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<p>I agree with ebeee, that one should not assume that going into college doing a pre-med/ engineering or hard science major should assume that it will be a cake walk to get a 3.5 because they had a 4.0 in high school. Most first year science courses are most likely curved at a B (very few A’s are given) and they are particularly weed out courses (because every other student is a premed / science major) in addition they are 4 credit classes where most other classes are 3 credits .</p>
<p>Using this analogy presented by Fabrizio, if you take 4 classes and get 2 A’s and 2 B’s and one of those B’s is in a 4 credit science course, you will not walk away with a 3.5 gpa.</p>
<p>3*4 = 12 (B in the science class)
3.4 =12 (A in a 3 credit class)
3.3 = 9 (B in a 3 credit class)
3.4 = 12 (A in a 3 credit class)</p>
<p>total quality points 45 total credits attempted 13 GPA = 3.461 (this would lose the scholarship for the OP)</p>
<p>College science courses, do in no way compare to high school courses (even AP courses) at any school, as there are problem set, pre-lab work, 4 to 6 hours or lab work, and post lab work along with large recitation classes. If a student can pull a 3.5 (which basically means that they would have to pull a A- because a B+ is a 3.3). There are no extra credit opportunities no points for home work or class participation, and with large classes with over 100 students, there is just basically a mid term and a final exam where what ever you get, that is your grade.</p>