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As much as we talk about it everywhere and as much as I hammer its importance in this very blog, I'm not sure that our prospective students always realize just how important their high school curriculum choices are in the admission review process. As I complete "second reads" on about 200 applications this week, I have been disappointed with certain students who have performed well "GPA-wise" but have not challenged themselves in the classroom or - worst of all - have decided to "take senior year off" by dropping out of challenging courses or not completing a fourth year of all five core academic subject areas.
Simply put, strength of curriculum is the most important factor in admission decisions at Providence College. Obviously it's not the only factor, but it's our starting point - and it's tough for a student to get any support from our counseling staff if their curriculum isn't up to par (no matter how strong their GPA is or what they bring to the table outside of the classroom).
First and foremost, we are looking for students to take four years of all five core academic subject areas: English, Math, Natural Science, Social Science/History, and Foreign Language. This is the first step to having a strong high school curriculum that will prepare a student to succeed in the Liberal Arts curriculum that we have at PC. Ending a math sequence with Algebra 2 junior year, taking only three years of science, and stopping foreign language study with Spanish 2 in the sophomore year are not good curriculum decisions. First of all, these choices mean that a student is less prepared to succeed at PC... and secondly, they immediately put the student at a disadvantage in an applicant pool with students who have completed four years of the core subject areas.
Completing four years of the core subject areas is the first step, but certainly not the last in forming a strong high school curriculum. We are also looking for students who have challenged themselves by taking advanced and Honors-level courses where appropriate throughout high school. When we come across a student with strong grades in a subject (let's say all "A's" in English) and maybe strong test scores as well in that area (a 650-700 SAT Critical Reading and/or Writing score), we are expecting the student to have taken advantage of the Honors/AP courses that their high school offers in English... If this type of student has taken the basic college-prep level for all four years when Honors/AP courses are available, it is difficult to support this student's application - the student had the opportunity to do so much more by taking a higher-level course during high school, but took the easy way out... despite having the ability to succeed (based on their English grades) in the higher-level courses.
One important point I should make on curriculum: a student's "strength of curriculum" is always going to be looked at in the context of the high school they are coming from. In other words, a student will never be penalized for not taking a course that their high school doesn't offer. If a student attends a high school that only offers 2 AP courses and the student takes both of them, they may have taken the most demanding curriculum available to them. But if a student attends a high school that offers more opportunity for academic challenge, we want to see that student take advantage of it appropriately - challenging him/herself at a level in which they can also succeed in the classroom.
As all of you seniors who have already applied are beyond the point of changing your course schedules, this posting is aimed more toward juniors. As your 11th grade year draws to a close and you select your courses for senior year, remember that continuing to take a challenging curriculum is very important (and continuing with that 4th year of Spanish just might be a better choice than taking a study hall). If you have questions about curriculum, please feel free to post them here!
Have a great weekend!
Watch out, the topics really are random...
*PC Women's Basketball shocks #22 Syracuse - this news is a little old, as the game happened on Tuesday, but still worth a look!
*Spring Break begins for our students today after their last classes - lucky them! As an admission counselor, I don't get a spring break - although I do get to go to Committee meetings soon!!
*Speaking of spring, pitchers and catchers reported last week... position players reported this week... We must be getting close to warmer weather, right? (Well, except for the 3-7 inches of snow we're getting today in Providence...)
*You ever give up anything for Lent? Well, I did this year... two things, to be exact. Number one: soda - it's bad for my teeth, as my dentist frequently tells me. Number two: cheese - and even though Lent is only 40 days long, it feels like it's already been 400. Cheese is a part of all of the "healthy things" I love to eat - pizza, chicken parm, grilled cheese... I would do anything to eat some shredded mozzarella right out of the bag right now... (told you this was random)
*I have a bit of office travel coming up on March 2nd and 3rd... The Springfield (MA) National College Fair is taking place on those two days at The Big E in West Springfield. It's a good place for any of you Western Mass. juniors to chat with admission counselors from a couple hundred colleges and universities.
*Another reminder to seniors who have been accepted to PC Early Action - if you want to spend the day at PC with one of our Admission Ambassadors, Day Visits will begin again on Tuesday, March 25 (the Tuesday after Easter). Please make sure to call our office at least two weeks in advance of the day you want to visit!
*And finally, as a test-optional institution, we continue to receive questions about our SAT/ACT-optional admission policy. Our College President, Father Brian Shanley, recently had an essay published in the Harvard Educational Review that gives an in-depth explanation about the test-optional policy and the reasoning behind it. The essay is titled Test-Optional Admission at a Liberal Arts College: A Founding Mission Affirmed, and is a very helpful resource if you have questions about our test-optional policy.
That's about all I have for today... Have a great weekend!
*Scott
Wow, time flies when you're reading applications! Here we are on the 21st of February already, with our Regular Decision Committee on Admission meetings set to begin during the first week of March. If you haven't been keeping up, Committee on Admission (COA or just "committee" for short) is where the entire counseling staff gathers to make the final decisions on our Regular Decision applicants. Here's what will be happening leading up to COA...
This week, we are finishing up our initial review ("first reads," as we call them) of every Regular Decision application. After the first reads have been completed, and each student's information and status has been updated in our computer system (which takes some time with over 5,600 Regular Decision applications!), we will move onto the next stage of the review process. "Second reads" are up next - every student's application file will be reviewed by a second counselor who will add their own input and either agree or disagree with the first reader's recommended decision. And after "second reads," there are still some other places applications could go. Some applications will go on to a third reader, who will be one of the senior staff members in the Office of Admission. And many others will make their way into COA and will be heard by the entire counseling staff during the first two weeks of March.
As you can see, it's certainly a multi-step review process - it takes some time (this is why decision letters won't go out until late March!) but is also the most thorough and, we believe, the fairest way to go through the process. More updates are on the way!
What a busy couple of days we've had so far this week... February school vacation = many juniors beginning to visit colleges! I spoke at both of our Group Information Sessions yesterday to large crowds at both 10:30 and 1:30. I hope all of you who visited yesterday didn't get caught in the rain! (For the record, the first THREE times I visited Providence College as a high school student, it was pouring... And they told me, "If you like it in the rain, you'll really love the place when the sun is shining!" So I hope all of you who took a campus tour yesterday had a good experience, despite the weather!!!).
Campus Tours continue through Friday of this week... and then it is our turn for Spring Break. Well, let me rephrase that -- the admission staff is not going on Spring Break, but our students are, so there will be no campus visit opportunities this weekend or next week.
Switching gears a little bit, we are moving along in the Regular Decision review process, and anticipate releasing decision letters, as I've mentioned, sometime before April 1. More details on the decision release date as soon as we know... Stay tuned for more updates on where we are in the review process and what's happening behind-the-scenes in our Committee on Admission meetings, which will be starting up again in early March.
Have a great February break!!
It's that time of year where we work LOTS of hours... as you can tell seeing as I'm in the Office of Admission at, oh, 9:14 PM on a Monday night (and Tuesday, and Wednesday... you get the picture!). Hope your Monday was a good one!
Welcome to the weekend, everybody! Earlier today, we sent out an e-mail to all students who applied to PC Regular Decision to let you know if we are missing anything from your application. If one of your credentials is listed as "not received" (and before you panic), remember that we are opening bins of mail each day in our office... so if your teacher sent in a recommendation last week, it is very possible that it is here but has not been added to our computer system yet.
Also, if the e-mail notes that we have not received your midyear grades, please do not feel the need to call our office. We know that many high schools do not release midyear grade reports until mid-February, and those grades will arrive in plenty of time to be considered with your application.
That is the latest update from in the Office of Admission for this week! Have a great weekend!
*Scott
It was an extremely busy on the PC campus this weekend, as nearly 400 of our Early Action accepted students and their families took a closer-look at Providence during our PC Up Close Program on Saturday. Here are a couple of pics from the day - big crowd!
 
I hope all of you who attended enjoyed the day! By the way, if it seemed like there were even more than the 1,000 PC Up Close attendees walking around, that's because... there were! It was also Parents' Weekend for our upperclassmen, so we certainly had our full share of visitors on Saturday! And if you're wondering why both events were scheduled on the same weekend, here's the answer: the schedules of our sports teams and the timing of spring break and alumni weekend made this past weekend the only time that would work for both events!
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