5-3.7 would equal a large scholarship. A lot of college’s are very specific on their websites as to what ACT/GPA requirements equate to their different levels of scholarships. Obviously the U of A has reasons for not doing this. But, I think most people want to know where they stand before they take the time to apply to a school. Thanks for your insight. The information you contribute is very helpful.</p>
<p>The remark about ‘close to 4.0’ was a quote from the scholarship office. I would say that a 3.9 is very close a 4.0</p>
<p>gohogs,
The scholarship office is normally happy to provide you with the average (or approximate average if they don’t have the data set in front of them) ACT/SAT and GPA of recipients of the varying levels of scholarship awards for the previous year, but with some scholarships are newer than others and use more fluid guidelines than others, which has made it hard to give set ranges for each award except for a couple (the Chancellor’s and Fellowships are normally much easier to project competitiveness for), and the ranges have shifted a bit in the last few years. Scholarship applications have been way up, even more so than had been expected with the increases in overall admissions applications the past few years, so it’s a bit like hitting a moving target right now. </p>
<p>There’s also the perception issue- administrators don’t want the parents of in-state students calling their local legislator and making a fuss if their child, who “met the guidelines” didn’t receive an award but a similar (numbers-wise) neighbor/friend/out-of-state applicant did. A lot of parents and applicants in the past have viewed competitiveness guidelines for an institution’s scholarships as guarantees (which do not exist at the UofA but do at some state schools) too, which leads to low quality applications and ticked off parents (and for a state school, noise and annoyance from the state legislators that ticked off parents complain to). Set numbers guidelines are nice when that is all you consider, but since they don’t function that way anymore, they need the extra flexibility that comes with not naming set ranges to be able to put a little more subjective lens on things and try to be as fair as possible. Webass is certainly correct in that they don’t care more about GPA than ACT/SAT test scores, but for illustrative purposes… Assume you have 100 applicants for 25 awards, and 50 of those applicants have ACT scores of 32 or higher. You’re going to start weeding applications out based off the GPA if other metrics are similar, so a high test score, lower GPA application is almost always going to get knocked into a lower award pool for evaluation. It’s not that one is more important than the other, it’s just that there are normally plenty of X+ ACT 4.0 GPA applications for the higher awards, so the lower GPA applications aren’t going to look very competitive unless something else really jumps out at them. That is where some of the more subjective award categories come in (Silas Hunt awards for example, have had a really broad GPA and ACT range from time to time) and make it hard to predict from year to year what numbers are needed to be competitive for which award amount. </p>
<p>I don’t know if that was helpful at all or not, but hopefully gives you a little more information and lets you picture this process from the other side of the application a little.
-Matt</p>
<p>I agree with your example of a group of applicants all with 32 ACT scores and then GPA being used as the ‘tiebreaker’. The question is would a 32 ACT with a GPA of 3.7 be considered for a better scholarship than a 29 ACT with a 4.0. The impression I received from talking to the scholarship office was that the person with the higher GPA would trump the the person with the higher ACT. I assume this is only to a certain point though. </p>
<p>In the example webass gave about applicants having 32+ on GPA but not getting the better scholarships because their GPA was below 3.8 shows how GPA is considered more important to the U of A. A 33 ACT is in the top 1% of the nation. The number of kids with a 3.8 at their local high school is much higher than that.</p>
<p>
If this was the case, why doesn’t a guy with 4.0+ GPA (99th percentile) but with a 26 ACT (85th percentile) doesn’t get anything? The other guy, on the other hand, has a 33 ACT (99th percentile) and a 3.7 GPA (~85th percentile at my school) gets so much money.</p>
<p>I still believe the ACT is more weighed than the GPA because they have clear cuttoffs for Honors College Scholarships, but no cuttoffs for GPAs.</p>
<p>Webass, I understand your point, I am just saying that the scholarship office told me that GPA a more important factor to them than ACT score in determining scholarships. Additionally, I know examples of students with high (32+) ACT scores who received little if any scholarships.</p>
<p>Do you think only 1% of students achieve a 4.0 at most high schools?</p>
<p>I am excited to see so much discussion regarding the scholarship process at the University of Arkansas. determinedj- I am pleased that you are asking questions and finding out information early. That is really the key. I will confirm that Matt understands the scholarship process at the U of A. Our scholarships are very competitive and continue to get more competitive as we increase enrollment. The only guaranteed scholarship we have right now is the New Arkansas Non-Resident Tuition Award Scholarship for students from Kansas or a state contiguous to Arkansas that have at least a 3.25 high school GPA and a 24 or higher on the ACT (1090 SAT combined math and critical reading). This award pays the majority of the difference between in state and out-of-state tuition. </p>
<p>Both the GPA and test scores are both very important to the evaluation process. Grade point averages are slightly better predictors of success at the U of A, so that does play a part in the evaluation process. For instance, we had applicants with 30+ ACT scores, but lower GPAs that did not receive scholarships, when other students had around a 29 ACT and a 4.00 GPA received a renewable scholarship. In addition to the test scores and the GPA, the essay and resume are both very important. We had several students with high GPAs and test scores this year that did not receive a scholarship because they did not take the application portion of the process seriously. </p>
<p>The Academic Scholarship Office recalculates all grade point averages to a standard 4-point scale for academic scholarship consideration. One extra grade point is given for Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses. Honors and pre-Advanced Placement courses are not given extra weight in the calculation. We use ACT and SAT superscores for scholarship consideration, but not for fellowship consideration. </p>
<p>For our future students, we will open the admissions and scholarship process around July 18 this year. Students will have to complete an online application for admission and indicate on the application that they are interested in applying for scholarships and fellowships. We will then email a link to a personalized scholarship application where students will copy and paste the requested information. The priority deadline is November 15. We encourage students to apply for admission by November 1 to have plenty of time to complete the scholarship application. Additional scholarship information regarding the process will be posted on our website around July 18.</p>
<p>I guess that’s the official response.</p>
<p>UArkansas, you say “Grade point averages are slightly better predictors of success at the U of A”. Can you elaborate on that?</p>