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College counseling at Punahou School (2)
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Let’s first talk about grades, GPA (Grade Point Average).
GPA is a numerical way to describe how well a student did in class. Each letter grade has a numerical equivalent: A=4, B=3, C=2, and so forth.
Punahou School GPA can be viewed online.
Punahou School GPA can be viewed online.
Mr. Obenchain draw a Bell Curve, with two “cutoff” values of 3.0 and 3.6 clearly marked. If a student’s GPA is less than 3.0, then he is “below average.” Let’s say my son is an average student, like most of his classmates. For these average students, the college admission officer may look at his GPA in two ways: annual average for each year, and the trend. If a student’s annual-average GPA increases in time, then the trend is positive. This is a good thing.
Mr. Obenchain also examined my son’s course selection for his senior year, noted two AP courses listed. Another good thing (but these courses require HARD work to get decent grades). Mr. O pointed out one thing that is missing from my son’s senior year course sheet: college applications. It takes time to complete each package, and my son is asked to apply to 6-8 schools. (I hope he will apply to 3-4 schools.) The difficult part of each package is the essay, because each school has its own requirement. My son was told to spread the workload of writing essays evenly throughout the school year, and I hope he will remember this excellent piece of advice.
It will be good for my son to get even higher GPA for the senior year, to keep the positive trend.
There will be a Dean’s Letter for each student that goes to the college’s admission office. How is the letter written? Well, the letter will be based on the student’s own voices (through his own writing), drafted by the counselor, revised many times, and finalized by the dean. (Each grade from 9th to 12th, there are two deans who will follow these students through their high school years. Each student is assigned to one of the deans, but he is free to go to any dean if he has an issue to discuss. I am not sure he can “fire” his dean.)
(To be continued.)
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-306792-308368.html
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