My son is an Early Action applicant who is taking 4 AP courses, honors physics and bioethics. He has strong SATS and a high GPA. His first quarter grades were excellent with the exception of a B- in one AP class, his intended major. I know your admissions approach is holistic, and that a single quarter grade will not make or break an applicant. I am wondering, though, how much a student's indication of an intended major influences his or her being invited for admission.

Mary,

Indeed, our admission review is holistic and all pieces of the application (and all grades/courses) will be considered by our admission committee. In your son's case specifically, quarter grades don't hold too much weight, because many times they are representative of only one test or assignment. Semester and full year grades are certainly more representative of a student's performance in a class.

To answer your question, generally speaking, for a student who has declared a major, performance in major-related academic areas during high school plays a significant role in our decision-making process. It is most often a factor in our process for Science majors (especially Biology and Chemistry), because the curriculum here at PC is exceptionally rigorous (and because we see SO MANY strong Biology applicants). So, a student who does not have strong "fit to major" in the academic sense will certainly be looked at closely by our admission counselors. If we do not feel comfortable with their ability to succeed in that program OR their high school performance is weak in their major area in the context of other students who have declared that major in the applicant pool, they likely will not be invited.

An example:

A declared Biology major who is not taken the highest level math and science courses AND shown outstanding performance in these classes will have a tough time standing out against the many, many students who have challenged themselves and achieved at a high level in math and science.

To conclude, yes, the admission review is very holistic - but if a student has declared a major, we must see the strong academic fit for that program in order to make the decision to invite. (But again, a single quarter grade in an AP course isn't going to sway us one way or the other!)

*Scott

Hi Scott. I just came across your blogs and have found them so informative. What a great site you have here. I am an early action applicant and found this info quite inetersting. If our school doesn't offer all those AP or honors courses are we at a disadvantage? I have taken all the AP offered at my school but we really don't have that many.

Also, we have some courses that are required senior year that aren't considered core classes such as Personal Career Management which limits other classes we can take. How does this affect an application? Thanks so much for this blog and taking time to do it.

Deidre from Maine

Hi Deidre,

I'm glad that you have found the blog helpful! You ask two excellent questions...

For number one, no, you certainly won't be penalized for going to a high school that doesn't offer a lot of Honors or AP courses. When we look at a student's curriculum, we are always considering the courses you've taken in the context of the high school environment you are coming out of. When we receive your transcript, we will also receive a profile from your high school which spells out for us the different course offerings that are available. A student will NEVER be penalized for not taking a course that his or her high school doesn't offer.

I have a similar answer to your second question... Many high schools have required classes that aren't in the core academic subject areas, but must be completed to graduate. And, as you mention, sometimes that does limit a student's choices for other courses they can take. Again, we will never hold this against a student in the review process, because obviously you need to complete the requirements to earn your high school diploma! This is also something that (hopefully!) will be spelled out in the high school profile so we are aware of the requirements while we are reading your application.

Finally, one of the reasons our admission counselors initially read applications by geographic territory is so that we are familiar with the high schools we are seeing the applications from, and are aware of limitations on advanced-level courses and any non-academic requirements that a high school may have. Rest assured, your admission counselor has taken the time to learn about your high school and its offerings, and will always consider your course schedule and performance in the context of high school environment.

I hope this helps - please feel free to post any other questions you may have!!

*Scott

Scott:

This explanation of how you decide on applications at Providence is extremely insightful and helpful. Thank you so much for the time you have spent posting this blog. I will continue to look here for updates and share the information I have discovered here with my daughter. Thank you.

Hey Scott

We wanted to tell you that a family who came for a tour this week was raving about your blog!!

Have a happy turkey day!

Nice blogging. Just saying.

Hi Scott- My daughter applied early action. Her course load throughout high school was all honors and she is taking AP Lit, AP Chem and Honors Calc. She has applied undecided. Her GPA is pretty good as well as her SAT's. I was wondering if you look at what they are involved in at school and outside of school, She is very involved in her school clubs, as a leader, and involved in her community. Would that be taken into consideration?

Thanks
Joan

Hi Joan,

Our admission review process is very holistic, so absolutely, the non-academic pieces of the application are extremely important as we select next year's freshman class.

The reason we start with academics, of course, is that first and foremost, we are trying to build a strong academic freshman class. We also are only going to accept students who we feel confident can succeed in our classrooms here at PC. So, no matter how outstanding a student's extracurricular activities or personal qualities may be, if they haven't shown us a strong curriculum and performance during high school, we aren't going to be able to invite them to PC.

That being said, the majority of students in our applicant pool could succeed academically at PC, and distinctions are made between similiar academic profiles by looking at involvement, activities, leadership, work experience, essays, recommendations, and other subjective, non-academic pieces of the application. We look at what each applicant can bring to our campus outside of the classroom as well as academically. So, being involved in activities, having an after-school job, and taking on leadership roles in and out of the high school environment are a big part of what makes a student's application competitive in our review process.

I'll write more about the non-academic pieces of the application in my next posting, but rest assured, these activities your daughter is involved in won't be overlooked in the admission review.

*Scott

Thanks Christine :-)

I appreciate your faithful reading!

*Scott