Get Good Grades.
It’s true. In the realm of college admissions, it’s the geeks who get the biggest scholarships.
But wait. Don’t the jocks get the biggest scholarships? Well, sometimes that’s true. If you play hoops well enough to be recruited by the Georgetown Hoyas, then you’ve got a ticket to ride. Or if you can run really fast, you might get a full-ride scholarship to run track at an NCAA Division 1 university. But there are many athletes in many sports that get very small scholarships, and the vast majority of high school students who aim for an athletic scholarship never get a dime. If you want to learn more about how to get an athletic scholarship, you might want to check out our information here.
While some athletes do pull down some of the sweetest scholarships in American higher education, the geeks still get a lot more money overall. In fact, perhaps 90% or more of the scholarships colleges offer are for the academically talented students—rather than the athletically talented ones.
How does it work?
Colleges are in competition with one another for the top students in the country. Every professor at every college wants to teach the most talented, serious, and interested students. And the more talented students a school is able to attract, then the higher it’s ranking among universities will climb over time. So every university has an interest in attracting top academic talent.
So how do they attract top talent? By offering discounts off the price of tuition for students who have the best grades and the highest scores on their standardized tests.
If getting a scholarship is important to you, then consider these tips.
- Don’t scrimp and save on the tutoring for the ACT or SAT. Many colleges and universities tie their scholarships to these scores. So a point or two extra can mean saving thousands of dollars.
- There are few more efficient ways to reduce the cost of your higher education than to get solid grades throughout high school. Think of every A you get as money in the bank.
- Don’t lull yourself into thinking that a B in an honors or AP course is the same as getting an A in a “regular course” (see our post about weighted grades here).
We work with many families for whom the costs of higher education are a driving consideration in choosing the right colleges to which to apply. We like nothing more than to earn our fee—many times over—by helping students win generous scholarships at high quality colleges and universities. If you need help identifying the right schools at the right price, give us a call today.
