 I was speaking to some dear friends the other week. They have an 8th grader about to go through high school registration and we started a fabulous conversation about what courses she should take to best prepare her for college and college admissions. Then a few weeks later, I was sitting on the sidelines of my husband’s U14 boys soccer team (he’s the coach y’all), and once again I overheard parents talking about what courses they were looking at for their sons when they start high school in the fall. They discussed honors, Advance Placements (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. And it made me think- parents seem to be very concerned with the level of courses that their students are taking, but do they understand how those courses can truly help or hurt their child’s overall GPA? And how, their academic records factor into admissions? It’s so much more complicated than having a transcript full of high level courses.
According to a survey conducted by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) 80.9% of colleges rank a students overall GPA (all classes) as “Considerable Importance” when evaluating applicants and 70.8% of schools consider the GPA of core courses. So what does this mean? It means that GPA is more than just an accumulation of letter grades over a course of four years. In fact, a student’s GPA is a fairly complex aspect of admissions evaluation. Breaking Down GPA A student’s GPA is based on a 4 point scale determined by the letter grade a student earned in a course (A= 4 points, B= 3 points, C= 2 points, D= 1 point, and F= 0 points) and the amount of credits assigned to the course. It's important to note, most schools calculate GPA with pluses and minuses adding and subtracting value. For example, if a student earns an A+ in US History, it would be a 4.25 whereas an A- would be 3.75. With AP or IB programs, this scale goes up to a 5.0 point scale (weighted) with an A+ earning a 5.0, an A being a 4.75, an A- a 4.25, and so forth. So when talking about weighted GPA we are taking into account the difficulty of the course, letter grade, and credits assigned. Confusing, I know! Websites such as GPAcalculator.net are helpful tools when trying to figure out weighted vs unweighted GPAs for your student. GPA Evaluation By Admissions Offices Most parents and students believe that students need a high number of advanced courses with outstanding GPAs in order to obtain admission into their dream schools. However, colleges are very aware that most students are not taking, or even able to take, a full class load of AP and IB programs throughout their high school careers. In fact, a very small number of students applying each year to school are in that particular pool of students. So you don’t need to be pushing your child into every elite course unless you are chasing after the most elite schools, and even then, remember, they are only going to take about 10% of that group of students. It is better to have a sane teenager in your house, than a stressed out one! That being said, students shouldn’t coast either. Two students can have similar overall GPAs, however; students with higher grades in less challenging courses, where more challenging courses were available to them, are not as well received as students who took on more challenging courses but received slightly lesser grades. Basically, an A in 11th Grade English doesn’t look as good as a B+ in AP US Literature. Now again, this doesn’t mean take on every advanced course- a string of B’s in all your advanced courses isn’t going to sit well either. Colleges want to see students who are willing to challenge themselves and rise to that challenge. If math isn’t your subject, but you start off in college prep, then take honors class, and then take on an AP course and receive a B- will play well because it shows growth. But taking all AP courses, receiving B’s each course, is not showing improvement. As one admission officer said “Be reasonable and stay sane. Take what you can manage and do well in, and what makes sense for you.” It’s about your journey, remember there are many students who have high GPAs, amazing transcripts, and will still get turned down from schools! And why is that? Well, not all schools are created equal, and not all schools have qualified staff and resources to offer advanced courses in all subject areas, at all grades levels. Because of this, when your student’s transcripts are sent into a school, they are sent along with their high school’s school profile. These profiles outline what courses are offered at their school, how many students are taking advanced classes, the grade range for those courses, how many students are passing the AP exams, and students' class ranking, among other aspects about school funding, staff, and overall graduation rate. This is all taken into account when they evaluate your academic record and overall GPA. Some admission offices even reassign point values to transcripts, thus establishing a new overall GPA, to account for these discrepancies between schools and level out the playing field. So even if your student has a 4.67 GPA and is second in their high school class, it doesn’t guarantee them a golden ticket. So, when evaluating course selection while preparing for high school or while in high school, don’t get hung up on the face value of course names- remember they are just one part of a much larger application.  After my first meeting with new clients, I always ask “do you have any additional questions for me?” which is almost always answered with “should we start visiting colleges?” The answer is a renowing YES! In fact, in my opinion you can’t start taking your kids to college campuses early enough- my kids had their first visit at 6 months old, but I’ve always been a bit of an overachiever. All kidding aside, studies conducted by the National Association for College Admission Counseling actually show that students who go on college visits prior to applying are 40 percent more likely to obtain admission than students who don’t. Plus, the earlier parents can get their children excited about college in their own right, the stronger their determination will become to go. I found it's an easier admission process when the student is invested in attending college because they want to go, and not because they need or feel like they should go.
So take your kids to as many college campuses as you can, and as often as you can. These don’t need to be specialized planned scouting trips (a post on those to follow), you could simply include these visits in your already planned travel. Going grandma’s in Phoenix, grab some ice cream and walk Arizona State’s campus; taking the kids on that epic Disney World trip, maybe kill some time before your flight at the University of Florida. It might not be the first thing your kids want to do, but your efforts will pay off in the end. Remember these first trips are not scouting trips, they are just getting your child excited and acquainted with what colleges are, in reality, rather than an abstract concept spoken by parents and teachers. Plus, the student stores can always use your business for a good t-shirt or hat. Now, I understand not every family has the budget or means to get to a college campus. But one of the benefits of being locked up in our homes during the pandemic, is colleges have vastly rehauled their virtual tours- making it possible for you to visit from the comfort of your own living room (PJs are totally acceptable for these tours!) Before the pandemic, you can find thousands of pictures and few youtube videos, but now, you can schedule Zoom tours, click through interactive maps, and some even offer full virtual reality walks on campus. Companies, such as YouVisit, believe that “distance should not limit your college options” and allows you to not only virtual walk through campuses all over the country but you can also use their filters to identify schools based on region, student population, geography of campus location, and finally by tuition. Making it not only a great research tool for seniors but also a creative alternative to visiting campuses. I promise to have a post in the near future on scouting trips- what they are, how you should prepare, when you should take them- but for now, let's keep this blog post short and sweet; and please visit a college campus today, no matter how old you are! Lists are a common sorting mechanism in American society- and boy do we love our lists! We will rank pretty much everything, from the Billboard’s Top 100, Forbes 400, People’s Sexiest Man Alive, we can’t get enough of it! So why wouldn’t we rank our universities by overall school, size of campus, programs, and pretty much any other part of the college experience? And as incoming freshmen begin their college searches it is so easy for them to find these lists and get caught up in their rankings. But is a school’s ranking really that important? Or even a valuable data point? The answer is debatable but let us spend some time exploring how these lists rankings are actually formulated, and then you can decide on how valuable they are in your search.
One of the most sought out and widely publicized college rankings is US News Best Colleges list(s). They publish their list every year in both print and online (limited access without purchase to the full publication) and they even offer a college search online system “College Compass”. Per their website, for $39.95 you get access to custom ranking, expert tips, updates on when new rankings are released, notifications when updates to the system are live, expanded profiles of the schools (from what you can already find on their main website), financial aid info (although they don’t specify what information is actually being provided), campus life and sport programs, advance sorting functions, as well as access to their trusted partners and sponsors- for one year. College Compass offers a “one-stop-shop” kind of experience for their subscribers. It allows students to gather multiple data points they need to make valuable decisions on which schools they want to possibly attend without having to spend hours combing through university websites themselves to find the information. As of 2016, US News uses seven categories of data in their formula that produces their rankings:
The Reputational Ratings are based on a poll given to a group of college presidents, provosts, admissions deans, and high school counselors with a return rate of less than 50% from college administrators and less than 10% of high school counselors. The responses collected, rate aspects of the quality of undergraduate programs and selectivity of admission on a 1 to 5 scale from “marginal” to “distinguished” and an optional “I don’t know” answer. As you can imagine this group is not always familiar with every school on the list, so we can assume there are a fair amount of “I don’t know” responses. Additionally critics of college rankings, such as the authors of “Admission Matters: What Students and Parents Need To Know About Getting Into College; Fourth Edition”, would say that lists such as US News does not take into account additional factors in there overall data collection such as professor’s salaries or bonuses for publications, marketing campaigns of universities to draw in students as well as faculty, class size, geographical location of campus, etc. That being said, US News is ever changing their formula from year to year to address gaps or holes in their formula to make their rankings more accurate each and every year, hence schools rising or lowering. One of the biggest flaws in any publicized college ranking, is that it doesn’t account for EVERY available school choice. Instead most lists focus roughly on about 150 schools at a time. This is due to the vast number of universities in the United States and to not overwhelm the researcher. Therefore, these lists are really ranking schools who have done a better job marketing themselves to the rankers. So does this mitigate the result of these lists? No, I don’t think it does. There are multiple reasons why schools such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford sit at top of almost any ranking out there. They are extremely good schools and produce extremely qualified individuals for their chosen fields. But is that to say a graduate of a lesser known university can not be as successful as an Ivy League graduate- I think not! My point for those of you who have stuck around long enough to finish this lengthy blog post, is you should definitely look at and take into consideration college rankings; but just don’t base your entire decision around what you find on them. Let them be more of a starting point for your research rather than all that you do. Think of them as Wikipedia, a great way to start off but you could never cite or write a paper off what you find!  When considering which school is the right for you, size should be in your top factors to consider. The size of the school affects many components of your overall experience- do you want small class sizes all the way through? Are you looking for a school that specializes in a field of study or are you looking for more variety? Do you want a large selection of extracurricular activities? Are you looking for a national and vast alumni base? Are you looking for research opportunities as an undergrad? All of these are affected by how small or large of a school you pick. So let’s review some of the pros and cons of each school size choice.
SMALL SCHOOLS To be considered a small school, the student body (undergraduates, graduates, PhD candidates) is under 5,000 students. Examples would be: Amherst College, the Claremont Colleges, or Regis University. More often than not these will be colleges rather than universities (see last week’s post for how these differ), and focus on one area of study such as the liberal arts or engineering. Small student bodies leads to better student-to-professor ratio, ability to obtain required classes, and creates an intimate college experience- giving you a better chance of having a class, running into someone on campus or living near most of the people within your year. This can be a positive or negative characteristic- depending on your personality and how social of a person you would like to be. These schools have an inherent community built in and therefore don’t offer as many extracurriculars as you would find in a larger school. However, for some the anxiety from larger groups or the number of options is too overwhelming and therefore the smaller student body and selection of activities is a huge plus. More often than not, students are able to live in on-campus housing for all four years of school and don’t necessarily have to search for off campus housing options. Additionally, smaller universities create a close knit and active alumni network for current students to benefit from; compared to larger universities who’s networks may be vast but usually are as active with current students. Lastly, small schools tend to be private institutions with more expensive tuition and costs of living (given the fewer options for students) compared to larger public schools. MID-SIZE SCHOOLS Mid-size schools are between 5,000 and 15,000 students, examples would be Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, or Boston College. They can be geographically in suburban areas or in the middle of a major city. They offer a good variety of majors and minors in a broad selection of fields. The professors are still active in their respective fields but aren’t as focused on research or publications. As an incoming freshman you won’t have the same opportunity to get to know most of your cohort as with smaller schools but you will get to know more of those within your major as you get into more specialized courses. Students also have more on and off campus housing options- dorms, greek houses, apartments (both campus own and private), or houses. Making it easier for you to budget living expenses throughout your college years. Additionally, students have a variety of student organizations, clubs, and intramural sports to join as extracurriculars. However, since these schools don’t focus on research there is less opportunity for internships or experience within a desired field- for example working within a lab or working on a study under a publishing professor. These schools are usually more selective in admission and have very large class sizes during the completion of general requirements. But overall they combine aspects of both the smaller and larger institutions. LARGE SCHOOLS When speaking of large schools, we are talking about schools with over 15,000 students- University of Michigan, New York University, or University of California at Berkeley are a few examples. These schools typically meet the definition of a University (see previous post) and are leading the development of many fields of studies through their laboratories, hospitals, and field research. Additionally, these schools are leading the way in college athletics (think D1 in pretty much any sport) as well as offering club and intramural teams. Given the large diversity of the student body, they offer the housing options of the mid-size schools but also have the ability to provide more specialized housing options, such as all female/male or LBGT only dorms. However, given the vast size of each incoming class it is impossible for you to know everyone within your year or major. Unlike the nature of smaller schools, it will be completely on you to create your community within these schools but you have a variety of ways to do so- whether it be from classes, the wide selection of extracurriculars, on campus internships, the student section at football games, work study, the greek system, semester abroad, or the dorms! The possibilities are endless with such a large network within the campus. Upon graduation you can continue to make connections through these University nationwide alumni networks and local city chapters. However, the downside of these types of schools is the ratio of student to professors is quite large, in fact you may find it easier to interact with your Graduate Student Instructor than your professor. Competition for spots in classes is as competitive as it is for get into specific programs. Admission to these Universities doesn’t always guarantee admission into your desired program, so it is best to have a backup program or major in mind.  What is the difference between a college and a university? Don’t they mean the same thing?
Despite them being used interchangeably in American culture, the answer is NO they don’t mean the same thing. In fact there are some distinct differences between the two types of institutions. When speaking of Universities, we are typically speaking of much larger institutions such as the University of Ohio or the University System in California. Schools of this scale usually focus on research and their professors are typically leading the direction of study in their respective fields. Their student bodies are composed of undergraduates, graduates and PhD candidates, totalling well into the thousands. However, that does not mean all universities are these massive institutions, Universities can be midsize such as Baylor University or Kansas State. (But we will dive more into the differences between small, mid-size, and large universities in the coming weeks!) Undergraduate students at Universities have a vast selection of majors and minors to choose from assorted areas of study. Therefore many Universities will house similar areas of study in one school or college, such as the Marshall School of Business at USC or the College of Engineering at Northeastern University. Once admitted into the University, many times, students will then have to apply to the school or college of their choice (admission into the University doesn’t always equate into admission in the school or college) before officially declaring their major. Undergraduates, no matter the type of institution, traditionally spend the first two year completing the general education and pre-qualification courses (depending on major) before they take courses within their declared majors. However, unlike Universities, Colleges typically focus on one area- such as the Liberal Arts as with Amherst College or applied sciences as with Harvey Mudd College- and therefore students are commonly admitted to their selected major from admission. Their professors are more focused on teaching the next generation of scholars rather than their own personal research; and therefore a greater focus is on the undergraduate studies. Their campuses are usually smaller, privately funded, and offer a more intimate experience than at a university. Given their size, some will band together to form a coalition with nearby Colleges to share resources, such as with The Claremont Colleges, so their students can still diversify their studies. So before you apply, make sure to research what type of institution you are looking to attend!  I'm often asked "my child is a junior, should we already be gearing up to apply to college?"
Well... the answer is yes and no. College Applications don't typically open until the fall, and therefore, there's not a whole lot for your student to do as far as completing their application. However, by the end of their junior year they should started their research of both the type of school they'd like to attend (this doesn't need to specific but more general- i.e. large school with a greek system, small private liberal arts, a military college) as well as what would like to major in. The days of going to school undeclared are dwindling away. Schools want to see that future students are passionate, motivated, and well versed in the field of study they selected. That being said, they don't have to have their whole life already figured out! They can always switch majors (although not promised) after they are admitted. For example, I had a previous student who wanted to pursue a career in criminology only to discover after her freshman year of college that she would rather pursue an elementary teaching career. The idea behind knowing what you want to do prior to going to school is to show you're not just going to go. That the student has a plan (even if it changes- because let's face it, that's just life) and that they are willing to put in the effort to execute that plan. They have completed a summer internship, shadowed a professional in their field, competed in academic competitions, or participated in ROTC. Schools want to see young students who take it upon themselves to innate further learning in the field of study they are interested in pursuing in college. So to answer the question above, yes your junior should be researching school as well as the area of studies that they want to pursue. Yes, they should spend part of their summer between junior and senior year looking for additional opportunities to expand their knowledge and interest in their desired subject. No, they can't really complete their applications until the fall of their senior year. |
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