Prep School Grades: Lost In Translation

SsPixie17x
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:37:46 +0000

All right, it’s the summer before my Upper (Junior) Year, and I’m thinking about colleges. I’ve made about nine-thousand college lists – cutting down on reaches, bulking up on safeties – and I’m still confused. One of my main problems is the primary admission factor of all the colleges I’m looking at: the high school transcript. My school – Phillips Academy (Andover) doesn’t use class rank, and we don’t use the normal 4.0 scale. How will an admission committee translate a 5.0 (on a 1-6 scale) from Andover to English? How do I know if my grades are good enough? Does the name mean anything anymore – or is it more of a burden than a blessing? I know that “My school is really, really hard” isn’t much of an excuse, but it’s all I’ve got. Moreover, what do I have to do – since all colleges are requiring more and more – to make my reaches seem more within my reach?

Background:
5.0 on a 1-5 scale

Taking 8 AP classes total: AB Calc, Bio, Chem, Euro, US, English Lit, French Lit

ECs: field hockey; board member of debate, arts editor of student life magazine, write for 3 sections of school newspaper, member of global justice organization; French tutor; I’ve been volunteering at my local library (mostly during breaks and summer) for the past three years.

SAT: Right now, it’s not too great. CR:800, Essay:720, Math:650. I’m taking it again twice next year…

Okay. So what do I do with this if I want to be more Yale and less Charlotte Piedmont Community College? Please and thank you. Info on the grade conversion thing would be most appreciated.