<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>Just recently signed up for an account on this CC, I have spent countless hours browsing some of the many interesting topics in the forums.</p>
<p>I'm just curious if anyone has received more/better university scholarships for getting good grades at a university or is it all about ACT and SAT scores?</p>
<p>I have a 3.93 GPA right now at a private university, and the tuition is like 30k a year for me including a small scholarship of 5000 dollars I received. I'm not even living on campus either. I feel like I'm not getting the full "college experience" with the money I have to dish out. If I were to go argue for more financial aid from school based on my current grades wouldn't anything come out of that?</p>
<p>No, it won’t likely work to argue for more financial aid at your current college because you have good grades. </p>
<p>However, does your major offer any scholarships for current students?</p>
<p>Talk to the financial aid office at your school to see if they have a list of merit scholarships. Go through the list to see if you qualify for any of them and consider applying.</p>
<p>Also talk to your department head and the dean of your school to see if they have merit scholarships and if you would be a candidate for any of them.</p>
<p>It depends so much on the school. Some posters have reported additional scholarship money and grants their kids got after being at college. My son just got a small grant and paid internship. But there was no info about this in the literature for the school. </p>
<p>From what I can see, such monies are not from financial aid but from the departments or outside agencies and they are focused on a small group of kids who have a mutual interest with the groups giving out the money. My son got an award that is limited to Econ majors, for example.</p>
<p>Jay, if you have declared a major, talk to the department about any monies that they may have available for outstanding students, like you. Also shop around other departments to see if there are any that have awards. For instance, my son was a Political Science major initially. That the Econ dept has more opportunities and better chances to get such opportunities and more money, was instrumental in changing his major to Econ. My friend’s daughter went from Communications to Public Policy for the same reason. Another found that the grants in some small offbeat major were easier to get than from the very popular and over populated philosophy department. Shop around.</p>
<p>There may be alumni scholarship funds, other private scholarship funds, scholarships for particular majors from local companies. Some of these can be renewed.</p>
<p>BCEagle, a number of schools have such funds for student dedicated to a particular subject, major, project. Because they are narrow in focus and they want someone truly committed to the cause, upperclassmen who have demonstrated interest, aptitude and accomplishment in the area are the ones targeted for that money. I know my sons’ schools all had such funds. The trick is to find the departments and majors where you are most likely to have a shot at the most money.</p>
<p>The amount of effort vs amount of money is always a consideration. Some of these need recommendations, transcripts, resumes and essays. It is possible to run out of professors to ask for recommendations (reasonably).</p>
<p>It is. Also if there are many candidates for the awards, the chances may be slim of getting anything. That is the case for Political Science, Psychology and Philosophy awards at many schools. But the Classics dept or Physics dept or English dept may have fewer students declaring those majors for the prizes available. It really is worth looking around.</p>
<p>My understanding is that SAT scores are the nugget that colleges pay for, not GPA. The reason is that SAT scores are used for college rankings and GPA is not. Also the GPA has become so watered down its hard to compare.</p>
<p>Thanks for the helpful answers everyone. I am a Accounting and Finance major, so I am guessing I should probably start looking for scholarships in those particular departments. </p>
<p>I am also interested in transferring to a different school, most likely another private university. Would the school I plan on transferring to look primarily at my ACT and SAT test scores or would GPA factor in as a consideration for merit-based scholarships from the university? I know its probably different among different universities, but what is the general consensus of how private universities award scholarships for transfer applicants?</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone, for the helpful answers.</p>
<p>If you have completed at least 30 credits, they will likely look at your college GPA only. Private schools run the gamut as far as awarding transfer scholarships, both in terms of what they’ll award for (some specify only students coming from a CC) and how much. Of course, some don’t offer merit aid at all. You might search for scholarship posts on the transfer forum or, if you have specific schools in mind, read the scholarship pages on their websites.</p>
<p>Jay,it has been my observation, which is just empirical that if you do well grade wise in college, you stand a good chance of transfering to colleges that may have been reaches for you due to test scores and high school record. I know a number of kids who were accepted as transfers who were denied at those same schools straight out of high school. That successful first year made all the difference. However, be aware that you do need to look at schools that have a brisk transfer business. You are not going to do well at schools that just don’t accept many transfers. The numbers are right there. It is difficult to get into Harvard as a transfer even if you are stellar that first year in college. The acceptance stats show that. But schools like BC, NYU, Cornell, Northeastern are all examples of schools that I have seen accept kids that they rejected out of high school after they demonstrated a good college year or two. But they do run an active transfer business too.</p>
<p>Also be aware that many schools have different criteria for scholarships and aid for transfers. A need blind school may not be need blind at the transfer level and a school that guarantees 100% of need may not have that same guarantee for transfers. You need to check the specifics. Since most of the marketing and info is geared towards first year students, you have to ask more questions and search more closely if you are transferring to a school.</p>
<p>Check local community organizations for scholarships as well. It might not be a lot, but a few %400 - 1000$ grants each year is fairly easy to get and can cover books and some minor fees.</p>