Many students base their decision of where to attend college on which school offers them the best scholarship.
In an effort to recruit the best and brightest, the U offers merit-based scholarships to any graduating senior with at least a 28 ACT and a 3.9 GPA.
Unfortunately, the U cannot afford to have all these students keep their scholarships for four years of education. They are counting on a certain number of these students losing their scholarships by not maintaining the required GPA. Statistically speaking, 30 percent of students on Honors at Entrance scholarships will lose them in their first year at school.
In order to keep an Honors at Entrance scholarship, a student must maintain a 3.7 cumulative GPA. If students fall below the requirement, they are sometimes eligible to appeal for a probationary semester.
Why is it that a 3.7 GPA was chosen as the blanket standard of excellence, regardless of the department in which a student is enrolled? We all know that some majors are simply harder than others. This is why, when it comes time to award Latin honors at graduation (i.e., summa cum laude, etc.), every department evaluates its graduates’ GPAs individually.
Any student on a scholarship soon realizes the benefits of creating an easy class schedule to maintain the required GPA. Rather than taking hard sciences or other difficult classes, students who wish to ensure the survival of their tuition waivers enroll in classes that are not as challenging or rigorous.
There is something counterintuitive in an institution of higher learning rewarding intelligent students for underachieving. Rather than punishing students for taking a class load that is too difficult, the U should give more leeway to students who challenge themselves academically.
After all, a 3.7 GPA is an A- average; should students who achieve a B+ average in physics, anatomy and chemistry really be punished for having sub-standard grades?
The U should be in the business of educating students, yet it is promoting a system that rewards students for dumbing themselves down.