<p>vlines-- I’ve pm’d you the name and location of the school.</p>
<p>*May I ask when these “unmentioned scholarships” are typically given for the 35-36 ACT students? *</p>
<p>Usually shortly after acceptance. that said, I don’t know if they’re “college specific” or not. It appears that they are given to those who are in the College of Arts and Sciences, but I’m not sure if that’s exclusive or not. It doesn’t seem like they’re given to those in engineering or are NMF since those get extra scholarships already.</p>
<p>When did you apply? What did you put down for a major?</p>
<p>*An unweighted 3.4 gpa just doesn’t seem like a student that takes their schooling seriously. *</p>
<p>It’s too hard to tell strictly from the unweighted GPA. Some kids take few “electives” and mostly only take “core” classes in honors and/or AP. </p>
<p>And, those who are attending private schools often have GPAs (or rankings!!) that aren’t as high as they would be if they attended public schools. </p>
<p>Of course, some scholarship kids have sub 3.5 **UNWEIGHTED **GPAs, but their weighted GPAs exceed the req’t. </p>
<p>The students who attend schools that don’t weight or have “grade deflation” can have “lower” GPAs, strong test scores, and yet still be serious students. It’s nice when Bama can award scholarships to those students. </p>
<p>I think it’s a problem when a kid has a sub 3.0 GPA and high test scores. That screams that the kid doesn’t do assignments, is lazy, or has some other issues going on.</p>
<p>*He is expecting to take – and hopefully based on past school experience will pass – the AP Bio, AP Computer Science A and possibly the AP Comparative Government tests this year as a high school freshman. </p>
<p>*
Yikes! Wow!</p>
<p>payingforcollegex4, keep in mind that UA will accept “weighted” GPAs that are handwritten on the transcript by the student’s guidance counselor. However, since the school doesn’t have AP or honors courses, it may be harder for the guidance counsellor to do this.</p>
<p>this sounds like a private school. My kids’ private didn’t have “honors” classes because it considered ALL classes to be honors (or AP). For a long time, the school didn’t weight grades, until parents started really complaining that it was hurting the students for college admissions and scholarship consideration. Now, all classes are weighted as honors, and APs get an even higher boost.</p>
<p>SEA_tide – They do calculate and report a “weighted” GPA on transcripts sent to colleges – which is kind of amusing since everyone takes the same classes – and a transcript that shows a 3.0 will also show a weighted 3.5 average – but it isn’t necessarily easy to maintain even a B average at the school. The school is pretty well known to college admissions folks and does have a great track record of placing students – in one recent year twenty percent of the class was admitted to Harvard.</p>
<p>*Are you saying that UA will stack additional scholarships (not mentioned online) onto the Presidential for higher test scorers? S scored 35 on the ACT (and 3.92 GPA), so he now qualifies for the full ride at UA-Huntsville. However, I’m concerned about him being so far away from home at a commuter school; plus, he wants to learn Chinese, and they don’t offer it. I think we’d both be happier if he were at UA, but it’s hard to ignore the savings at Huntsville. *</p>
<p>What did your son put down for his major? Others with an ACT 35 have been given an extra $4k per year…but I don’t know if that is for certain majors or what.</p>
<p>That said…you really need to contact Mary Spiegel about your son’s offer with UAH to see if Bama can offer him anything more. Yes, UAH is largely commuter, so that would be a concern.</p>
<p>Spiegel, Mary Undergraduate Admissions 205-348-8666 <a href=“mailto:Mary.Spiegel@ua.edu”>Mary.Spiegel@ua.edu</a> </p>
<p>Include name, GPA, ACT score, and CWID…and major. Also attach the UAH offer.</p>
<p>What was the test date of his ACT???</p>
<p>Sorry to confuse . . . S is only a junior. We’re just trying to get our ducks in a row. 
He is planning on Engineering or Computer Science.</p>
<p>Oh good!</p>
<p>How did your son do on the PSAT? He may make NMSF if he scored well enough.</p>
<p>Anyway…he’d be given an extra 2500 per year from the CoEng’g. …assuming that UA doesn’t change its scholarships for next year’s applicants.</p>
<p>For more than that, if he doesn’t make NMF, you’d have to contact Ms. Spiegel.</p>
<p>Nowhere near as well as he did on the SAT practice tests . . . 206, so no NMSF. He is interested in University Fellows and CBHP, but those look pretty darn competitive. Am I correct in my understanding that only University Fellows (and not CBHP) offers additional scholarship money?</p>
<p>Actually, they both often offer extra money. Often those who don’t make NMF, who are in UFE or CBH get some scholarship money.</p>
<p>I totally understand why they are giving scholarships to high test scores and I agree that there are more kids with high grades than high test scores. I also have no problem with the admissions scholarships. It’s just a little disappointing that they don’t reward the well rounded kids once there is money left over. I didnt mean to offend anyone with my comments but I think the argument can go both ways. We had planned on D going to UF and are used to their holistic approach. With that said, maybe you will understand why Im disappointed with the policy.<br>
My neighbor goes to the same challenging school as D. He is very smart but chose not to take any AP or Dual Enrollment classes, no clubs, no ecs, no involvement. He plays video games and rarely leaves his home. He was awarded full in state tuition at Alabama because he met the 3.5 gpa and had a 35 on the ACT. He is brilliant, there’s no doubt about it, but does that mean he will be an asset to Alabama? Yes, he will help bring up their ACT stats up but if he continues the same path, what else will he contribute? There isn’t a teacher at their school that would say he deserves it more than my daughter who has a 4.7 gpa, In the top 5% of her school, took 11 AP courses, extremely involved in sports, student government, clubs
… and will continue her involvement once at Alabama. She only received a 29 on the ACT.<br>
According to the holistic approach taken at UF, my neighbor most likely wont get in because his gpa is too low and he didnt take the most rigorous classes available. The fact that he didnt do anything outside of school will also hurt him in their holistic approach. While Ds test scores arent high enough to get her any good scholarships at Alabama, she will most likely get into UF. Go figure. So just like you can say gpas are inflated, there are also many students with high test scores that arent capable or choose not to challenge themselves. This is why it would be nice to see leftover scholarship money go to well rounded, and certainly not incapable students who have a 3.4 gpa with a 35 ACT score if they took challenging classes or students who have a 4.5 with a 30 ACT score. Last time I checked a 30 on the ACT isnt too shabby.<br>
FYI, neighbor boy turned down scholarship and will be attending UCF Honors as he doesnt want to go too far from home. We believe D will get the best education at Alabama and have chosen Alabama over Florida even though it will be double the cost. Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Pinkturtle,</p>
<p>Congrats on your daughter’s achievements and on choosing a great school. If she has a 30 ACT she’ll get the UA Scholar which is 2/3 tuition. If she has the 29 she still receives the Collegiate. I wouldn’t give up on alumni money or looking into private scholarships for her EC’s if she has many community service interests. I would check to see if you have an active BAMA group where you live. The general scholarship application covers a few extras she may have applied for as well. Congratulations and Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Pink…</p>
<p>It sounds like your D would get good LORs and such to make her more attractive for the local scholarships. Have your D talk to her GC or look on her school’s website in the Guidance area to see if the GC has a scholarship list.</p>
<p>I know it can be frustrating and crazy. I know some NMFs that didn’t have great high school stats who have better scholarships than those who did better in HS.</p>
<p>That said, UF isn’t known for merit, so if that classmate does manage to get into UF, he might not get much there.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. We are very excited and happy with our decision. The admissions director we spoke with said it’s too late for her to take the ACT again. She was too busy in the fall and didn’t want to take it again but with everything she has done, a 29 was good enough. I probably should have been a little more proactive with the college process. Live and learn. I’ll have it down by the time the third child goes.</p>
<p>D is looking for outside scholarships. She contacted our regional rep who happens to live in this area to see if the local alumni group gives out scholarships. The rep said the scholarship application is used for those. Should she still contact the local alumni group? Hopefully she will get something. The Admissions director said that she might get enough to cover her books. Every little bit helps. Her school has a new college guidance counselor this year. From parents who have older children, I gather she’s not very good. I don’t want to talk bad about her, but most of the scholarships she has posted we’ve already found online. D goes to a Catholic School and they did recommend her for a full ride to a Jesuit school and Chrsitian Brothers school. We just cancelled her interview since we made our decision. Most of the local scholarships seem to be need based. There is one $1,500 scholarship she is probably most definately going to get. We keep joking with our younger daughter that she will need to be a NMF because we’re spending her college money on the oldest. ha, ha. </p>
<p>Florida is definitely not known for merit scholarships.</p>
<p>She contacted our regional rep who happens to live in this area to see if the local alumni group gives out scholarships. The rep said the scholarship application is used for those. Should she still contact the local alumni group? Hopefully she will get something. The Admissions director said that she might get enough to cover her books. Every little bit helps.</p>
<p>I hope that your D does get a dept scholarship. what is her major?</p>
<p>I hope she gets a dept scholarship too:) She just changed to a nursing major from Biology/pre med. She hopes to become a nurse practioner working in neurology.</p>
<p>Nursing does have scholarships…hopefully, those were not decided before she changed her major.</p>
<p>Perhaps your D should contact nursing scholarships.</p>
<p>She called and they said she had until the end of the month. The scholarships are sent to the departments the first week of February. We have our fingers crossed. She’s logged over 100 service hours at a local hospital, so maybe that will give her a leg up. So if anyone wants to change their major to be considered for department scholarships you have only a few days to do so.</p>
<p>M2CK (or anyone else!), </p>
<p>Regarding department scholarships, how do you learn what is available? Right now, I see my D is listed as a pre-med major. But that isn’t even an actual major, is it? She is thinking of a double major in History and Math. I assume should would need to fill out the application major change form online. Other than engineering, are there departments that are known to have additional merit scholarships for incoming freshmen?</p>
<p>Regarding department scholarships, how do you learn what is available? Right now, I see my D is listed as a pre-med major. But that isn’t even an actual major, is it? She is thinking of a double major in History and Math.</p>
<p>Right…pre-med is NOT a major, so she wouldn’t be considered for dept scholarships. She’d need to QUICKLY declare a major in MyBama.</p>
<p>However, if she already has the Presidential, then she won’t likely be considered.</p>
<p>Ok, so we just changed her major to History. It says it will take 2-3 days. She really wants to double major and be pre-med. Will DegreeWorks handle this? Right now she is shown as pre-med and it lists all those science/math classes that she needs. Will that disappear when she switches to History? Can we show a double major?</p>
<p>She does have the Presidential, and we don’t want to be greedy, but we sure wouldn’t turn down anything else :)</p>
<p>*Right now she is shown as pre-med and it lists all those science/math classes that she needs. Will that disappear when she switches to History? Can we show a double major?</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>She can list a second major after school starts. But, pre-med isn’t a major, so it wouldn’t be a second major. </p>
<p>Does Degree Works have a pre-med track option to select that will include the bio, chem, ochem, physics and math classes?</p>