<p>I go to a HS with a strange weighting system. You do not get the full benefit until the end of your senior year and some of the honors classes don’t get weighted at all. My UGPA is 3.45 and my WGPA after 6 semesters is 3.71 and should be 3.99 at the end of my senior year. Reading some of these posts, I now realize that colleges look at the GPA after 6 semesters. By graduation, I will have 9 honors classes and 8 AP classes plus 4 years of foreign language, 6 total math classes, 4 science, 4 English, 4 history, 4 years of chorus and 10 varsity letters - 4 in cross country, 4 in swimming and 2 in track.</p>
<p>Can I get a scholarship based on my academic record?</p>
<p>Check the Hispanic Students forum (under College Admissions, Specialty Topics), start with the Resources sticky thread.</p>
<p>Also look at the sticky threads at the top of this forum. I know Alabama uses weighted GPA if it’s on the transcript.</p>
<p>Riley, it’s hard to answer this without a lot more information about your record and your background and what kind of college you’re looking for etc. but your situation is quite similar to my kids who are also URM and attend(ed) a small high school that does not rank or even calculate GPA. For purposes of college applications their college counselor calculates a GPA for the seniors to use on Naviance so they can evaluate their qualifications relative to each college, but he doesn’t weight it so it’s really not accurate.
Selective colleges report that they re-calculate GPA in most instances to create an institutional standard, and they will look closely at your transcript, especially in light of the SSR, info from your LORs etc. My first two kids attended the same Ivy quite a few years back with close to a full ride but things have changed since they graduated. My third was just accepted early to a top LAC with a really fantastic scholarship that follows her through 3 years of grad school. For purposes of comparison: she will have completed 10 APs by graduation, including 2 in foreign languages, and had pretty much all A’s on her transcript. (There was no GPA reported to colleges by her high school.) She also has 2 varsity sports and other activities and accomplishments. She got a 34 on the ACT in one sitting. I can’t, of course, predict anything accurately without seeing your actual courses and grades (and even then I don’t believe in ‘chancing’) but your profile fairly closely resembles my D, who experienced a great deal of success in college admissions. As a high achieving URM, your strategy as far as scholarships will probably depend on your income and what kind of school you prefer. One obvious choice is the large state schools that give scholarships based on numerical standards, which you meet. If you have a lot of need, you can apply to top tier schools which are need-blind, meet 100% need and your URM status will be a factor in your favor in admissions. If you won’t qualify for much/any needs based aid, you can still apply to excellent colleges which will award merit scholarships for academic excellence, (or other areas of achievement ) and you can even apply separately for scholarships related to your URM status and/or other accomplishments and “stack” these scholarships. This may be what my last child will do next year - try to combine some needs based plus institutional merit aid at a particular private college and apply for outside/national scholarships as well. There are always issues of how the funds are applied when you bring in outside money but that’s what you’ll look at when you are deciding on which colleges and which scholarships to apply for. We are not Hispanic so I don’t know those options, but entomom gave you the link for that forum. If you are smart, diligent and skillful in the application process, you should be able to turn your achievements into financial support for your education. Your academic record gives you many options,
My only concern for you is that it is getting late in the game. Deadlines are passing quickly! Even the guaranteed merit at state universities will sometimes require earlier apps than the RD deadlines I think. But even if you are just doing RD applications with no scholarship apps, most are due Jan 1 or Jan 15 and the Common App and essays and supplements take time! You are a senior right?</p>
<p>Thanks. This is a big help . I have a lot to do.</p>
<p>You’re welcome. Keep asking for help and good luck!</p>