High school is an important time for any student, setting them up for college and beyond. We’ve written before about its importance, and how to find the right high school for your student. In this article, we’re going to share another tool you can use to evaluate schools: the high school profile.
In this article, we’ll explore what the high school profile is, why it exists, where you can find it, and how you can use it. We do want to note that the high school profile is a tool like any other, and how effective it is depends on how you use it. We’ll go over what it can, and can’t do for you. Let’s get started!
What High School Profiles Are
High school profiles are a tool created by high school counselors for college admissions officers. There are thousands of high schools in the country, each with their own standards, test scores, grading policies, and other quirks. Colleges want to evaluate students in the context of their high schools, and this is why high school profiles exist.
The exact information contained in these profiles varies slightly, but in general they cover the following topics:
- Average SAT and ACT scores. Many colleges look not just at the scores you got, but your scores in the context of your high school. Doing substantially above average for your school is impressive, even if your scores are otherwise lower than what the school normally looks for.
- Number of AP classes offered. Colleges want students to take advanced courses, but what that looks like changes between high schools.
- Graduation rate. How many students graduate, and how many go on to enroll in college. These stats are used as a general benchmark for the quality of a high school.
- GPA. They include both the school’s average GPA, and usually a note on how that GPA is calculated. Weighted, unweighted, 4 point, 5 point, 12 point, 100 point scale; there are a lot of options here.
- Class size and enrollment. How big a school is, and how many students you are competing with, impacts the education you receive.
- Graduation requirements. What courses on your transcript are required to be there, and what you took on your own initiative is very interesting to admissions officers.
These topics are all meant for admissions officers to get a sense for the school, but they work for anyone interested in getting a sense of what a high school offers. This doesn’t tell you everything about a school of course, but this information, and what you can infer from it, can give you a good sense of a school and its offerings.
How to Find a School Profile
Schools don’t always make their profile easy to find, and some don’t publish one at all. That said, almost all public schools, and many private ones, make these available on their websites.
To find one, you can try searching for “School Name Profile.” This will bring up many review sites, like Niche, but can also lead you directly to what you’re looking for. This doesn’t always work immediately, but this is mostly due to questionable website design decisions, and does not mean the profile does not exist.
You can also find profiles by going to the counseling section of a high school’s website. Linked there, or under college advising, you will most often find the school’s profile. These profiles are updated every year, and are usually available as a downloadable pdf.
How to Use a School Profile
A school profile is a tool to tell you about a particular institution; while it can’t tell you the whole story, it can give you important context for other information you can find. We’ll now run through what a profile can, and can’t, tell you about a school.
Graduation and College Placement
The graduation rate of a school is an important metric. Not necessarily because your own child is at risk of not graduating, but because it lets you know the general level of engagement the school’s community has with its education. A low graduation rate often reflects a low engagement.
The college matriculation rate of a school is more complicated. At private high schools, basically everyone goes straight to college. At public high schools, this is not always the case. Even top public high schools don’t send all of their students directly to college; many opt for military service or enter the trades. Thus, a college placement rate below 100% is not something to be concerned about; there are better ways to evaluate a school’s academic prowess.
Average Standardized Test Scores
Average test scores are useful when comparing private schools, especially the more selective private schools. These institutions are conscious when admitting students, and strive to maintain a class which is motivated and academically gifted. This selectivity makes the test scores mean something, and higher average test scores usually point to a more academically rigorous school.
This is less helpful for evaluating public schools. The top performing students at a public school have excellent test scores, but they are far from the only students there. Public school; except for selective admissions magnet schools, admit everybody, and their test scores reflect that. Lower average test scores are therefore not indicative of a lower quality of education for the school.
Graduation Requirements and AP Classes
Graduation requirements are set by the school for private schools, or at the local or state level for public schools. In either case, you will want to exceed them for college admissions.
AP classes are a good marker of quality for public schools. A high number and variety of these classes indicates that there is a population of students at the school who benefit from these classes. If they provide score information for their AP classes you can also get a sense of how advanced these students are. These are one of the best markers of quality for public schools, as it lets you know how many of their students are on the advanced track.
We discuss tracking in this article, but in general students in public high schools end up on one of several tracks. Students on the advanced track are often very motivated and academically talented, and are the equal of students in a high tier private school in most cases.
Not all private schools will offer AP courses; in some cases they believe their own honors curriculum is the equivalent of, or better than, what AP requires. If you don’t see any AP courses on a private school’s profile, that doesn’t mean they don’t offer an advanced curriculum, merely that you will need to look more closely at their course listings to see what their options are.
GPA and Grading Policies
The way a school calculates GPA does not matter much to the students at the school, though how they determine class rank can be important. Class rank does matter to some colleges, and is exceptionally important for schools like UT Austin, who use it for their automatic admissions policy.
The average GPA can tell you something about whether or not grade inflation is frequently practiced at a school. Most high schools have some level of grade inflation; there’s no problem with this. It is simply something to be aware of; at a school where high GPAs are the norm, a student without one will receive more scrutiny.
Final Thoughts
High school is an important time in life, when students take the next step on their journey of who they could be. The high school they go to informs this journey, as it impacts the classes they take, the friends they make, and the life lessons they are able to learn. There is no way to control all of this, but choosing the right high school is a great first step to setting students up for lifelong success.
We hope that this article has given you another tool you can use to evaluate high schools, and explore the options available to you. Of course, this is a difficult and stressful process, and we can understand the pressures you are under. If you want to discuss your own high school options, or hear how we can help you on this educational odyssey, schedule a free consultation today. We have a long history of helping students succeed, and are always happy to hear from you.
