I was wondering if anyone was familiar with how Spelman awards scholarships? They recently sent an email stating that an applicant must have a minimum of a 1330 SAT/ 30 ACT and 3.7 GPA. Are these hard set minimums or has someone been awarded a scholarship with slightly lower credentials?? Maybe a 29 ACT w/ 3.7 GPA or 30 ACT w/ 3.6 GPA??
Spelman’s scholarship standards are hard set. I was confused by my trash financial aid package and immediately inquired upon this. I received an email response from an admissions counselor stating that over 900 applicants met their scholarship standards this year but they will only award 100 merit scholarships.
In other words, even if a student meets the minimum requirements or acheives above the requirements, there’s still less than a 11.5% chance that a high achieving student will get offered a scholarship.
Wow! If it’s that high they need to adjust the scale. The problem is that up until this year (2018) Spelman has advertised no minimum gpa or test scores for their scholarships… only that the top 10% receive them as average gpas and test scores vary year to year. This is what we were told on our campus tour Feb 2017. Now the minimum requirements have been published online…not ideal but at least it’s clear
Spelman gets more and more competitive and expensive each year. And let’s be clear, most competitive schools rarely provide many good scholarships because just about everyone would have one and they’ll lose too much money.
For women who don’t come from wealthy families, don’t have enough outside scholarships, or don’t want to take out too many loans you may want to look into less competitive schools OF QUALITY that provide big scholarships for high-achieving students. For example, a 25 or higher ACT and a 3.5 or higher GPA will give you a full ride scholarship at Prairie View A&M or Texas Southern here in Texas. Both schools are historically black, with several nationally recognized academic programs, and have beautiful campuses but of course they’re still striving to be on the level of Spelman in prestige and notability which is the trade off. But both are again quality HBCUs that give good scholarships
Below is a video of Spelman graduate who simply couldn’t afford Spelman but loved it so much that she decided to do everything in power to find FREE MONEY to stay there… be inspired and learn if you’re that committed to attending Spelman without the funds to do so right now.
In my opinion, they should just create a separate scholarship application similar to what the 'top schools" do…since they consider their institution to be so prestigious. A separate scholarship application (that includes a few essays, etc…) would differentiate between those who are actually committed to attending the school VS those with the high stats who are just applying.
As stated above, I was beyond qualified (according to their hard-set stats) to receive a scholarship, yet I was baffled by my financial aid package. I also reached out (as you suggested) and basically got an “I said what I said” response.
Anyway…I firmly believe that what’s destined for someone will BE for that person, so I won’t dwell on this much.
I just wish HBCUs would let go of all the false advertisement when it comes to financial aid. They need to stop giving students the run around + stop making DRASTIC changes to scholarship standards every year.
@penthouse I agree. What’s for you is what’s for you but that doesn’t mean you should be so easy to take no as the final answer. I know Spelmanites that harassed financial aid until they got extra money. And most women who attend Spelman on scholarships found them outside Spelman … so definitely take a hint. I think less than 10 students are awarded Spelman’s Presidential Scholarship which covers everything. But there’s so much free money out there so you have options … you don’t have to go into major debt to attend Spelman with your credentials.
And not all HBCUs are the same when it comes to how they administer financial aid so let’s keep that in mind.