<p>For somebody who has attended a "progressive" high school, that is both very small (class size under 100) and offers a summary of written teacher evaluations, rather than grades, and (for philosophical and practical reasons) offers no honors or AP, but is actually quite rigorous, how will colleges generally evaluate a student? Are some schools more open to this type of educational background?</p>
<p>Any perspective on this will be greatly appreciated. To put the particular situation in perspective, my daughter has 2300 on SATs, 750 and 740 on SAT subject tests, lots of extra-curriculars, a well regarded art portfolio, a research internship at a major teaching hospital working with PhDs, very strong recommendations etc.</p>
<p>How is the absence of grades factored in? Is more weight simply put on the remaining criteria? Is a certain grade "synthesized" or assumed for comparison purposes?</p>
<p>Obviously many students from this teaching method can be quite valued by colleges. I think the 2300 will make file readers take note and look deeper into the written evaluations. </p>
<p>It wouldn’t surprise me if some schools are lazy and won’t dig deeper however. But the truly elite ones – who value the best applicants will expend the energy.</p>
<p>How has the school succeeded in the past placing kids in selective colleges? Ask the staff and/or previous parents maybe? Good luck.</p>
<p>This is a situation that very few of us here have any experience with. I think you need to talk to the Guidance Counselors as to how to proceed.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your helpful thoughts. The school has had some success in placing students in selective schools, but the absolute numbers are low because of the school’s small size, and the large proportion of students who seem to gravitate to a relatively small number of colleges. The school has not yet been successful at establishing strong relationships with major school admissions offices, unfortunately.</p>