The Anatomy of a Transcript: How We Review Your Academic Record
Let’s play a little game... If you were a member of a school’s admission committee and all you knew about two students was that one had a 3.7 GPA and the other had a 4.2 GPA, who would you admit? (I’ll pause for a second to give you a chance to think.) Guess what? It’s a trick question. That’s because you don’t know how each GPA was calculated. Just like our overall admission process, our review of a student’s academic profile is holistic. We do a deep dive into each student’s transcript to understand the nuances of their academic preparation.
I’ve compiled a fake transcript (above) to discuss what we’re thinking about as we consider a student’s academic profile. Now, I know that not all transcripts look the same and not all schools offer the same classes. Some might not offer AP courses, for example. We know that as admission counselors. We also know that the classes you choose to take might be different, but you could still be well prepared for a certain major. Tommy Trojan, here, is taking AP Calc BC and AP Stats in his senior year, but it doesn’t mean that’s what we expect to see from students applying to his intended major. But, because we need something to go off, let’s use this transcript for our purposes.
Let’s pretend that Tommy Trojan is applying to Business Administration as his first choice and History as his second choice. Here are some of the things that stand out:
Overall, Tommy has had a pretty balanced schedule with five academic solids each semester.
Tommy started out a bit slow in his first semester—perhaps as he was adjusting to high school—but then picked up the pace and rigor in subsequent semesters. We see his grades improve to mostly As in the semesters following 9th grade fall (except that one semester, which we’ll get to). We also see that he takes more honors and AP classes each year. So, there’s an upward trend.
Then there’s a downward trend. Clearly something happened in 11th grade fall. I learn in the Letter of Recommendation and Tommy’s essay that he suffered a concussion that left him with some temporary cognitive challenges. (Luckily, he made a quick recovery!) Life events, including tragic events, happen to people. And we have a human process. He did the best he could during a very difficult time. Context is crucial.
Speaking of context… I learn from the Secondary School Report, School Profile, and Counselor Recommendation that Tommy’s school generally only allows for a max of three (3) AP courses per year. He has gone above and beyond by taking four (4) senior year—something for which he had to petition. This is because he wanted to take an extra math class in preparation for Business Administration.
On the subject of above and beyond, Tommy took two (2) community college courses over the summer: Introduction to Business and Art History. This, combined with the previous and subsequent semesters, shows that 11th grade fall was an anomaly.
Now what about any other trends? I see that a slightly weaker subject is science—but Tommy kept at it for three years. I’m impressed by his four (4) years of foreign language. It’s also great to see that he took advantage of Art in his last two (2) years.
Super important: What about Tommy’s preparation for his major? He is clearly well prepared for both his first-choice and second-choice majors. He completed Calc AB junior year and is in Calc BC this year (plus that extra AP Stats course!) Math also seems to be a real strength area for him. Likewise, he made some smart choices when it came to the rigor of his history and social science courses, choosing to take more rigorous courses in those areas (rather than science).
Also critical: Those fall senior year grades. After all, they were the last piece of information we asked for. Tommy crushed it!
And there’s probably more that we could discuss. You can see that there’s so much more to discuss than the fact that he has a 4.04 weighted and 3.71 non-weighted GPA. That he’s ranked in the top 20% of this class. So do you see what I’m trying to say. When it comes to your academic profile, you’re more than just a number.