This is the second year that we have asked freshman applicants to complete the self-reported grades section on our application, and for the most part, things are going well. Most everyone who has applied has understood the process, and almost everyone has been correct in their grades. We expect that this small change in the application will mean we are able to release decisions a little earlier this year (but I have no dates at this time!), and it is making part of our review process go much smoother and quicker. But for those of you who have questions about this section of the application, here are a few hints.
- Before you start this section, have a copy of your transcript with you. I do not mean mid-term 9 week reports, or report cards, but a copy of your transcript just like you have sent to a college.
- Review the transcript, and line out with a pencil any non-core grades, such as Health, Journalism, PE, Business courses (the only exceptions being AP/IB non-core courses such as AP Computer Science, AP Art, etc.) You can get a clearer sense of these courses on the self-reported grade section of the application and line out more based on the listing. This is only for your high school grades, so line out any middle school
grades (or for you Florida folks, line out the K-8 grades that appear on
your transcript). - For the self-reported grades, we are looking at the grades your teacher has given you and entering them into the chart based on your school’s grading scale, so you enter in however many A’s, B’s, etc. that you were given by your teachers. Whatever you see as the teacher grades for the core classes, you enter into the chart. Do not enter in grades that you think you may make senior year, as we are looking at actual grades! Also, do not leave out bad grades just because you have retaken the class.
- If your school uses only one type of schedule/grade system, such as semester grades for all courses or year grades for all courses, then the self-reported grades will be extremely easy. For a semester transcript, look at every core semester grade (the ones you have not lined out) and enter these into the self-reported grade chart. Most applicants with semester grades will have about 28-32 total grades in the chart. If your transcript has semester grades and then has a year-long average after that, just leave the year-long grades out of the self-reported grades, as these are an average of the two semester grades that you already have entered. For schools with only year long grades, I estimate you will have about 14-18 grades entered into the chart.
- If your school uses a mixture of year-long grades and semester grades for your actual grades, it gets slightly more challenging, but it is not bad at all. First, read my post called Nickels and Dimes, which will help you understand the situation. Are you done? Good. If you have teacher grades (not a yearly average, but teacher grades!) that are both semester grades and year grades, just double the yearly grades. A year grade is the same a two semester grades, so just covert the year grades to semesters. Trust me, it works just fine.
- For the question that asks “Of the above grades, how many are AP/IB/AICE”, look at the chart you completed, count up how many grades were in AP or IB (International Baccalaureate) classes (not pre-AP or pre-IB), and enter that number into this field.
- For the question about how many AP/IB/AICE/DE courses you will have completed by the end of your senior year, count up the total number of AP/IB/AICE/DE courses you have taken from 9th through the end of 12th grade, and enter that number here.
When we received your transcript, we will do a quick but thorough check of your self-reported grades, so do not panic if you made a slight error in your self reporting. As well, do not overthink this section, just put in what you believe is the correct information. You will be fine.
I hope this helps, and Go Dawgs!