School profile

[ucbalumnus]

<p>

@tk21769

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.

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<p>GPAs are not reported consistently in common data sets. Many of them are weighted GPAs, but using the college’s weighting system which can vary between colleges.</p>

<p>UCs are known to emphasize grades over test scores, so it is not surprising that their frosh profiles are more GPA-biased than test-score-biased.</p>

<p>Still, it is common for high schools to have standards for A grades that are low compared to external standards like AP tests. For example, see page 14 of the AP report at <a href=“Research & Accountability / SAT, ACT, PSAT, AP and IB Performance Reports”>http://www.houstonisd.org/Page/38527&lt;/a&gt; , where a large percentage of A students in AP courses score 1 on the AP tests.</p>

[T26E4]

<p>@Youdon’tsay
Can you confirm this for me? I’ve only heard that these stats are part of what schools fill out:</p>

<p>%kids eligible for free/reduced lunches (points to relative poverty rate in the community)
% graduates who enroll in 2 yr college
% graduates who enroll in 4 yr college</p>

<p>A description of AP/IB or honors courses</p>

<p>Is this correct? Is there any info about % of 9th graders who graduate?</p>

<p>What have you seen?</p>

<p>EDIT: hmmm… did some of my own searching. There’s a sample found here:
<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/counseling/profile/sample”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/counseling/profile/sample&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I guess it’s up to the high schools to submit what they want – I thought it was a standardized form. </p>

[Youdon_tsay]

<p>T26E4, it’s up to each HS to present itself however it likes.</p>

<p>One of the most common mistakes high schools make is presenting too much narrative and too few facts. But when they do that, you have to ask yourself, “Why aren’t they giving me more facts?” Maybe it’s on purpose; maybe it’s a GC who doesn’t know how to do it better. One school I saw spent a lot of time talking about how many athletes get signed, which is great if you are an athlete at that school. :)</p>

<p>There’s really a lot you can glean from them. One school’s listed all the NMSF but told us that no one made NMF. Made me wonder why not. I mean, not everyone makes it, but when you have several and not a one makes it. For two years in a row. Hmmm. </p>

[Maxwellequations]

<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.

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<p>It is true that by showing the colleges that her HS is weak academically, the value of her 4.0 GPA is depreciated. However, it shows more strongly how much extra effort she has made to meet the national standards. It’s a trade off, I guess. But what you said makes a lot of sense. </p>

[herandhisMom]

<p>My D has a couple 4s in her AP tests. But she was the only one who got a 4 in AP chem, and one of the very few who got 4 in AP world. In her case, I’d rather to have colleges see that even though she didn’t get 5s in those, yet she made the best out of what she is offered. In her school, there are many high GPAs. but very few who did well in APs. She got 2310 SAT, the next highest is below 1900. Nobody in her school takes subject test but except for her. She actually feels a lot of pressure doing that. She does that because she wants a change. I hope colleges can see what kind of school she is in. Her HS profile mentions no SAT, no AP. </p>

[dyiu13]

<p>This is what a school profile is supposed to look like, seems to me:
<a href=“School Profiles – Counselors | College Board”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/counseling/profile&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Here’s a sample:
<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/counseling/profile/sample”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/counseling/profile/sample&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[dyiu13]

<p>Oops. Hadn’t seen those links ^ had already been posted.</p>

[dyiu13]

<p>BTW, perhaps you can learn/borrow from the homeschooling folks about how to “prove” an applicant has good prep for college. </p>

[Ynotgo]

<p>I think homeschoolers often tend to take a lot of SAT IIs to submit as proof.</p>