Hello everyone, I did some searching around on this topic and didn’t find anything so I’m starting a thread. My school does narrative reports which means that instead of a GPA, our teachers just write about our performance. Previously, only one college has actually asked to see these reports because they’re ~80 pages of reports that no admissions officer wants to read. However, I plan on applying to more selective universities than people at my school usually do. Do you think my lack of a GPA will hurt me? Thank you in advance for any responses.
It depends upon how well the school is known. I would expect previous students at the school encountered similar issues. How did the college selection turn out for those who preceded you?
@lostaccount My school is very tiny. It’s a middle and high school with 65 students, and the largest graduating class has been 7. So far 96% of the students have gone to college including some great schools (BU, BC, Conn College). But typically students go to liberal arts schools that are test optional. To answer your question, my school is not well known, but college admissions haven’t been a big problem for us. For more selective schools such as Emory, UVA, or Carnegie Mellon, do you think that my lack of a GPA will hurt me?
Does your school offer AP classes? AP scores may help colleges know about your performance.
Also, I think SAT subject tests help too. Many homeschool students use SAT subject tests as “grade reports”.
@coolweather No we don’t have APs. I plan on taking the literature and math level 1 subject tests in the fall (I’m a junior).
My D was in a special program in her HS which had narratives instead of grades. It did not hurt her or anyone else in college admissions. People in her program applied to and were accepted to a huge range of schools from small LACs to huge publics. Her package was not a huge as yours though. Perhaps you can work with your guidance counselor to find a way to condense things a bit to create a more manageable college application package.
No. Your situation is not unique. The school will send a school profile which will explain the grading metrics (as well as other tidbits like highest course offered per department, mean SAT scores, etc.) and the GC should cover it on the Secondary School Report.