How Admission Decisions Are Made: Academics Princeton NJ

How Admission Decisions Are Made: Academics

In evaluating your application, your high school transcript is almost always the most important ingredient. (Keep in mind that there are exceptions to this rule, especially for students in areas like art, music, and drama.) Among the many pieces of paper they review, admission officers will probably receive a profile of your high school detailing the curriculum and the grading system — it may even list average grades for each class. Don’t worry, though. This comes from your high school, not from you!

Admission officials are skilled at understanding the discrepancies among schools and the ways that grades are awarded, recorded, etc. They know, for example, that at some schools, only students who walk on water will earn A’s, while at others, anyone who hands in their homework is considered an honors student. They can read between the lines of transcripts and school profiles to ascertain your school’s strengths, such as what percentage of graduates go on to four year colleges and what advanced classes are offered.

Apples to apples
They also recognize that good students at challenging, competitive high schools (public or private) may have lower grades and class ranks than their counterparts at easier ones, and that some students may not be ranked — or even graded — at all. They have even learned to interpret the records of homeschooled students who submit detailed narratives in lieu of transcripts.

So wha...

Author: Amy Ambler

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