From my school, two people (my friend and I) are going to be applying to Yale. We basically have the same grades (perfect transcript) and courses and extracurriculars. I have a more volunteering and internship experiences though.
The only thing is that she’s over a year older than me, since she once had to redo a grade.
Does that give me an advantage over her? I never redid a grade and I’m actually the youngest person in my class.
No stigma to repeating a grade provided the student performed well. Probably a quarter of the kids in elite boarding schools are “repeats”, so colleges are used to it.
Being the youngest person in the class could be more of a minus than a plus if colleges have some reason to question your maturity level.
The question you are really asking: Two candidates from the same high school with the same grades apply to the same college. Who will get accepted?
As Yale receives thousands more applications than they have room for in their freshman class, Admissions uses a student’s teacher recommendations, essays, guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report (SSR) and interview report to select one high performing student over another.
Even though two applicants have the same grades from the same high school, one set of teacher recommendations will undoubtedly rave more about one applicant. One set of essays is going to make an Admissions Committee stand up and cheer more than the other. Ditto with a GC’s report and interview report.
Bottom line: As both applicant’s have the same grades (and supposedly the same course rigor), their acceptance or rejection will depend on factors other than grades, test scores, or one applicant repeating a year.
Gibby, I see you make many comments on College Confidential that are stated as fact rather than as your opinion. Do you have some inside knowledge into college admissions that make your comments more fact than opinion? In another post you state that the College Board sends AP scores to colleges automatically–the comment implies that the College Board sends AP scores to college without the student making such request. Is this true? How do you know?
Let me just say that the OP’s original question is a little vague. The other kid “once” had to redo a grade. I’m assuming that this was long ago–maybe in elementary school–since both students now have a perfect transcript. If, for example, a kid had to repeat third grade for some reason, colleges wouldn’t know or care about that. They aren’t going to ask (or care) why a kid is a year older, as long as the high school career is continuous.
If a kid had to repeat a year of high school, then I don’t see how that kid could have a perfect transcript anyway.
Hunt, if a student goes from public school to private, and especially boarding, they will often repeat a grade-even if they had excellent grades-presumption is that the rigor is different. And it is often 9th grade, by the way, not 3rd. Fewer repeat if transferring from a high powered private.
Yale may take both or neither. Don’t forget-there are thousands of other applicants.
Welcome to College Confidential! My daughter graduated Harvard in 2014, my son graduated Yale in 2015. Between both my kids, they received acceptances to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Williams, Middlebury, Pomona, Boston College, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and about ten more colleges. The statements I make are based on real facts from helping my kids through the college admissions process. My knowledge is also based on taking parent workshops at Harvard and Yale on the admissions and the financial aid process.
Sorry if I didn’t state it more clearly. I should have said “When you request an AP score to be sent” but I thought that part was understood – as the College Board is a for profit organization and their goal is to make money off of student’s and their parents. The College Board does not send scores to colleges unless you pay for them to be sent.
At any rate, here’s the skinny: I stupidly paid the money for my daughter (oldest child) to send her AP scores to 12 different colleges and when the receipt from the College Board came not one score went to an Admissions Office. All of them were sent to the College’s Registrar’s Office. When I called the College Board and complained, they said “That’s our policy. We send AP scores to the Registrar because they are supposed to be added to a student’s academic record.” You and your parents are welcome to make the same stupid mistake I did, but be forewarned.
Thank you Gibby. Your knowledge of the college admissions process is impressive and the number of college acceptances received by your kids is astounding.
So what does the high school transcript of a kid like this look like? Will it include both 9th grades, for example?
I would certainly say that this would also not matter at all to colleges if the transcripts were good for both iterations of the year in question.
^ Wouldn’t only the school to which the student attended from 9th through 12th submit a transcript? The first school would be non-existent in the college app process or why would he/she have transferred to another school in the first place?
^^ You’re correct, however, there are a few high schools that start in 7th grade and go through 12th grade. Hunter College High School in New York City is one of those. I imagine Hunter’s transcripts encompasses grades 7-12, and not just 9-12, but I don’t know that for a fact. So, in theory if a student repeated 7th or 8th grade, that information might show up on the transcript. Although at a school like Hunter, if you fail a grade, they would probably advise you to transfer out rather than repeat a year.