What is a Merit-Based Scholarship?
It’s often easier to find pure merit-based scholarships through schools than it is to find them through private or nonprofit organizations. Schools sometimes offer merit-based awards in order to attract competitive applicants.
In order to get your hands on these merit awards, sometimes all you have to do is apply to the school. Colleges and universities often look at the following criteria when awarding merit scholarships (keep in mind that the specifics of these criteria vary widely by school):
ACT/SAT
GPA
Class Rank
Read more about Merit-Based Scholarships: https://blog.prepscholar.com/how-to-get-a-merit-scholarship
What is the Common App (CP) or the Universal College Application (UCA)?
Each of these applications create a single application, you can send to various colleges. In Alabama, Birmingham Southern, Samford, Spring Hill, UAB, and the University of South Alabama accept the Common App.
What is Early Decision & Early Action?
Early decision (ED) and early action (EA) can be beneficial to students BUT only to those who have thought through their college options carefully and have a clear preference for one institution.
Read more: https://professionals.collegeboard.org/guidance/applications/early?excmpid=SM51-PR-1-tw
What is a Recalculated GPA?
Not all high school calculate GPAs the same way. Some are weighted, others are unweighted, while others don't use a 4.0 scale. Some colleges may choose to recalculate your GPA based on their class requirements.
Read more: http://www.unmaze.me/community/2016/9/4/why-your-recalculated-gpa-is-important-to-know
How will I know a scam from a scholarship?