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Wstrdg
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| Joined: | Mon Mar 6th, 2006 |
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Posted: Sun Jun 3rd, 2007 08:10 pm |
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If you haven't read your high school's profile (usually included with an "official" transcript), you probably should.
What does it say and do you agree with its description of your school?
Here's what ours has:
- Principal, Asst Princs, GC's
- Number of faculty, total student body, graduates. Racial demographics (no financial demos are given, like free meal programs, etc). SMA description. School awards (been almost 20 yrs since a natl one!)
- School day (max periods allowed). Semester basis (vs. quarters). Accreditation.
- Grad requirements, grading system. Grade distribution (by half points) for past year grads. No ranking given (until graduation, maybe?). I need to phone and ask about this.
- Names of AP, honors, advanced classes. Names of academic awards given.
- Mean SAT/ACT and number of students taking. Percent planning to attend 4yr, percent planning 2yr/voc. Long list of post-HS plans for the past three years of grads, including colleges, tech schools, military, but no number breakdowns.
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CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
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Posted: Sun Jun 3rd, 2007 08:44 pm |
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Wstrdg, Thanks for starting this thread. I agree with you that it is a good idea for every student and parent to ask to see the School Profile. Colleges will use the information it provides to put your child's academic achievements into context, so it can be a useful tool for weighing how your child's strengths and weaknesses might be viewed. I've looked at Profiles from many high schools, and it's also interesting to see how different they can be, even though most contain the same basic information.
My son's school profile (private Catholic high school) was just redone this year and the new version is very straightforward. Here's what it includes on the front side:
- Brief, bulleted description of the high school
- List of graduation requirements
- List of Honors and Advanced Placement courses
- Brief description of the school's grading system and GPA system
- Average SAT scores and the number taking
The back side of the Profile includes "college attendance statistics" (including the percentage of students who go on to Catholic high schools, out of state high schools, and private and public institutions). It then lists all of the colleges where students from the previous year enrolled, dividing them up by Cal States, UC's, California Private colleges, Catholic Schools (both in and out of state), and Out of State Public & Private Schools (not including Catholic ones).
As I said, it's pretty simple and straight-forward. I've seen School Profiles that also included:
- brief overview of the school's mission and educational philosophy
- In schools that don't rank: A range of GPA's for the class (i.e., GPAs for this class range from 4.99 to 1.53.) or a description of where the deciles usually fall (students with GPAs above 4.0 are typically in the top decile...)
- information about the economic and racial make-up of the student body
- list of awards the school has won
- information about how class rankings are determined
- information about required community service, and details about extracurricular activities and sports offered at the school.
Last edited on Sun Jun 3rd, 2007 08:48 pm by CarolynLawrence
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DesperateDad
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| Joined: | Tue Mar 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 831 |
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Posted: Sun Jun 3rd, 2007 09:57 pm |
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| our HS includes those five items on Carolyn's first list. In addition, our Profile lists: % of students matriculating to a four-year college and community college; SAT scores for Uni-bound students; # of NMFs and Commended students; # of AP's taken each year; % of APs with a 3+; and highest gpa for last five years (our school does not rank).
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mathmom
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| Joined: | Fri Apr 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 260 |
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Posted: Sun Jun 3rd, 2007 10:29 pm |
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Ours is a folder with a pocket for transcripts.
Page one has address names and phone numbers of superintendent, principals, and counselors. Also that we were a Blue Ribbon winner (but not when since it was ages ago!), that we comply with NACAC principles. Then it has a half page description of the school in tiny type. Size, desciption of the building and programs, awards won by administrators or students in the last few years, number of athletic teams and which championships they have won. Per pupil spending.
Page two lists APs offered and how many students took them, but not what scores they received. Also a list of how many received various AP scholar awards. Then a section with 25th/75th and mean SAT scores. The latter both for all students and those going to 4 year colleges. Then a list of SAT subject tests taken and average scores. Then a list of NYS grad requirements. Then a list of what percentage of class goes to 4 year, 2 year colleges, military service, employment or other. Then the number of National Merit and National Achievement, and National Hispanic scholars. Then a list of what honors courses. (Very confusing, but you can see that 3rd and 4th year Italian offers honors, but only 4th year Latin.) Then they list two courses that are offered at the high school but accredited by other colleges as concurrent enrollment.
Page 3 describes curriculum in a little more philosophically, describes a senior work program, the performing arts program and a mentoring program. This is pretty much repeat of page one, but is likely to stay hiding behind the transcript. On top of the flap for holding the transcript is decoding of abbreviations on transcript. You can see that honors/AP is same track and some courses aren't weighted and that summer school isn't counted in GPA.
Page 4 has a list of colleges where the previous class was accepted, but no numbers for how many or indication where they actually went.
Last edited on Thu Jun 7th, 2007 09:22 pm by mathmom
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hummingbird
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Posted: Sun Jun 3rd, 2007 10:59 pm |
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Ours is 3 pages. I agree with the descriptions, for the most part:
-Community Demographics (and brief school district info)
-School characteristics (it's a small arts magnet school, says how many students, when founded, etc.)
-Honors and Awards (for the school itself)
-Acadmic Opportunities (what makes this school special for the students)
-Schedule (A/B schedule with 8 classes, 4 per day, time of day, etc.)
-Curriculum (college prep, career pathway endorsements). Just two sentences.
-Graduation requirements (district and state)
-A listing of honors and AP courses
-More info about Career Pathway Endorsements
-Honors scholar requirements
-Class rank and GPA (explains weighted GPA, which is fairly new for our school)
-Grading system
-Post HS enrollment for last year's graduating class
-Colleges attended by graduates 2000-2006
(BTW, there are ZERO Ivy League schools on the list. The most "prestigious" school is University of Michigan.)Last edited on Sun Jun 3rd, 2007 10:59 pm by hummingbird
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Lupine
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| Joined: | Thu May 17th, 2007 |
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Posted: Mon Jun 4th, 2007 04:04 am |
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Ours is two-sided doc that describes the student body and postgraduate enrollment by type of institution, average SAT I scores broken down by sections with a note on the percentage of students who take them, same for ACT. Lists of weighted courses, description of the AP/IB program -- fairly similar to what others have noted. Breakdown of "typical" gpa range for top 10%, next 10%, top 50%.
The only significant difference I see from some of the others is a nice section in ours explaining how weighted grades and class rank can be misleading. The example shown is one student with 5 weighted grade classes, all A grades, and the other student with the same weighted classes and grades but also two music (unweighted) classes, both with a grade of A. The second student has a lower gpa and class rank because of the music classes.
I thought that this is pretty helpful, but I'm not in college admissions. My daughter's gpa would be higher if she didn't have music every semester, but she loves singing. If that means some college doesn't want her because she'll have 8 unweighted choir classes and be seven or eight spots lower in class rank by the time she graduates, then so be it. Their loss, not hers. I was at the awards ceremony the other night, and this year's valedictorian has a 4.951 gpa, which I guess means that the only unweighted class she took in four years was health.
It seems that some parents at our school invest a huge amount of energy into maximizing their child's gpa/class rank by prohibiting their kid from taking classes that don't help, and pushing as many as possible of the the "required" non-weighted courses like PE, health and practical arts to the second semester of senior year when class rank no longer has the same importance.
Pretty sad.
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jocelynDAD
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Posted: Mon Jun 4th, 2007 06:35 am |
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Four years ago, our high school split into a North and South, each with about 1400 students. They are in separate building with separate staffing/Administration etc.
The only area that is common to the two schools is the leadership in Guidence.
Ergo, the Profile sent to the colleges is for both schools. (Happily, the student bodies are very similar, so the statistics in the Profile gives an accurate picture regardless of which school the student attended.
The four sided Profile contains the following.
Initial page:
Explanation of the two schools, the district, the staff, discussion of the student body including the % represented (White 55%, Asian 36%, African-American 5% and Hispanic 5%), "Blue Ribbon School' recognition and the Interscholastic Athletics sports and brief discussion of championships.
Page 2:
Displays Graduation Requirements, discussion of weighted and unweighted GPA with Grading Scale, states why no class ranking is used at either school.
In smaller priong, gives a listing of the entire Curriculum with Honors/AP Classes in Bold printand includes classes available at Princeton University and the local Community College.
Page3::
Has the SAT Reasoning test mean scores for past three years including New Jersey and USA mean scores for comparison.
Shows that for the past three years 96% of our students took the SAT.
Has a separate section comparing the mean scores for the PSAT (with NJ and USA mean scores as well).
For the graduating class it shows the SAT Subject tests mean scores for 14 subjects
with USA mean for comparison.
Has a section showing the number of National Merit Scholars, AP Scholars and NJDOE scholars.
Finally has a section with the last three years showing the AP results with what percentage received a 3 or above,
# of students and number of exams written and finally how many got a 5 , a 4 or a 3. with attached graph.
Page 4:
Has graphs for past three years showing % going to colleges (86% to 4-year, 9% to 2-year colleges).
List college/universities with at least 3 of our graduates attending from the last 3 graduating classes. Over 120 different schools are listed.
New Jersey send over half of its students OOS. What is amazing to me is the number of our students who attend the state university of other states.
Penn State (44)
U of Delaware (27)
U of Michigan (22)
U of Maryland (31)
U of Illinois (15)
U of Rhode Island (9)
Ohio State (7)
U of California (7)
West Virginia Univ. (7)
Indiana U (9)
U of No. Carolina (6)
U of Connecticut (5)
Arizona St (4)
Michigan St (4)
U of Mass (4)
U of Vermont (4)
U of Wisconsin (4)
Delaware St U (3)
U of Florida (3)
C. of William and Mary (3)
This page also hs the names of the Administration staff including all Guidence Counselors /telephone numbers/emails and the address of each school.
Last edited on Thu Jun 21st, 2007 01:33 pm by jocelynDAD
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Engineeringmama
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| Joined: | Thu Mar 16th, 2006 |
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Posted: Mon Jun 4th, 2007 12:51 pm |
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I hope that this is okay Carolyn. I've copied the profile, edited it to omit the exact name of the school and removed the names of the administration. I'll paste it here, it's not as pretty as the one that is sent out to schools, I hope that it's okay. It's pretty similar to the one that JocelynDad posted. If it's too long or not appropriate, please feel free to delete or change.
The Community
The Village of O is a small, affluent,
residential community located on the western edge of
, Ohio. It is composed of about 1,800 households
and 4,500 residents.
The School
O High School is a publicly supported
institution with 300 students. We offer our students a
complete college preparatory program. Traditionally,
over 98% of our graduates pursue college, with 95+%
attending four-year institutions.
In September of 2004, the United States
Department of Education named O High
School as a School of Excellence for an unprecedented
third year in a row. Also, in 2006, the Ohio Board of
Education identified the O School District as
one of the top two public school districts in Ohio.
O High School is accredited by the State
of Ohio Department of Education and by the North
Central Association of Colleges and School
College Admission Profile 2006-2007
Grade Point Average
GPA is calculated on a weighted 4.0 system and includes all
courses taken in high school.
Numerical Quality Point
Grade Equivalency Equivalent
A+, A, A- 100 - 92% 4.0
B+, B, B- 91 - 82% 3.0
C+, C, C- 81 - 72% 2.0
D+, D, D- 71 - 64% 1.0
F Below 64% 0.0
Weighting System: Advanced Placement (AP) courses earn
an additional 1 point. Honors (HR) courses earn an additional
1/2 point.
As a member of the National Association for College
Admission Counseling (NACAC) and the Ohio
Association for College Admission Counseling (OACAC),
O High School adheres to the Principles of
Good Practice governing college admissions and
financial aid.
The Faculty
O High School has 28 faculty members,
giving the school an 11:1 student/faculty ratio. The
faculty holds 21 masters degrees and 7 bachelors
degrees. The average class size is 17.6.
The Class of 2007
There are 75 members of the Class of 2007. One
hundred percent of the members of the graduating class
have passed all five parts of the Ohio Graduation Test.
In addition, four seniors have been recognized as
National Merit Commended Students.
Grade Point Average
Distribution for the Class of 2007
GPA # of students % of class
4.40 – 4.30 6 8
4.29 – 4.10 10 13
4.09 – 3.80 14 19
3.79 – 3.50 13 17
3.49 – 3.00 15 20
2.99 – 2.40 12 16
2.39 – 2.00 5 7
Median weighted GPA = 3.727
College Board Advanced Placement Testing
2006 2005 2004 2003 2002
Students Tested 69 54 57 44 43
Tests Taken 128 109 154 93 97
Score of 3 or greater 74% 82% 75% 84% 90%
Advanced Placement courses: English (2), Calculus, French,
Spanish, Physics, U.S. History, European History, and Government.
SAT and ACT Results
for the Class of 2006
Test n= Mean Middle 50%
SAT CR 64 552 470 – 620
SAT M 64 571 490 – 620
SAT WR 64 545 480 – 620
ACT Comp. 64 26 22 – 29
The O High
-----School Curriculum -----
O H High School requires that students earn at
least 22 credits for graduation. In addition, specific
department requirements are indicated below.
HR = Honors course AP = Advanced Placement course
* = one semester course
English
(4 years required)
English I, II, III, IV English I HR, II HR
English III AP English IV HR & AP
Yearbook (The Mesasa) Newspaper (The Arrowhead)
Foreign Language
French I, II, III HR, IV HR Spanish I, II, III HR, IV HR
French V AP Spanish V AP
Mathematics
(3 years required)
Integrated Algebra, Part 1 Integrated Algebra, Part 2
Algebra I Algebra I HR
Geometry Geometry HR
Algebra II Algebra II HR
Pre-Calculus Pre-Calculus HR
Data & Probability Calculus AP
Discrete Math
Science
(3 years required)
Biology Biology HR
Botany * Zoology *
Chemistry Chemistry HR
Anatomy & Physiology Anatomy & Physiology HR
Physical Science Physics
Physics AP General Earth Science *i
Social Studies
(3 years required)
World History World History HR
Modern American History Modern American History HR
American Government * American Government AP
Economics * Sociology *
Global Issues * Psychology *
U.S. History AP European History AP
Computer Technology
(2 semesters required)
Computer Applications * Web Page Development *
Video Production I, II * Multimedia Creations *
Creative Digital Advertising * Computer Programming *
Fine Arts
(2 semesters required)
Design & Drawing * Painting *
Drawing II * Photography I*, II*
Jewelry Making I, II * Stained Glass I, II *
Ceramics I, II * Computer Art & Design *
Digital Photography * Graphic Design *
Concert Choir * A Cappella Singers *
Symphonic Band * Music Theory I, II *
Business Education
Accounting Personal Finance *
Family and Consumer Sciences
A Chef’s Delight * A Gourmet’s Treat *
Family Living * International Foods *
Additional Requirements
Speech * Health *
Physical Education
Additional Electives
Theater * Basic Drafting *
Creative Writing * Architectural Drafting *
Industrial Technology * Comp. Assist. Design *
Wood Technology I, II *
Colleges that graduates have matriculated to in the past five years
Adrian College
American Univ. of Paris
Amherst College
Arizona State University
Ashland University
Baldwin Wallace College
Beloit College
Boston University
Bowling Green State University
Brown University
Butler University
Capital University
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve Univ.
Clemson University
College of Charleston
College of Mount St. Joseph
College of William and Mary
College of Wooster
Columbia College
Culinary Institute of America
Dartmouth College
Davidson College
Deep Springs College
Denison University
DePaul University
Duke University
Earlham College
Eckerd College
Eastern Michigan University
Emory University
Gettysburg College
Grinnell College
Heidelberg College
Hillsdale College
Hobart & Wm. Smith College
Hofstra University
Indiana University
Indiana Wesleyan University
John Carroll University
Kalamazoo College
Kent State University
Kenyon College
Louisiana State University
Loyola University - Chicago
Loyola Univ. - New Orleans
Macalester College
Marietta College
Massachusetts Inst. of Tech.
Miami University
Michigan Tech University
Mount Union College
Muskingum College
NEOUCOM
New York University
Northwestern University
Ohio Northern University
Ohio State University
Ohio University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Philadelphia University
Pratt Institute of Art
Princeton University
Purdue University
Randolph Macon College
Rhode Island School of Design
Rollins College
Santa Clara University
Savannah Coll. of Art & Design
Skidmore College
Smith College
St. Lawrence University
Univ. of Cal. at Santa Barbara
University of Chicago
University of Cincinnati
University of Colorado
University of Dayton
University of Findlay
University of Florida
University of Hawaii
University of Iowa
University of Kansas
University of Kentucky
University of Michigan
University of North Carolina
University of Pennsylvania
University of Richmond
University of South Carolina
University of Tennessee
University of Toledo
University of Toronto
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin
Valparaiso University
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
Washington University
Washington and Lee University
West Virginia University
Wittenberg University
Xavier University
Yale University
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atlantamom
Member
| Joined: | Tue Mar 7th, 2006 |
| Location: | Illinois USA |
| Posts: | 112 |
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Posted: Mon Jun 4th, 2007 02:08 pm |
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Gee, our hs profile is rather basic.
Enrollment. College attendance percentage. Grading Scale. SAT averages. ACT averages. National Merit.
Description of programs. List of AP and honors courses. Extracurricular Opportunities.
Georgia-specific info -- HOPE scholars. Gorvernors Honors Finalists. HS Graduation Test scores.
That's it.
Seems that the schools that provide the most information are the ones that help best their graduates in the admissions process. I wish our school did more.
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CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3197 |
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Posted: Mon Jun 4th, 2007 03:53 pm |
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Mathmom, I particularly like several of the things your high school does with its profile - using the 25-75th percentiles for SATs instead of median scores, telling how many kids take AP courses, also listing the Subject tests. Sounds like a very complete profile. 
Lupine, I also like the extra effort your school goes to in explaining how weighting can be deceiving. I agree with you - that is the sort of information that admissions people might find very useful.
JD, I think it is great to show three years of data -- I was just thinking about that this morning. Our senior class this past year was more...shall we say, lackluster?...than in previous years. There weren't as many "impressive" names on the list of colleges where they will be enrolling as there were in previous years. Just listing the previous years results on the profile next year won't let admissions folks see that this school actually does have a very good track record with the "name brand" schools.
Engineeringmama, thank you for taking the time to post the details. It is always interesting to see the differences in what constitutes an "A" at different high schools. At my son's high school, for instance, an A is 90 or above. And, interesting that your school weights AP courses differently than honors. At our school, they're weighted equally (both one point).
I think this is very informative and interesting for people to see -- I don't think anyone should panic if you see that your high school's profile is not as detailed or doesn't provide certain information. As I said, I have seen a huge variety in terms of school profiles, and I don't think the profile in and of itself is going to keep any kid out of college. But, it is a good idea to get a copy of the profile, know what it contains, and, if there is something you feel that would help build your child's case that isn't in the profile, have your child ask their guidance counselor to mention it in their recommendation.
Last edited on Mon Jun 4th, 2007 04:04 pm by CarolynLawrence
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mathmom
Member
| Joined: | Fri Apr 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 260 |
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Posted: Thu Jun 7th, 2007 09:28 pm |
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And of course if you think your profile could be improved you could agitate to have it done. 
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Consolation
Member
| Joined: | Mon Apr 9th, 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 474 |
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Posted: Thu Jun 14th, 2007 10:29 pm |
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Our high school's website still shows the profile of the Class of 2005. I think they send a more up to date one to colleges, though....
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atlantamom
Member
| Joined: | Tue Mar 7th, 2006 |
| Location: | Illinois USA |
| Posts: | 112 |
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Posted: Thu Jun 14th, 2007 11:03 pm |
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| I've though many times about agitating to get an improved profile, but I know how difficult changes are at my kids' hs. Maybe in the fall I will have renewed energy.
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