Every high school has a profile. It's a way for colleges to even out the playing field and understand what it was that was offered at your school and what you took advantage of.
Here's an example of a high school profile.
[If you go to your high school’s website, you can probably Google it and find it. If you don't find it on the website, you can reach out to your high school counselor and they should be able to send it to you.]
I realize you can’t see this. The font is too small. What you need to know about a high school profile is that college admissions officers are looking at these to see what was offered to a student and did the student take advantage of it. It helps admissions officers understand where you were in the pool of applicants from your high school, but also where you are in the larger pool of applicants nationwide.
AP vs. CLEP vs. Dual Enrollment vs. IB
AP is Advanced Placement.
Most of you have heard of this. These are college-level courses that are offered in high school.
Again, if your school offered it and you didn't take advantage of it, that doesn't look great on college applications.
CLEP is the College Level Examination Program.
This allows students to earn college credit for intro level courses with a passing grade. Students can save time and money. The con, just like AP, is that not all colleges accept all CLEP courses.
The benefit to CLEP is that failed scores aren't submitted. So if students have to take the exam more than once, that's fine.
Dual enrollment (AKA “Running Start”) is real college classes for credit while a student is still in high school.
Students sometimes do this at a community college or a nearby university. These courses are very likely to transfer to most of the schools that a student will be applying to, so this is a great option.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a global network of schools that offers four educational programs for students ages 3–19. The programs are designed to encourage critical thinking, curiosity, and a love of learning.
It spans two years. It's very intense. Globally minded, ambitious students aiming for elite colleges tend to utilize this program.
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