What Role Do Coursework and GPA Play in College Admissions?

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

What Role Do Coursework and GPA Play in College Admissions?

To understand how colleges think, it's important to put yourself in their shoes. I explain this in much more detail in my Getting into Harvard guide, but in short, colleges want to admit students who are going to change the world.

But how do you predict who's going to change the world when applicants are just 17-18 years old? By using their past achievement as a predictor of future achievement.

Admissions offices at colleges do a lot of research studies on what types of students they admit and how to predict students who are going to be most successful. Often in these studies, high school coursework has one of the strongest correlations with college grades.

The former Dean of Admissions at Harvard said:

We have found that the best predictors at Harvard are Advanced Placement tests and International Baccalaureate Exams, closely followed by the College Board subject tests. High school grades are next in predictive power, followed by the SAT and ACT.

The Dean of Admissions at Lawrence University said:

In the majority of studies, high school grades have the strongest correlation with college grades. The SAT and ACT have the next strongest correlation, but this too is not surprising because they have a strong correlation with high school grades.

This is not surprising - it takes a lot of skill and effort to excel with a high school courseload requirement. The qualities that lead to success in high school education, motivation, hard work, good planning, time management, and control over your psychology - can lead to academic success. And career. These are all the qualities we will mention in this guide.

Therefore, your high school subjects are one of the most important parts of your college application. In terms of spending time, where you will spend the most time, more than 2,000 hours per year (180 school days * (7 hours a day at school + 4 hours homework). This is equivalent to a full time job.

Learning is your job. But instead of building a house, you're building your future.

Finally, just to beat a dead horse, here are quotes from admissions offices from top colleges on importance of coursework to your college application.