rigor of high school curriculum

<p>How does Tufts assess the rigor of an applicant’s high school curriculum? Is it about the number of honors/aps taken in the context of your school, or is there a closer analysis of the specific classes you have taken. So, for ex, is the student who takes ap physics viewed differently than the student who opts out of physics and instead chooses ap environmental scientce ,(or some other ap that is typically considered less rigourous.) </p>

<p>(By the way, I strongly believe in taking the courses which interest you. Nevertheless, it would be nice to have a better understanding of the way the process works.)</p>

<p>Hello Amber! </p>

<p>We do both. We look at how much of your curric is honors/AP, but each of us does the academic evaluations with flexibility. I read an application from Maryland this year where the student was taking only one honors/AP course in her senior year. But she and her guidance counselor explained that she chose her courses based on what she thought would teach her the most, and that the classes she selected were essentially honors level - but the Board of Ed hadn’t approved the honors designation for them. </p>

<p>Clearly, this was a student who was interested in a challenging senior year, and who wasn’t afraid to pursue that challenge in the most productive way (regardless of the stats involved). Personally, I think that’s a perfect example of the attitude students have at Tufts. And so we admitted this applicant. There are schools where certain Honors courses are harder than AP courses, and vice versa. Knowing those distinctions is a big part of evaluating academic performance.</p>

<p>Speaking candidly, we’d like to see as difficult a senior year as you can manage without a slide in grades. But, so long as you are challenging yourself fully, we’re ok with whatever courses you choose. I would encourage you, as much as possible, to pick the classes you really want to take as opposed to the classes you think we want to see. Those are the classes in which you’ll work harder without burning out, and the classes you’ll find more rewarding.</p>

<p>Dan,
Your response is very helpful. Thanks!</p>

<p>Regarding the post below from Dan, is this something the student should write or the guidance counselor or both?</p>

<p>"We do both. We look at how much of your curric is honors/AP, but each of us does the academic evaluations with flexibility. I read an application from Maryland this year where the student was taking only one honors/AP course in her senior year. But she and her guidance counselor explained that she chose her courses based on what she thought would teach her the most, and that the classes she selected were essentially honors level - but the Board of Ed hadn’t approved the honors designation for them. </p>

<p>Clearly, this was a student who was interested in a challenging senior year, and who wasn’t afraid to pursue that challenge in the most productive way (regardless of the stats involved). Personally, I think that’s a perfect example of the attitude students have at Tufts. And so we admitted this applicant. There are schools where certain Honors courses are harder than AP courses, and vice versa. Knowing those distinctions is a big part of evaluating academic performance.</p>

<p>Speaking candidly, we’d like to see as difficult a senior year as you can manage without a slide in grades. But, so long as you are challenging yourself fully, we’re ok with whatever courses you choose. I would encourage you, as much as possible, to pick the classes you really want to take as opposed to the classes you think we want to see. Those are the classes in which you’ll work harder without burning out, and the classes you’ll find more rewarding</p>

<p>Hey dan,
I’m an international student from india, how does tufts evaluate the high school rigor of intl schools?</p>

<p>okgal: For fairly obvious reasons, your guidance counselor has more credibility than students when describing the reality of course difficulty. So if your counselor is comfortable providing that perspective, it’s helpful to have your counselor address the process by which you chose your classes and the relative difficulty of those courses. </p>

<p>norolimasfaloth: We actually get a fair number of applications from international schools and from India in particular. Jen Simons, our director of international recruitment, has been reading Indian schools for quite some time and in extremely well versed in their structure and curriculum.</p>

<p>For Dan:</p>

<p>If you have a student who plans to major in theater but the theater class she would normally take her senior year of high school is only offered one period and will preclude her from taking an ap science or an ap math what would you recommend? Should she drop the theater class?</p>

<p>Preamble: Every school is different. I am fully aware the comments below may now apply to your particular school, so exercise critical thinking when applying my perspective to your own experiences.</p>

<p>Almost always, but not always, classes like theatre, drawing, woodshop, etc. are less rigorous classes. Usually, arts electives come with little homework and, frankly, limited intellectual challenge. As you’ll note from my post above, the challenge of a student’s curriculum is important, and is the first evaluation we make when examining a student’s academic record. In our process, we want to see that our drama majors have the same level of intellectual heft and potency as our English majors, or our Classics Majors, or our Art History majors. Generally, I recommend students to not sacrifice a ‘solid’ academic subject in favor of an elective. That doesn’t necessarily mean that she takes science and math; it could mean she takes a second AP History class or social science course. </p>

<p>But I can’t reiterate enough how much of the academic evaluation is about the context of the school, its expectations, and its norms. This is not just a blanket rule you can apply to every person or every high school. And with not an insignificant frequency, you’re better off ignoring what you think is ‘best’ for college admission and doing what’s best for the person.</p>

<p>Thanks for your response Dan. She’d never take drama in place of a ‘solid’ academic subject. What I’m really wondering is do you consider a non AP science or math “solid” enough? Does a kid with 1 AP sophomore year, 2 APs Junior year and 3 or more senior year with an A- average have enough rigor in her curriculum for admission to Tufts?</p>

<p>Again, this depends on the school in question, but in general, almost any math/science course is considered a solid. A curriculum like your daughter’s indicates she is qualified for admission, but being savvy necessitates a wider context.</p>

<p>Those of you who take the time to answer the chance me threads, I hope you’ll take note of this. </p>

<p>There are some schools where an A- average taking that AP load would put your daughter in the VERY top of the class and in a very strong position in our applicant pool. There are other schools where As are as easy to find as rain in Seattle and that curriculum is good, but not terribly remarkable. In a school like that, your daughter might still have hurdles to overcome. The context of the environment/school/family is crucial to fully understanding academic achievement. One of my biggest frustrations on CC is that the ‘chance me’ threads treat GPAs and testing the same. We don’t. And the feedback students get is often misleading (when it isn’t just wrong). </p>

<p>So I encourage you to look at your daughter’s academic performance within her school’s framework: How has she met or exceeded the expectations regarding what a high achieving student should be capable of doing and thinking? That may mean that she sits in the top 5% of her class or that may mean she sits in the top 25% of her class. It may mean she’s taking 2 APs or it may mean she’s taking 5. Hopefully, you and your daughter are in a position to figure this out.</p>

<p>How do you assess candidates who come from a selective admission program where one’s ranking may not be in the top 10%, but the program is extraordinarily rigorous? (i.e., full IB diploma plus APs) Test scores would indicate that the student is more than capable of handling a highly challenging program.</p>

<p>How do you view a “gap” between grades and test scores if there is heavy-duty academic rigor?</p>

<p>Hi CountingDown,</p>

<p>The question about rank is implicitly answered in the post immediately above you own. The role that rank plays is a flexible one, and the rank we like to see is flexible as well. It all depends on the program and the school. If I’m looking at an IB magnet program with 100 students in it who represent the absolutely best an area has, then sitting 50% down in that group isn’t necessary a problem.</p>