In the fall of 2018, I started a scholarship fund in my friend Rene’s name, who passed away in 2017 after a five year battle with cancer. Since he wasn’t able to go to college for more than a year or so due to his cancer returning, his family and I saw it fit that we remember him by helping students from our alma mater to afford college.
Last spring we received our first applications and were able to give our chosen student double the amount we expected to offer. Our application was fairly easy. We asked for some basic information about extracurricular activities, their top colleges and intended major(s), a copy of their academic transcript, and a short essay about who in their life has been most influential. Our chosen recipient had an intended major of criminal justice and was planning on going to a college near our hometown, and wrote a touching essay about his twin brother who was lost in utero.
Our main criteria for the recipient was based on their writing skills and the story they decided to tell. When a story impressed us, we then looked at their grades. When looking at the grades, we decided not to count out an applicant for a less than perfect GPA. We were looking for a deeper involvement in the school community.
I read the recipient’s application first, and was immediately blown away. Truthfully, they set a very high bar, and I noticed very few of our other recipients reached that bar. Honestly, the fact that theirs stood out at the beginning of the reading process made the decision much easier, because I kept comparing every other application to theirs.
I learned a lesson from this experience, similar to the one I had learned when applying to colleges– admissions and scholarship boards don’t always look for the highest grades, they look for involvement at your school and in your community. On top of that they need to see good grades, but by no means do they need to be perfect.
From what I’ve heard, this can also be applied to looking for a job. Once you finish college they don’t necessarily look at all of your grades, but rather other aspects, such as your extracurricular activities which can be put on your resume as career experience.
So, next time you’re worrying about your grades and such, think about the experience you have outside of that. Think about how useful your experience will be when in a job interview, versus how a 4.0 may not even be looked at in that same interview.