Question of the Week

    "How important is course selection for next year?"         

An applicant’s academic program is always the most significant factor in the college admission process. Therefore, students are well advised to take stock of the range of courses available to them and select the most challenging courses possible for their level of ability and degree of interest.

For the most part, colleges will evaluate an applicant’s academic record within the context of his or her high school. In other words, colleges will evaluate students according to the choices available to them. If a school offers AP English, for example, and an applicant has chosen not to take it, some colleges will want to know why. There may be a perfectly good reason, but it had better be a good one if the college is highly selective.

The most selective colleges in the nation are accustomed to seeing the most rigorous courses. And here’s the kicker: they expect the best grades, too. Not always—not for every applicant—but for most.

Like most independent schools, Severn enrolls students with a range of interests, preferences, and abilities. To meet these levels and degrees of differences, Severn offers students various curricular and co-curricular options. There are, for example, more course offerings at Severn than any one student could possibly take. Furthermore, not every course is the appropriate course for every student.  Students are urged, therefore, to choose the courses that are the most challenging for them and, one would hope, the most personally rewarding.

A special note to juniors: Colleges will ask for a transcript that includes the courses you have selected for the entire senior year. They will be keenly interested in the courses you have selected for your final year of high school. Often they will ask for 1^st quarter grades, and almost always they will ask for a mid-year transcript, with courses and grades. Your senior year counts, from beginning to end. Plan to make the best of it academically, and give those who will be supporting your college applications—your counselor and your teachers—the best evidence possible to advocate in your behalf.

So, choose wisely and chose well. But keep in mind that the goal is not to prepare for one college; it’s to prepare for any college, and for a life of learning. Become, in other words, an educated person. Your teachers and advisor, and others familiar with your academic ability and preferences, will help direct you to a path that leads to this worthy goal.