<p>I don’t know that there’s ONE academic index; I would imagine that many schools have ways of calculating students’ academic performance info into one number using a formula. According to this article, Michele Hernandez first revealed the AI many years ago according to how it was used at Dartmouth. [COLLEGE</a> COUNSELOR: Understanding The Academic Index - Gazettes.com, Long Beach California: Education](<a href=“The Grunion – Press Telegram”>The Grunion – Press Telegram)</p>
<p>While this article says that 7/8 Ivy League schools use it, it seems likely that other schools calculate it differently–or don’t simplify it into one number at all. If you’ve seen the Stanford admissions officer videos analyzing 5 or 6 student applicants, it gives the impression that Stanford does not use this kind of system. </p>
<p>One sad result of this people knowing about this kind of system is that it can make students and parents fixated on the numbers and results, not the process of learning itself. With all the online progress reports and minute details available from teachers online, there’s already an obsession with grades over learning among some people. I can hear it now: “Johnny, now that SuperGeniusGirl moved here, your class rank has dropped from 11 to 12, so to compensate you need to re-take your SAT for the 7th time to raise it by X points…”</p>