Do you attend a leafy suburban high school with a football field and three basketball courts? Or an urban school that lacks sports facilities but features a state-of-the art science lab? Perhaps your high school has state-of-the art-everything, or state-of-the art-nothing. What does this have to do with getting into college?
Colleges consider your application in the context of your high school. They evaluate the rigor of your curriculum and your level of participation in extracurricular activities in terms of what opportunities are offered by your school. Colleges know that an A- at one school might be a C+ at another school. They compare you to the kids from your own school, not to kids from other schools.
Regional Admissions Officers and Their Role
Colleges have regional admissions officers who familiarize themselves with the high schools in their coverage areas, learning the ins and outs of each environment so they can better understand the opportunities that are available to you. If your high school doesn’t offer AP classes, you can’t be expected to take them. If your high school requires you to play a sport each semester, your participation in athletics won’t make you stand out.
The Importance of Your School Profile in Admissions
Odds are your high school has something called a “school profile.” Google the name of your school and the words “school profile” and see if you can locate it. If not, contact your guidance counselor to find out if you have one and then get your hands on it. Your school profile is chock full of information about the way grades work in your high school, the number of kids in your class and how many get As, Bs and Cs. If your high school adds points to your marking period average for taking an honors, dual-enrollment, AP or IB class, that information is visible to admissions officers. Guess what they do with your transcript? They recalculate your GPA without all the extra points, based on their own formulas (this is another thing you can Google). Your high school’s profile might also contain information about the socioeconomic makeup of your school community, the number of languages spoken in your high school, and the philosophy of your district—again, more context for colleges to consider as they evaluate you.
Utilizing the School Profile to Your Advantage
How can the school profile help you? Information is power. Find your school profile and try to view yourself as an admissions officer will perceive you. See how your grades, number of advanced classes and standardized test scores compare to other students in your high school. This is the data admissions officers care about. Forming a realistic picture of yourself in the context of your high school will help you create a balanced list of colleges to apply to, and ultimately, find your ideal college fit.
