Qualifications and How to Apply

• Must attend high school in West Virginia and plan to be in attendance next year;
• Must be a resident of West Virginia
• Must be a junior at the time of application;
• Must not graduate before January 2018;
• Must have a grade-point average of at least 3.5 or be in top 10% of class*;
• Must have no semester/term grade lower than a "C"*;
• Must be dedicated to learning and should possess an outstanding native ability
• Must be willing to accept academic challenges 
• Preferred test scores include the following:
•  a composite score at or above the 90th percentile on the ACT, PLAN, PSAT, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or another standardized test;  a score of three (3) or higher on an AP exam here is a composite score at or above the 90th percentile on the ACT, PLAN, PSAT, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or another standardized test;  a score of three (3) or higher on an AP exam or a score of 4 on one subtest of Smarter Balance assessment.  Note that only one of the test requirements is necessary.*

   *The school team may waive requirements marked with an asterisk on this page.(1, 2 or 3 on page 4 of the application.) An explanation must accompany any waiver.


 Responsibilities

• Ascertain that you have met the eligibility requirements;
• Find out the date of the school deadline. Although the state deadline is February 10, the school deadline could be several weeks earlier;
• The GHA Application for 2017 is in two parts. Part I is to be submitted online by February  1   3,  which should be no problem since the whole application will probably be due in your school by then. . Part II is the traditional paper copy. Both parts must be submitted. After submitting Part I, you should get a "Your application has been successfully submitted" pop-up screen.  If there are errors, the screen will just hang there.  Be sure that you get the confirmation and print it. It will eventually be placed on top of your paper application. The applications of the county selections and alternates will be mailed to Charleston by the county superintendent's office;. Part II is the traditional paper copy. Both parts must be submitted. After submitting Part I, you should get a "Your application has been successfully submitted" pop-up screen.  If there are errors, the screen will just hang there.  Be sure that you get the confirmation and print it. It will eventually be placed on top of your paper application. The applications of the county selections and alternates will be mailed to Charleston by the county superintendent's office;
• Download and complete Part II of the student application. The application is relatively lengthy and requires two recommendations;
• Let your counselor know at least ten days in advance that you will need a copy of your transcript without your social security number as well as a copy of all state and standardized testing;
• Complete an application and request recommendations from two teachers from grades 9-11;
• Keep the pages in numerical order with the essay at the end. Submit the completed application to your counselor who will add the transcript, first-semester grades, and /test scores.

• Applications for GHA must be processed through the applicant's county. The Department of Education and the Arts will not accept an application directly from a student or a school. 
• Your guidance counselor will work with a county coordinator to set up meeting dates, and he/she will tell you the date by which you must submit your application to the school;
• Students who are home-schooled or who attend a private/parochial school, should contact the board of education office in your county to find out deadlines for application submission. Home-schooled students will be considered with public-and-private school students, but it is the responsibility of the parents to make arrangements with the schools to meet deadlines.

The application is a fillable pdf. Be sure to print  and save it it before closing, or you'll have to do it over.