If you know that you are not going to major in the science field, is it wise or unwise to not challenge yourself in that field -- for example, not taking the honors chemistry course?
"The MIT answer will differ from most other colleges. If you are planning to attend MIT or a similar institution, take the most challenging courses in science and math, even if you plan to study music. The freshman core at MIT will have strong math and science components. If you have challenged yourself in high school, the transition to university work will be a lot smoother!"
- Roland M. Allen, Associate Director of Admissions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"It would be wisest to take an AP course and make a score on the exam that would allow one to exempt science at the college level. The most challenging courses are the most challenging courses, whether in science or math or language, and they look better than less-challenging courses when evaluating a transcript."
- Tony Strickland, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
How do admissions officers evaluate a student whose grades are lower than SATs and SAT IIs would predict -- say, B/B- range with 1390 (750V/ 640M)?
"I would not dare predict grades exclusive of course difficulty and some information about the school population. If the class average is 1450 and the course load is AP/IB, these may be quite respectable grades. At the majority of schools, however, these would be modest grades, so we would attempt to ascertain whether there were extenuating circumstances. In the absence of such circumstances, our practice rewards over-achievers, often at the expense of under-achievers."
- Tony Strickland, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
"That depends on what the reasons are for getting lower grades. Lack of effort or poor academic discipline are not good reasons for poor grades. Remember, most selective universities will personally read your application. That is how we get to know you. If there are negatives in the application, we will try to understand why they occurred."
- Roland M. Allen, Associate Director of Admissions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Is it better to get a B in an honors course than to get a B+ or A in a regular course?
"This question is on the mind of at least one person (whether asked or not) in virtually every audience that we speak with about admissions to a very selective institution. The flip reply that evokes laughter is: You should take the honors course and get an A. In actuality, this is a personal decision that should be made with the student, counselor, and even the parent. You want to take the most difficult course load that you can successfully handle. Avoiding the honors or AP course so as to achieve a 4.0 is no wiser than taking on too many honors and AP courses such that your academic or physical health suffers."
- Daniel J. Saracino, Assistant Provost for Enrollment, University of Notre Dame
"The short answer: Take the harder course and get an A. The longer answer: You should take the most challenging curriculum you can handle -- and do well. Highly selective universities are looking for students to join a highly competitive environment. Regardless of how challenging your high school is, these types of universities will be more challenging. So, we are evaluating candidates who are ready for our environment."
- Roland M. Allen, Associate Director of Admissions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"The first consideration admission officers at Carnegie Mellon make concerns the quality and rigor of the coursework selected by an applicant. We expect that a student will challenge himself/herself to the best of their ability. If an honors or advanced course is offered and the student is prepared academically to take the course, it would be our hope that the student would not settle for a less rigorous option. Take the more challenging coursework and risk learning more. It is also still OK to take an honors course and get a B+ or A!"
- Michael Steidel, Director of Admission, Carnegie Mellon University
"The obvious answer is to get an A in the higher-level course. We are seeing three to four APs as an average load these days, so elect the best curriculum the school offers."
- Tony Strickland, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
How do students who have academic records that display improvement throughout the course of their high school years compare to those that have had straight As all along?
"We will consider trends; things would get very boring if everyone performed at the same rate, at the same level."
- Tony Strickland, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
"A student should address any weakness in the academic profile in the application. It would be difficult to give a general sense of how this would be handled. Each situation is different. But, of course, improvement is better than the converse."
- Roland M. Allen, Associate Director of Admissions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"The single-most important consideration in making freshman admission decisions at Carnegie Mellon is secondary school academic performance. Students who have had a strong, consistent record of achievement in challenging coursework are at an advantage over those students who may have not done as well in the early secondary school years, but have displayed improvement. That is not to say that students with a record of improvement throughout their secondary school years could not be good candidates for admission. Standardized testing, extracurricular participation, community service, recommendations, essays, leadership, demonstrated motivation, and special talents and abilities are considered, along with secondary school performance, as part of the decision-making process."
- Michael Steidel, Director of Admission, Carnegie Mellon University
"Clearly, students showing improvement with As in recent terms are judged to be stronger than those who are doing just the opposite and are not successfully fighting Senioritis. A student who has maintained an excellent record throughout high school will still be considered more attractive in the admissions selection process than one who is just recently getting stronger. The cumulative rank-in-class of the consistent student will definitely support admission over the student who is only now focusing on his or her studies."
- Daniel J. Saracino, Assistant Provost for Enrollment, University of Notre Dame
What do you do when you receive applications from students whose GPAs and class ranks are not weighted?
"Because every application is reviewed by at least one member of the committee on admissions who is familiar with each particular school, we insure that students coming from these schools are not at a disadvantage. The knowledge of the school, the school profile, as well as the academic performance of recent graduates at our university, helps us to put overall academic record of the student in proper perspective."
- Daniel J. Saracino, Assistant Provost for Enrollment, University of Notre Dame
"We will do our own assessment of course difficulty and relative performance, but will make more informed and consistent decisions the more information we get from the school. Our job is making decisions, and we make them whether the grades are weighted or not, but we feel we make better decisions when the school furnishes as much information as possible to aid us in identifying its better students."
- Tony Strickland, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
"A large percentage of schools do not rank. I hardly notice this factor when I read an application. Assessing academic rigor is part of the admissions process at MIT."
- Roland M. Allen, Associate Director of Admissions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"At Carnegie Mellon, use of GPA and class rank is meaningful only when comparing and contrasting students from the same high school. Class rank and GPA is not meant to differentiate students from differing school systems, but rather to compare students in the same academic environment. Students who apply from school systems that do not weight GPA or rank are not compared with students who apply from schools that do use a weighted system. All students are evaluated only in the context of their school system. Since each student is evaluated individually, there is no disadvantage to students who are applying from a school system that does not use a weighted grading system."
- Michael Steidel, Director of Admission, Carnegie Mellon University
