When the National Association of College Admissions Counselors surveys college admissions officers across the country, they always ask about the most important factors in admissions decisions. In Part 1, we talked about the top factor, student grades.
Today, we’re covering the second factor that comes up year after year, which has been “strength of curriculum.”
What is strength of curriculum?
The strength of curriculum, also sometimes known as course rigor, describes the types of courses you took in high school. Did you take a lot of lower level classes, non-academic classes, and slack classes? Or did you load up on gifted, honors, and AP classes and fill up your electives with academic subjects?
Why is course rigor important?
Your course rigor tells colleges a lot about you and your willingness to take on challenges. Colleges want students who know what they are capable and who seek intellectual challenges that push their boundaries. The types of classes you take can reveal these traits.
Course rigor goes hand in hand with grades when evaluating an applicant – you can’t really look at one without considering the other.
If you’ve got a perfect 4.0 but you’ve avoided taking honors or AP courses, college admissions officers will wonder why, when you’re clearly academically capable of more challenging work, you have chosen to avoid taking difficult courses. Are you, perhaps, not up to the challenge? Are you unmotivated? Are you scared of failure? None of these descriptors helps your chances of admission.
Just as it’s not a good idea to take super easy classes to snag that perfect GPA, it’s also not a good idea to overload yourself on really hard classes and tank your GPA. If, for example, you take 6 AP classes your junior year but you barely scrape a C in each of them, you’re not really showing college admissions officers how great you are at taking on challenges – you’re showing them that you don’t know just how much of a challenge you can handle, that your awareness of your own skills is limited, and that you may have a tendency to bite off more than you can chew. Again, not descriptors that make colleges line up at your doorstep.
The key is balance: You’ve got to figure out how much of an academic challenge you can really handle while still earning good (though maybe not quite perfect) grades.
The Good News
The good news is that the importance of course rigor should make you feel a bit more willing to take the plunge into some tougher classes. Since colleges value course rigor so highly, the fear of potentially earning a less than perfect grade shouldn’t keep you from taking that AP class you were thinking about.
The other good news is that you won’t be penalized if your school doesn’t offer a lot of AP or honors classes. College evaluate course rigor in the context of the available courses, so if you didn’t take any AP classes because your school didn’t offer any, your lack of AP classes won’t be held against you. Instead, colleges look to see whether you’ve taken the most rigorous courses that were available to you.
The Bad News
Everyone wants to know whether it’s better to get an A in an easy class or a B in a hard class; the bad news is that it’s better to get an A in a hard class. Balancing course rigor and grades could take some trial and error – you can’t ever approach high school as though it’s one or the other if you hope to create some stellar college applications.
Strength of Curriculum Tips
- If you haven’t been taking challenging courses, start now. You can’t change the past, but you can always demonstrate a pattern of change.
- If you find that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, visit with your school guidance counselor as early in the semester as possible. If it’s early enough, you can likely drop to a lower level class before your GPA is permanently damaged.
- If your school doesn’t offer a lot of honors or AP opportunities, ask about dual enrollment. Many high schools partner with local community colleges to allow students to experience college level courses.
- Don’t just take tough classes for your college apps – taking challenging courses will prepare you for college experiences, making college success that much more attainable.
- Bring your transcript to your local 宝博体育 Education center to meet with one of our expert Center Directors; they can help you find the right balance between grades and course rigor.
Read Part 3: What College Admissions Officers Look For
Catch up on Part 1 and the importance of grades for college admissions.
Are you making the most out of your school classes? Contact your local 宝博体育 Education center to schedule a consultation.
3 College Admissions Nightmares and How to Avoid Them
COLLEGE ADMISSIONSGetting into college used to be a relatively simple process. Because higher education was mostly reserved for privileged members of society, colleges tended to accept any high school student in good standing whose parents could pay the cost of tuition.
Today, as you know, the college admission process is long and arduous. In between acing exams, students are expected to develop stellar academic records and a long list of extracurricular activities. During these years, you’ll stay late after school, volunteer on the weekends, or even work a job to cover SAT and ACT tutoring costs. Don’t let all your hard work be for naught – avoid these admissions nightmares!
You Enter the Wrong GPA
After filling out 14 applications, you might be tempted to rush through the forms. Make sure you enter all of your information accurately, as each piece of information plays a key role in getting you admitted to the college of your choice.
Your Essay Doesn’t Set You Apart—or Worse, Contains Errors
Your personal essay should answer the prompt but also give admissions officers insight into who you are and what kind of student you would be. Set yourself apart by telling personal anecdotes. Be explicit about why you want to attend that particular university. Above all else, proofread your essay – and then proofread it again. Have someone you trust proofread it, too.
You Miss the Deadline
Don’t juggle all those deadlines in your head. Write them down on a calendar or download an app to send you reminders a few days before each application is due.
Get an Edge in College Admissions
At 宝博体育 Education, we can help you avoid nightmares and follow your dreams. Stop by your local 宝博体育 Education Center today, or call us at (888) 339-5205 to learn more.
On the Bright Side: Dealing with Bad Mid-Term Grades
ON THE BRIGHT SIDEEvery student has asked themselves the question in this post’s title at some point. Maybe it was about a grade on a certain test or the college essay you’ve been working on for months. In this first installment of our “On the Bright Side” series, we’re going to talk about mid-term grades and what you can do if they, well, stink…
Right about now, mid-term grade reports are going home. For some students, these reports are just a checkpoint on the path to some pretty awesome final semester grades. For other students, these reports aren’t exactly happy news.
Chances are that you fall into one of these categories:
Let’s go over what you can do for each of these.
You didn’t do your homework but your test scores saved you
Let’s face it: A lot of times, bad grades sneak up on us after a little slacking off. A couple of missing homework assignments, a few grades marked down for being turned in late, and suddenly you’ve got a C instead of your usual A or B. Thank goodness for good test and quiz grades, or your grade would be even lower!
If this is you, then your path forward is pretty clear: Do. Your. Homework. On. Time.
That’s it. That’s the key to your success. You already know the material or you wouldn’t be doing as well on tests and quizzes. You just need to buckle down and get stuff done. Some organization and time management help is what you need. Here are some tips:
You didn’t do well on tests but your homework saved you
And then there are the students who diligently complete every assignment, but just can’t seem to get good enough grades on tests and quizzes. You’d swear you know the material – right up until you sit down to take the test. Suddenly every piece of carefully stored knowledge just flits away.
There are two likely causes for this situation: You might not be studying effectively, or you might have a serious case of testing anxiety. Perhaps both. Here are some tips to help:
You didn’t do your homework AND your test scores stink
You let a few assignments slip between the tracks, you forgot to study for that first big test, and your grade is slipping further into the hole. Now, halfway through the semester, you have no idea how to dig yourself out of this giant ditch.
First things first; you’re likely bombing tests and quizzes BECAUSE you’re not doing your homework. Homework is intended to reinforce the things you’re learning in class and in your reading. If you’re paying attention in class and doing all of your homework, the effort should be reflected in your quiz and test scores. So the first thing to do to break the cycle is to make sure you do your homework. The tips in the first section will help you get organized so those assignments don’t slip through the cracks anymore.
By now, you’ve probably got a bit of a knowledge gap going on. By not finishing assignments or studying for tests, you’ve fallen behind in the class. You have a couple of options to help close the gap, but you’ve got to move fast in order to bring those grades up before the end of the semester:
Now go bring those grades up!
How to Choose Which Colleges to Apply To
COLLEGE ADMISSIONSThere are thousands of colleges in the U.S, and it is your task to find the one that’s right for you. Sound overwhelming? It can be. Your college choice will determine the next four years of your life, and have a lasting impact beyond that. At college, you’ll make lifelong friends, establish your professional network, and begin to chart your career path.
If you’re feeling unsure about just where to send those applications, consider the following advice.
Don’t Count Yourself Out
Sometimes students convince themselves they’ll never get into a certain university, so they don’t apply. Perhaps it’s always been your dream to attend that prestigious art school in New York City, but you’ve heard they only accept students who boast remarkable accomplishments. Remember though, there’s a difference between what you’ve heard and what is true. Many times, good grades and a stand-out application can get you into the school of your dreams. Instead of counting yourself out, find a college essay tutor and get to work on your winning application!
Likewise, don’t be intimidated by steep price tags. Financial aid options – particularly at expensive schools – can make all the difference.
Do Apply to ‘Safety’ Schools
It’s standard practice for students to apply to a number of “safety” schools to ensure they have somewhere to go in the fall, even if they don’t get into the colleges they wanted. The most important thing to remember about safety schools, though, is that they shouldn’t just be schools you know you can get into, but schools you actually want to attend.
Consider Location
If you’re a city girl looking for a stellar engineering program, even the top engineering department at a rural school might not be the place for you. Don’t forget factors beyond academics when choosing schools. Do you want to live near the mountains? In a location with mild winters? Somewhere close to family? Four years is a long time to be at a college that’s not right for you.
Find the Right Fit With 宝博体育
At 宝博体育 Education, we can help you find and apply for the right colleges for you. Stop by your local 宝博体育 Education Center today, or call us at (888) 339-5205 to learn more about our college admissions test prep and tutoring programs.
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SAT and ACT Scores: What College Admissions Officers Look For
COLLEGE ADMISSIONSThis month, we’ve been talking about the top three factors that college admissions officers consider when making admissions decisions. So far, we’ve covered the first two: grades and course rigor. Today, we tackle the third most important factor: SAT and ACT scores.
Why are SAT and ACT scores important?
With so many headlines about colleges that have dropped test requirements, it’s worth asking whether the ACT and SAT are still important.
Are you a student who intends to only apply to test optional schools? Then I suppose you don’t need to worry about the ACT or the SAT. (If you would like to check out test optional or test flexible schools, Fair Test maintains an updated database.) Sure, there are a growing number of schools adopting test optional policies. Just remember that competitive colleges still require SAT or ACT scores for admission.
At most colleges – especially at the most competitive colleges – SAT and ACT scores are a very important factor for admission. After all, colleges receive applications from students who attend a wide range of high schools. These high schools have widely varying practices in terms of grading scales, grade inflation, and grade weighting. There’s really no getting around the fact that an A from High School 1 may not be equal to an A from High School 2. Every college does its best to account for these variations by examining unweighted core GPAs. SAT and ACT scores, however, allow colleges to compare students across the country using the same scale. A 1580 on the SAT is a 1580 on the SAT no matter where the applicant went to high school.
A less academically sound reason for why colleges value SAT and ACT scores lies in annual college rankings. Publications like U.S. News weigh test scores fairly heavily when ranking schools, so colleges with lots of high scoring students on their rosters tend to perform better in the rankings. Colleges often attract these students by offering merit-based scholarships, which are often awarded primarily based on SAT or ACT scores.
The short answer: SAT and ACT scores let colleges identify top students without the bias of different scoring systems.
Test Scores as a Factor Is Good
For a lot of students, SAT or ACT scores are a saving grace. Bright students who have relatively low GPAs can still be competitive applicants if they earn top SAT or ACT scores. Really good test-takers but not great students will benefit from the importance of SAT and ACT scores.
For students who don’t necessarily excel at tests, there’s still a silver lining here. While there are no short-cuts to a top GPA or competitive course rigor, the ACT and SAT are coachable. Given enough time and effort, you can earn a top test score. It’s all about finding the best test prep method.
And for those who just freeze on anything multiple choice and who just know that they’ll never have a top test score, there’s still good news. There really is a growing cohort of colleges that have become test optional or test flexible. Some highly ranked and widely respected schools are a part of this group.
The Challenge of College Entrance Tests
Testing is its own unique beast. The skills that make for an excellent student don’t necessarily make an excellent test-taker. This is why so many straight-A students struggle with SAT and ACT prep. Students need to take diagnostic tests early to figure out where their baseline score is. Don’t assume you’ll do well until you take one.
More bad news: Testing anxiety is very real. For some students, testing anxiety is a pounding heart and a deep certainty of failure. For others, it’s overthinking every answer choice until they don’t know which way is up anymore. No matter how your testing anxiety shows itself, if you’ve got it, you’ll know it. With a lot of practice and some good coping techniques, you can overcome testing anxiety. We also give some tips in our blog post about test anxiety.
Some Final SAT/ ACT Testing Tips
Read Part 1 about the importance of grades for college admissions.
Read Part 2 about course rigor and college admissions.
Worried about your scores? Contact your local 宝博体育 Education center to schedule a consultation.
Tips to Help Young Students Prepare for Tests
TEST PREPIt’s never too early to begin thinking about your child’s academic success. The types of habits they develop at a young age will influence what kind of students they are later on. Why wait until it’s time to take college prep tests to help your child find the right academic regimen for them? Here are some strategies to help your young student prepare for tests – now and in the future.
Establish a Study Schedule
You wouldn’t encourage your child to walk into a gym and bench press 200 pounds on their first day there. Similarly, academic achievement happens after many years of consistent studying. To that end, establish a study routine in the early years of your child’s schooling. Enforce the schedule on a regular basis, setting aside specific times for homework and reading. Even if your child isn’t struggling, tutoring for elementary school students can provide invaluable extra support.
Make It Fun
Your child will be a lot more excited about his or her study routine if you work hard to make it fun for them. Prepare snacks that you know they enjoy during study time. Encourage extracurricular reading. Offer rewards – like a trip to the playground or a movie night – when they show improvement. When looking for middle school tutoring programs, be sure to find the right program with passionate tutors who love working with children.
Build Confidence
The most important part of working toward academic success with your child is to help them build confidence, By making studying a daily habit, students of any age will approach tests with self-assurance. The best ways to build confidence are to celebrate successes and use challenges as learning opportunities. Avoid being critical. Instead, be supportive. Celebrate success. And be sure to let your child know they can come to you with any questions or doubts.
Succeed With 宝博体育
At 宝博体育 Education, we think of test prep as a years-long process. We love to help build students’ confidence with individualized study plans and engaged tutors. Stop by your local 宝博体育 Education Center today, or call us at (888) 339-5205 to learn more about our tutoring programs for all ages.
How to Build a Solid Parent-Teacher Partnership
MISCELLANEOUSForging a positive relationship with your child’s teachers can go a long way in determining academic success. When you make the effort to form this kind of partnership, you and the teacher can work in tandem to support your child, sharing strengths, weaknesses, and strategies you’re both seeing at home and at school.
It can be tough, though, to bond with a teacher, since they likely have dozens of students and a crammed schedule. Here are a few strategies that work.
Communicate Effectively and Efficiently
This may seem like an obvious one, but when and how you speak with a teacher will make all the difference. Make sure that you’re respecting the teacher’s time and only schedule appointments when there are issues to discuss. Perhaps you’ve invested in child tutoring and you’d like the teacher’s input about what the tutor should focus on. Maybe you’ve noticed your child struggling with a certain subject and want to ask about ways you can assist him or her at home.
Be Positive and Proactive
Avoid communicating with the teacher only when something is wrong. If you do have a problem with an element of your child’s schooling, be sure to deliver your thoughts in an open and positive way and not in an accusatory tone. Be ready to accept some of the responsibility in addressing the struggle and commit to helping resolve it.
Step Back
Remember that the relationship between your child and his or her teacher is likely the first one that has been established with an adult outside the family. This is an important step in the maturing process. If you do all the work, your child may miss out on this important lesson. Be sure to give him or her room to form a unique bond with this important person. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways you can help! Assist your child with his or her homework and find a good tutoring center for kids for extra support.
Get Personalized Support at 宝博体育
At 宝博体育 Education, we love to work with students and their parents! Stop by your local 宝博体育 Education Center today, or call us at (888) 339-5205, to learn more about our individualized tutoring programs.
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You Took the PSAT® – Now What?
TEST PREPYou did it. You put in hours of PSAT practice, experienced what a college admissions test feels like, learned to manage the clock, and bolstered your confidence. Congratulations!
Maybe you’re wondering: what do I do now? Your scores will be available in December. Your guidance counselor will get them first, and then you will have access to them online through your College Board account. By the end of December, you will receive an old-fashioned paper score report in the mail. In the meantime, it’s time to start preparing for the next round of exams!
Use Your Scores as a Road Map
Your PSAT performance will offer a good idea of how you’ll fare on the real thing. The College Board has designed the two tests to be academically aligned. That is, the PSAT concerns lower-level concepts that the SAT builds on and evaluates. The tests share a continuous scale, so that your PSAT results are an accurate reflection of your progress thus far. Use your PSAT results to know exactly how to practice for the SAT®.
Focus on the SAT® or ACT®
Currently, all high schools do not offer the pre-ACT, but it might be worth taking a diagnostic practice ACT test to find out which exam you should focus on leading up to spring of your junior year. There are marked differences between the tests, and knowing which format you favor will help you decide which areas to dedicate your time to when working with a tutor.
Want to learn more about understanding your PSAT results? Watch this webinar to learn more.
Get Personalized Tutoring
At 宝博体育 Education, we can help turn your PSAT results into an individualized tutoring plan tailored to you. Stop by your local 宝博体育 Education Center today to learn more about our college admissions test prep and tutoring programs.
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Strength of Curriculum: What College Admissions Look For
COLLEGE ADMISSIONSWhen the National Association of College Admissions Counselors surveys college admissions officers across the country, they always ask about the most important factors in admissions decisions. In Part 1, we talked about the top factor, student grades.
Today, we’re covering the second factor that comes up year after year, which has been “strength of curriculum.”
What is strength of curriculum?
The strength of curriculum, also sometimes known as course rigor, describes the types of courses you took in high school. Did you take a lot of lower level classes, non-academic classes, and slack classes? Or did you load up on gifted, honors, and AP classes and fill up your electives with academic subjects?
Why is course rigor important?
Your course rigor tells colleges a lot about you and your willingness to take on challenges. Colleges want students who know what they are capable and who seek intellectual challenges that push their boundaries. The types of classes you take can reveal these traits.
Course rigor goes hand in hand with grades when evaluating an applicant – you can’t really look at one without considering the other.
If you’ve got a perfect 4.0 but you’ve avoided taking honors or AP courses, college admissions officers will wonder why, when you’re clearly academically capable of more challenging work, you have chosen to avoid taking difficult courses. Are you, perhaps, not up to the challenge? Are you unmotivated? Are you scared of failure? None of these descriptors helps your chances of admission.
Just as it’s not a good idea to take super easy classes to snag that perfect GPA, it’s also not a good idea to overload yourself on really hard classes and tank your GPA. If, for example, you take 6 AP classes your junior year but you barely scrape a C in each of them, you’re not really showing college admissions officers how great you are at taking on challenges – you’re showing them that you don’t know just how much of a challenge you can handle, that your awareness of your own skills is limited, and that you may have a tendency to bite off more than you can chew. Again, not descriptors that make colleges line up at your doorstep.
The key is balance: You’ve got to figure out how much of an academic challenge you can really handle while still earning good (though maybe not quite perfect) grades.
The Good News
The good news is that the importance of course rigor should make you feel a bit more willing to take the plunge into some tougher classes. Since colleges value course rigor so highly, the fear of potentially earning a less than perfect grade shouldn’t keep you from taking that AP class you were thinking about.
The other good news is that you won’t be penalized if your school doesn’t offer a lot of AP or honors classes. College evaluate course rigor in the context of the available courses, so if you didn’t take any AP classes because your school didn’t offer any, your lack of AP classes won’t be held against you. Instead, colleges look to see whether you’ve taken the most rigorous courses that were available to you.
The Bad News
Everyone wants to know whether it’s better to get an A in an easy class or a B in a hard class; the bad news is that it’s better to get an A in a hard class. Balancing course rigor and grades could take some trial and error – you can’t ever approach high school as though it’s one or the other if you hope to create some stellar college applications.
Strength of Curriculum Tips
Read Part 3: What College Admissions Officers Look For
Catch up on Part 1 and the importance of grades for college admissions.
Are you making the most out of your school classes? Contact your local 宝博体育 Education center to schedule a consultation.
Congratulations 宝博体育 2017 Summer Scholarship Recipients
MISCELLANEOUSIn celebration of our 20th Anniversary, 宝博体育 partnered with high schools across the country to offer nearly $500,000 in 宝博体育 Tutoring Scholarships. Congratulations to our 2017 summer winners who are one step closer to their college dreams with 30 FREE hours at their local 宝博体育 Center!