I really want to attend UTD with a scholarship, and I know they give out really good scholarships. But, I also know that the competition for those scholarships can be rough. Can anyone who has ever gotten an AES from UTD or know anybody that has chance me. My SAT and ACT scores are not out of the ball park, they are quite average, and I have okay extracurricular activities.
SAT: 1720
Reading: 600
Math: 580
Writing: 540
**I know these scores are not the best I plan on retaking the SAT on October, hopefully my score will improve.
ACT: 28
English: 28
Math: 25
Reading: 30
Science: 28
**Again I know this is not the best score, but I plan on retaking the test this September.
AP Classes:
(Took and planning to take this Senior year)
AP World
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP Physics 1
AP Physics C
AP U.S. History
AP/DC Eng. Lang. and Lit.
AP/DC Eng. Lang. and Comp.
AP/DC Govt.
AP Econ.
AP BC Calc.
Extracurricular Activities:
HOSA (2 Years/Co-Treasurer for 1 year)
MultiCultural Club(1 year)
Spanish National Society (3 Years)
Beta Club (2 Years)
Mu Alpha Theta (3 Years/ VP for 1 year)
National Honor Society (2 Years/ President for 1 year)
Former Academic Decathlon member (2 Years)
100+ hours of community service: some volunteer activities include volunteering at a nursing home, FallFest for my community, Community Clean-Up, and Community Christmas Parade.
If you could chance me for the AES scholarship I would really appreciate it, and if you could post your stats too if you got the scholarship that would be much appreciated.
You list a lot of AP classes, but what were your scores on the AP tests?
What is your unweighted GPA?
What is your class rank?
It’s possible that with your current SAT and ACT scores and all your extracurriculars that if your GPA is high (at least 3.7 unweighted), then you might be able to get the Achievement Scholarship. It’s just possible, not probable though.
You should be aware that they are increasing the requirements to receive the scholarship each year. There were just two years between my two older girls applying at UTD. They both got the Achievement scholarship, but if my oldest had applied the year that my middle applied, she wouldn’t have received a lesser scholarship. And now the scores are even higher. Four years ago, 1340 CR+M with 40 credit hours of dual credit and 3.8 unweighted GPA was good enough for Achievement. Two years ago, 1470 CR+M with 35 credit hours of dual credit, AP Physics B, and a 4.0 unweighted GPA was good enough for Achievement and Collegium V Honors. They each had about 100 hours of community service, but did not have other extracurriculars like you do.
I actually will get the result of some of my AP tests in a few days, and when I do I will post the ones that I have.
I actually do not know my unweight GPA, my school does their GPA out of a 5.0 and does not post our GPA’s out of a 4.0. Right now my GPA is 4.45, and I am fifth in my class of over 650 students.
I know the competition has gotten extremely fierce the past couple of years that is what worries me. I really want this scholarship to prevent me from going into some hefty student loans. I really hope I can raise my score significantly enough to get a scholarship.
Should I include some letter of recommendation in my application? Does the panel even read those?
I don’t know how much of a boost letters of recommendation give your application, but both of my kids made sure to get them. I recommend getting at least one, preferably two.
I know that you are planning to retake both the SAT and the ACT. That’s a very good idea, but just retaking them without studying specifically for them isn’t likely to do much for your score.
Your ACT score is higher than your SAT score. A 28 on the ACT is roughly equivalent to a CR+M score of 1260 (you got 1180). You might want to focus on studying for the ACT.
The best way I’ve found to study for the SAT and ACT tests is to work through EVERY question in the Red book (ACT) or Blue book (SAT) from the test publishers. You can find these at any local bookstore or on amazon. After you work through a section, check your answers. And then make sure you understand WHY you missed each of the questions that you missed. Rework math problems that you missed so you know that you know how to do them.
Make sure that you use current copies of these books because old copies only had answer keys and not answer explanations.