@stlarenas I had the same thought about how one would go about determining where on the selectivity scale a school would fall. Acceptance rate may be a starting point, but even that could be misleading as some schools don’t get as many applications, especially if they don’t use the Common Application.
School starts today. We don’t have Naviance and I have no idea how transcripts and LOR requests even work. I’m hoping the GC visits language arts (since everyone in senior class is in some version of LA 4) class and gives some direction sometime this week.
I haven’t yet taken the time to review the PP thoroughly, but I think I saw something very similar from a private school in Boston. (Probably from the same educational consultant.)
Assuming that this one came from Manhasset HS on Long Island, it is high-performing school where the vast majority of students attend college. This is the school profile:
http://manhassetschools.org/cms/lib8/NY01913789/Centricity/Domain/74/Profile%202014%20-%202015.pdf
^^ Too me is says you need to be informed - if you can’t do that you can outsource it.
I just wish I could determine what score my D is. She doesn’t go to a typical school so it’s hard to tell. I assume homeschoolers have the same issue. My D’s school doesn’t have Honors or AP - doesn’t have very many options. You take Biology/Chemistry for 9th and 10th and Physics in11th. You can’t take more than 1 science. Her choices for 12th in Science seems lacking. All the classes are 1/2 year with a choice of 3 each semester. I believe 1st semester was Env Science, Medical Terminology and some "fake’ sounding science class like Technology and Society. Then 2nd semester Anatomy and Phys, Chemistry 2, and another “fake” science class. If they just had Adv Bio, Adv Chem, and Adv Physics things would be better.
@longwood – my son, a current college Jr, received emails last spring inviting him to attend the HS summer programs…at the college at which he is enrolled. Clearly one dept does not communicate with the other…
@RightCoaster and @shuttlebus Yep - it was pretty easy to find what number my D was. Now how do I tell what schools fall in that range?
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Thanks for the link to that powerpoint. I found it helpful, especially the relative weighting of hooks like recruited athlete, geographical diversity, etc.
Looked at the power point. And it has many good points. On the other hand I think it’s nitty gritty can be debated. The academic rating table leaves off a lot of students, and doesn’t take int account things like rigor of school. And it seems mostly focus around east coast schools. I find it odd that they list an art school like SUNY Purchase as only Lightly Competitive. I guess it is by GPA/SAT standards but they a school like Purchase uses different criteria like an art portfolio for admittance.
** It’s the Academic Rating table that make not sense to me. Seems so many students would sit outside it’s boxes.**
@RightCoaster Is your list meant to go by order by what schools consider important? And if so why do you put test scores (SAT/ACT) above GPA in your list?
Most of the schools my S17 is looking at are state schools, many who use a fairly rigid index that quite typically weights grades 1.5X or even 2X more than test scores. My impression is that many schools are trying to de-emphasise the testing. From where I’m sitting (with a child with very high SAT but mediocre GPA) I’m paying very close attention to how much weight schools give to the GPA/SAT balance.
@curiositycat333, I agree; gpa and the transcript (first and ONLY In the context of the school) outranks standardized testing. The weighted (if the school weights) gpa gives context WITHIN the school, while unweighted gpa and standardized testing give context OUTSIDE/BETWEEN high schools.
Many of the college info sessions emphasized that the transcript, not the GPA, is the most important aspect of an application. They really downplayed the GPA because schools calculate this differently. Course rigor and grades counted for the most, at least at the schools we have visited for engineering. (And other things, like math, for engineering are important.)
The trend of the transcript also matters, and some schools don’t look at freshman year grades. I can’t remember which ones.
@curiositycat333 I took general approach to the PP. I used each category in the first box and assigned a number for each category bc my dd’s information is not in a straight line. I then averaged those numbers. Same with the 2nd box. Then I took the 1st score times 3 plus the second score/4. I then used that number to see what general category they would place her in.
I wanted to make sure she is classified in a much higher category than the schools bc she needs to be competitive for scholarships.
Just got out mail! Dd made it and that will help with scholarships! Her info won’t help other than to say that #'s aren’t extremely above Art’s predictions.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek OK That’s makes sense. I’ll look at it that way.
As for GPA. The schools I’m talking about calculate their OWN GPA in a very standard way. (Even down to labeling what course get the +1 point.) It’s still not perfect because some schools have grade inflation & other grade deflation. I’m not sure unweighted GPA gives context outside of schools, because their grading scales can be quite different. It’s why rigor of school can be important.
Congratulations @Mom2aphysicsgeek !!! I am so thrilled for your dd 
@Mom2aphysicsgeek …would you please post your information on the other forum for National Merit Cutoff predictions. Congratulations to you and your D!!!
@curiositycat333 Yes my list was in order. You could argue one way or the other the importance of GPA and Test Scores. I put test scores first because that’s the easiest thing to for adcoms to make a cutoff, like we’re not taking anybody below a 32 ACT or whatever. Then they move onto to the other stuff.
I went to a college session at our school a while back and it was attended by 3 or 4 New England colleges of differing selectivity( but no Ivy or equivalent). They all said they they take a transcript and recalculate it to some number they feel like using, and then use that to compare applicants. Then they look at test scores and see if the student is “worthy” for further review.
@stlarenas have you used the Supermatch tool on this site or Naviance? You can input your kid’s scores/gpa etc and the tool will give you some results back based on that criteria. After that you can divide the list up among big/small, geographically, academic interests etc. It will then provide an even better list for you to look over and start comparing. I would start there. If you have access to Naviance you can also do a college search and there is a tab that pops up other schools similar to the school you are looking at. Very helpful.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek What an insightful powerpoint. Thank you for sharing!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek thanks for sharing this!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Congrats!!! I remember your D’s SI. Do you know the cut-off or only that her SI made it? (Which I agree if the former, not that helpful to others waiting).
@itsgettingreal17 I don’t remember ever posting her score bc that is not info I normally share publicly.
No one knows the cutoffs. People only know if they qualify.