So I see all these chances threads and everyone lists their senior course load… So I asked my counselor if senior course load is considered in the process of selecting students for a school and she said “No, the colleges would have no idea which classes you are taking senior year.”
Is this true? Cause I thought they did and was a factor considered when reviewing applications or else no one would be listing their course load on the chances threads… Right?
I believe you have to list your senior courses on the Common Application. At least two of the eight schools my daughter applied to required her first quarter grades, and all of her Common Application schools received a mid-year report at the end of first semester that was uploaded by her guidance counselor.
Yes, Senior course load matters since you are required to list your Senior courses on the application. For selective schools, they want to see you are taking a rigorous course schedule in your Senior year and not just gliding along. As pointed out by @NorthernMom61, many schools will ask for your Mid-year report also. Your counselor is either not very competent or you misunderstood.
I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but your counselor is 100% wrong. Colleges definitely know what you are taking because 1) you list it on the application and 2) they get a mid-year and end of year transcript. I’ve heard multiple admissions officers say that they consider senior year courseload to be important.
And you will be required to send your final transcript to the college you are attending. They will confirm that you completed your degree, graduated as expected, and that your grades were more or less on trend with your earlier grades. I hope you and your guidance counselor had a huge misunderstanding because otherwise you have an incompetent counselor!
Thanks, everyone. I have asked my counselor many questions that she either answered wrong or didn’t know how to answer…this helped a lot.