<p>My D is in a school where SAT, AP scores are very low. She works hard to do well. We are hoping colleges will be able to see she stands out academically in her school, in terms of standardized tests, AP tests, etc. But the "school profile" her GC gave to us has no information about those. It almost looks like the school purposely hides the fact that most students do poorly. The school is very much grade inflated. It's very common for students to get As in AP class and fail the national exam. </p>
<p>What should she/we do to make sure colleges understand her background? Of is there a standard way that the colleges use to check on each HS? </p>
<p>@Maxwellequations, I don’t know the answer, but I agree with you - there should be a way to show her standing in school, not just by GPA, but also other things like SAT. I’m puzzled by school profiles myself. </p>
<p>Getting 5’s on AP exams will show her ability. She probably should study beyond what is offered by her school in those classes. She should read a lot and also study materials for the ACT/SAT tests beyond what her school offers/suggests. A relative who is a studier got an A in his HS AP Chemistry but only a 3 on the AP exam while son was a slacker his senior year and got a C in the class and a 5 on the AP exam. Both had the same high score on a gifted program test in different states in different years as 5th graders. They had different colleges, majors and paths.</p>
<p>But what about school profile? How can we get a school profile to send to the colleges so they can see where my kids stand in their schools?GPAs are bogus because so many in our schools get perfect GPA while they fail national exams and SATs</p>
<p>Well, my D. went to HS that did not rank and did not weigh the APs either. All she had was her GPA and school has to produce a class profile. Guess what? D’s GPA was 4.0 uw…and there was only 3% listed to have a 4.0 uw. 3% in D’s class of 33 represented one person. Yes, college figure out everything from the student GPA / transckipt / AP exam grades, SAT II subject test scores and the class profile. While there were no valedictorians and no ranking reported to colleges by D’s HS, they figured out who actually was at the top. It is not as hard as it might seem. As a cherry on the cake, high ACT / SAT score also will be used in determinning the Merit awards and thing of this nature. Additional factors in some programs will include - ECs, essay, interviews (D. had to go thru many for her program and also for some Merit scholarships)</p>
<p>Of course in her essay D will say something that reflects the demographics of our area. But essay is not a good place to emphasize it, due to many factors, word limit is one of them. I think the school profile should show her school’s ave SAT, AP performances, etc. But from what I see, there’s nothing like that in her school profile. Should I ask her school GC? </p>
<p>Do not obsess about this. Your school is what it is. The only thing you can change is the help you give your child beyond what the school offers. Her record in standardized scores- tests/AP exams will show her abilities. </p>
<p>Son’s HS did not weight grades and only gave A, B, C… without +/-. Colleges are used to all sorts of systems. They know some will have advantages others don’t. Do not worry about things out of your control.</p>
<p>Your D needs to prepare herself as best she can. This means learning as much as she can so her A in a class is reflected in a 5 on an AP exam. It means learning outside what is offered in her school so she has great SAT scores despite what the rest of the class gets. It also means enjoying her remaining years of childhood. </p>
<p>Op,
The schools profile is basically the marketing system that they are required to give to colleges. If they have low sats and ap scores, then of course the HS will choose to exclude that information. If you ask them to include the school’s poor performance for all colleges to see, so that your D will shine more compared with the HS’s averages, what do you think your HS’s answer will be to that??</p>
<p>The way that colleges know lower HS rigor and grade inflation and your D’s comparison with the class is
- The colleges’ ad coms usually know about the HSs in their assigned area. The adcoms should know if your HS has grade inflation
- Your D’s sat2 and ap scores will speak for themselves.
- Ask if your HS reports class rank to the colleges.</p>
<p>If your D is competing with other students from her HS for the same college, then they will notice the differences in sat2 and ap scores. If your D is competing with no students from HS for a college, then your D gets the benefit of good sat2 scores, ap scores AND grade inflation.</p>
<p>Don’t obsess- but on the other hand, if there are actual inaccuracies stated on the school profile, you should ask the superintendent of schools (someone in that office is in charge of these things) to correct it to accurately reflect reality. So if the profile claims that the HS offers AP Physics and your kid doesn’t take AP Physics- well, there will be a conversation. But if the HS in fact “offers” AP Physics, but not the year your kid is eligible to take it </p>
<p>Not an expert, but I wouldn’t address this in a main essay. I think it is something that the counselor should mention in their part and/or the student can mention it in a section named something like “is there anything else you would like to add.”</p>
<p>A good college admissions counselor can read between the lines. Agree that if there is something glaring/relevant that isn’t covered that it could go in the “Additional Information” section.</p>
<p>Op,
Is your D’s school in a poor area? Do most of the kids qualify for a free lunch program? If so, then maybe the GC can make a brief mention of the socioeconomic status of the HS in the GC rec letter. Or if your D added the poor area as a one liner context defined in one of her essays. But if it’s just that other kids at the HS do poorly on std tests…well that requires and warrants no comments whatsoever by either D or GC.</p>
<p>If it is common for A students in AP courses to get 1 scores on AP tests, then your daughter can distinguish herself by getting 5 scores on her AP tests.</p>
<p>Of course, that can be easier said than done if the high school AP courses are of low quality – she needs to be motivated to self-study to fill in any gaps.</p>
<p>so far my D got all 5s in her AP exams (1 in freshman year and 2 in sophomore year.) The AP chem class she took in sophomore year she was the only sophomore and was the only one who passed. and she passed it with a 5. others got 1s and 2s and they were seniors and juniors. </p>
<p>yes it requires a lot of self study to do well in national exams like SATs and APs, with the kind of schooling she gets. I think somehow the colleges should know this. But she shouldn’t talk about it blantly (boasting) in her essay. </p>
<p>Most colleges are capable of checking out a school for themselves. If she is applying within her own state or region, the admissions officers are probably already familiar with it. If not, researching a school is part of their job.</p>
<p>Nice to hear that. I hope that’s the case.</p>
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<p>This seems spot-on to me. HSs that post big numbers on the AP exams seem likely to publish a detailed chart on scores as a brag point. (At the very least, this has been true for the handful of examples I’m most familiar with.) HSs that don’t have big numbers probably don’t disclose much. I’d guess the average admissions officer reading a HS profile that stays mum on AP exam averages will probably assume they are at the national average or below. </p>
<p>I do private counseling. As part of my research, I pull the student’s HS profile. When I meet with the family, I give them my impressions of the school based on what I’ve read on the profile. They always concur with my impressions. I bet most admissions people are at least as smart as I am. ;)</p>
<p>Judging from the average entering GPAs at many colleges, grade inflation must be rampant all over the country. The University of MD has an average entering GPA of 4.11, yet nearly 1 in 3 entering students scored below 600 on the SAT-CR. At UC Davis, the average entering GPA is 3.96, yet more than half of entering students scored below 600 on the SAT-CR. So I think the OP is describing a fairly common state of affairs.</p>
<p>How are colleges coping with rampant high school grade inflation? They must be placing more emphasis on course rigor (APs, IBs, college courses), standardized test scores, ECs, or essays. They also look at class rank and the competitiveness of the high school (average test scores, number of students who go to college). Or, they count on spiraling tuition costs to price many applicants out. </p>
<p>It may be in the OP’s interest that the GC is NOT exposing more detail about this school’s profile. If you are an applicant with high scores and high grades, you don’t want to emphasize that those high grades were earned at a school with low average scores. Right? It is kids at the most competitive high schools who should worry that their 3.5/2200 might not stack up against a 4.3/1900 from Lake Wobegon High. </p>
<p>If OP’s D has test scores that are unusually high for her school, then colleges may be able to account for that without detailed information from the GC. Colleges are well aware that average SATs vary by race/ethnicity, region, and socio-economic status. Are any of those factors relevant here?</p>