The Formula For the Highest Academic Achievement Rating in the College Admissions Process: Part 1

Overview

In this first section of the College Admissions Cookbook, I am going to teach you how an applicant can achieve the highest Academic Achievement (AA) rating possible in the college admissions process, or at least get as close as you can to the highest possible academic achievement rating someone can attain from any college or university’s evaluation process. 

We are going to cover the ideal curriculum you should have, the importance of rigor in that curriculum, the high school profile that determines the context of rigor among many other things, understanding where a student “sits” in a class in regards to academic strength, and of course, the grades received over an applicants time in high school. All 5 of these elements make up an Academic Achievement rating. 

The Rule of Rendering An Academic Rating

At the end of the day, the Academic Achievement rating is what is it, meaning an AA is something that is fact and not open up to interpretation. Outside the context of the high school the applicant is attending or has attended, the AA is the culmination and result of the quantitative (transcripts, standardized tests, supporting school documents, etc.) academic information and data as per an admissions officer’s selection process guide; in other words, the score they give a candidate’s AA, per the rubric they use to evaluate the academic quality of an applicant, is based purely on the academic data and results that is presented to them from your high school. There is nothing that informs the “Academic Achievement” rating outside the “quantitative” academic documentation, it is standardized and therefore, personal circumstance cannot and should not be taken into account when calibrating an applicant’s rating as personal situations are not quantifiable and can be open to a variety of interpretations. In sum, the Academic Achievement rating is solely based on a student’s: curricular rigor, curriculum strength, grades, and test scores (if applicable, depending if you are test-optional). 

How Do Colleges Use One Rubric To Create Academic Ratings For Students All Over The World?!

Conveniently, every high school submits something called a “High School Profile” or some version of it when they send the high school documentation over to colleges on behalf of their students’ application(s). If you have never heard of or seen your high school profile, I highly recommend you get acquainted with it as soon as possible. You can Google [high school name here] school profile and see if it pops up on your school's website; if not, simply go ask your college advisor or guidance counselor for a copy. What is a High School Profile? In sum, it is the most important document that a high school sends (outside the potential of a great counselor recommendation letter and of course, a student’s transcript) to a college. Why is that? It tells colleges and universities about what’s offered at the school, about the surrounding community of the high school, where students are coming from to attend the high school, and gives the representatives a sense of place. 

More importantly, the profile tells the admissions representatives what type of curriculum is offered, defines what rigorous coursework is, shares standardized test data, shows the college-going ratio 4-year to 2-year, details graduation requirements, explains how grades or GPA are measured (yes, even if you don’t have formal grades and have written evaluations… I see you Saint Ann’s) and may also give a sense of where the student in question is the context of their class whether that be expressed in a rank, decile, grade distribution chart, GPA breakdown, test scores, grouping or any other mode of expression that seeks to define tiers within a graduating high school class. There are far more elements within this profile that will be explained later on in the series but this document must be understood by the family as this is the “thing” that colleges are comparing an applicant to and not to other classmates contrary to public opinion. 

If you happen to be a family in the 9th grade or 10th grade (or even younger, especially if you are applying to high schools or plan on going to your current institution’s Upper School), it is so important to synthesize this document - I cannot stress that enough. Why? Quite simply, it will allow for purposeful academic backward planning). So once you retrieve your high school profile, you should dissect it; and understand the facts and nuances of all of the information that’s present in addition to being able to identify what can be fairly inferred or where there might be unwritten exemptions. After you have a solid understanding of all of the components inside the profile, set some key goals aside for your family to aspire to! Those goals, create an immaculate roadmap for both short-term and long-term academic success that will help ensure your family is in the best position possible when embarking on the college admissions process.

A Handout For Your Review

I have attached a link below this paragraph to a high school profile that is publically available for the Cate School in the Santa Barbara area for the academic year of 2021-2022. I will be using this document as a reference to explain concepts more readily moving forward (also, if you are applying to high schools, especially boarding schools, Cate’s campus is stunning with views of the Pacific Ocean from anywhere on campus).

https://www.cate.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Cate-School-PROFILE-2021-2022-Revised-10.14.2021.pdf

Now that I have laid some groundwork, outlined the recipe, and given everyone a glimpse of how a college student or university would go about evaluating a student’s academic credentials; we can finally get cookin’ in my next post that will detail the perfect high school curriculum and coursework a student can have on their transcript that would almost guarantee a student’s admission to a top 100 college or university!