More Great Advice from The Choice

 About this time of year our students pick their courses for the following academic year. It’s also the time of year when our sophomore and juniors are the most stressed out due to back-to-back SAT, SAT Subject tests, AP exams, and finals. It's not uncommon for my students to come to meetings with a Starbucks venti double shot latte chased with a Coke.  For high school sophomores and juniors, the months of May and June are definitely not for the faint of heart!

That’s why I was so happy to see this article on the New York Times’ college admissions blog, The Choice.  We love The Choice and read it on a daily basis. In fact, it’s a staple on my Google Reader. Today’s post is referencing in part how colleges use SAT scores as a cut-off for admission. It’s a great read so I hope you link over to it after you read my post.

 

Here’s why I’m smiling all over, “The good news for most applicants is that more than three-quarters of the colleges report using such scores “holistically.” That usually means the tests are mixed into a stew of many factors being evaluated, including the rigor of applicants’ curriculums; their grades; their activities; their teacher recommendations, and their essays. In fact, when asked to rank the criteria for assessing applicants, most colleges said they give more priority to “strength of curriculum” and “grades in college prep courses.”

 

This is advice we give to our students on a regular basis so it’s nice to know that a nationwide survey of colleges across the country continues to support this.  What I want each of my students to know every time they leave my office is that they're more than just their numbers. Getting into college isn’t just about how high an SAT Critical Reading score is. Thanks to the Choice blog for helping us help our students make sense of a very stressful time in their lives.