Fresh out of CAS - I took a Sim and had them take 1 class in town before doing the aptitude test and it got them enough points to get a scholarship. Then they were able to take a second class for that skill in Univille!
I managed to take 6 fresh out of CAS sims with appropriate traits above. Sent them all to get 1 point in each skill as mentioned above and all 6 of them managed to 18 credits towards their degree and two of them did well enough to get scholarships too. I had them do traits only for their degrees but since some traits like Genius cover multiple it got them the points they needed for the scholarship.
Good to know! I was sending them as soon as the mascot dropped off the Welcome Kit, so they had no skills at all. The traits alone (without traits like Genius or Ambitious that cover multiple degrees) were getting my Sims high enough score to get 6 credits, but not high enough for any scholarships. It looks like that might only be the case for Sims with multiple traits that contribute to a degree, though.
For instance: Avant Garde, Artistic, Rebellious, Green Thumb, Schmoozer Sim fresh out of CAS got 6 credits in Fine Arts, but none in other degrees. Green Thumb is a Science trait and Schmoozer is a Communications trait, and though his scores were slightly higher in those subjects, he didn't have a high enough score to get credits. Avant Garde, Artistic, and Rebellious are all Fine Arts traits. I wonder if two degree-specific traits would be enough to trigger credits without skills or if it requires three?