Note to Lamorinda's Scholars: Choose Your High School Courses Wisely

Where you obtain a bachelors degree is often predicated on the choices you make during your high-school years.

This past week, many high-school students in the Lamorinda area received their High School Course Selection form for the 2011-2012 school year.  Students should give careful consideration to this form and their academic choices (this form is not currently available on the Acalanes District website).  What they do — or don’t do — during their high-school years will impact their choice of colleges. This is the time to have your student visit his or her counselor and review the classes he or she is interested in taking this fall.

Extra attention should be paid to sophomore and junior years. These two years in particular are what University of California schools review when determining freshman admissions. Mediocre grades freshman year may be overcome by demonstrating that grades improved with maturity. Colleges are most concerned with where a student is intellectually at the time of application, not four years earlier.

But as the level of competition rises in college admissions, students must evaluate their high-school course selection to be competitive with today’s admissions standards, which continue to rise precipitously.

For example, University of California campuses are among the most popular four-year target schools for Lamorinda students. Over the past five years, some campuses that used to admit students who met UC eligibility no longer do so. UC schools have become much more selective because they are receiving more qualified applicants. Another caveat to throw into the mix: Out-of-state students who are more than willing and able to pay a whopping $50,000 per year (at UC Berkeley) are highly desirable and plentiful. 

Christine Van Gieson, director of admissions at UC Santa Barbara, acknowledges that the school received an unprecedented number of applicants for the 2011  freshman class — more than 49,000 students applied for about 21,000 seats. While the GPA minimum requirement for UC Santa Barbara is 3.0, the average GPA for the class of 2010 was 3.92 (weighted with AP and Honors classes), with an average SAT score of just over 1900.

This is where those pesky AP and honors classes come in handy.  A solid A or B in an AP or Honors class will recalibrate your GPA and significantly boost your chances of admissions to a UC school.  It’s tough getting into the high-demand UC schools — Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Davis, San Diego, Riverside, UCLA and Irvine — without some AP or Honors classes under your belt.

Last year, the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) published the results of a survey called  “Top 10 Strengths and Experiences Colleges Look for in High School Students.”  According to IECA, number one on the list is an academic curriculum that is rigorous and challenging (translation: Advanced Placement and Honors classes and/or International Baccalaureate coursework).

Teachers and high-school counselors also need to be aware that if a student is taking Spanish 2 for example, he or she should probably take Spanish 3 in order to stay competitive even though it’s beyond the minimum requirement for most colleges.  This same philosophy applies to math and the sciences. I recommend that students take the most rigorous course load they can handle while maintaining A’s and B’s.

Ideally, academic planning should begin freshman year. The student’s goals should be discussed and re-evaluated annually with a student’s counselor and his or her parents.

So take another gander at that High School Course Selection form and review your academic strategy. Smart choices now could pay big dividends come college application time.