From January through mid-March, the admissions staff will hide out in our offices and read files during our holistic file reading process. There are six main areas that we look at in our file reading process, and this post covers the second two areas, focusing on a student’s academics and the strength of curriculum. While […]
Every day of every year (except for decision days), the most popular question asked of an admission counselor is “Is it better to take a tough HS course and make a B, or an average HS course and make an A?”. The most popular answer? A half-hearted smile and the statement ‘We would prefer an […]
During every admissions cycle, the question of how UGA calculates a high school GPA arises. I have seen so many GPA’s thrown out on college “discussion forums” that I start to cringe when I see these three letters. Because there are so many school systems using such a wide variety of grading scales, my best […]
In the wake of Early Action decisions going out, we generally have a number of questions about why a decision was made, and a great deal of confusion surrounds the concept of GPA. Most of the disappointed comments and email I am seeing have a GPA listed in them, and usually they do not match […]
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 […]
I was recently at a fast food restaurant , and they had new, larger cups for their sweet tea (the greatest beverage ever invented!), with a new logo on the side and a cool new dispenser. Life was great, as nothing is better than a big cup of sweet tea on a hot summer day […]
Shel Silverstein was a great poet and philosopher (at least I think so!), and one of his best poems is entitled Smart: Smart My dad gave me one dollar bill ‘Cause I’m his smartest son, And I swapped it for two shiny quarters ‘Cause two is more than one! And then i took the quarters […]
As you might have guessed, I am a big fan of fables, and the following one applies directly to the idea of students challenging themselves and working hard. Aesop’s Fable, “The Ant and the Grasshopper” Once there lived an ant and a grasshopper in a grassy meadow. All day long the ant would work hard, […]
Yesterday, I sent out two emails to incoming freshman (and I expect I will send out a few more before the end of summer) asking for more information on why their last semester grades had a serious decline. These are not fun emails, as these students are ones where there are serious issues with poor […]
It is summertime, which means that the summer reading lists are out in full force. In my house (with a rising sixth and a rising eighth grader), there is now a great deal of moaning going on whenever I bring up the dreaded “reading” word. Yes, I understand that school is just now out for […]
