The School Profile

When families think about college applications, they focus on essays, test scores, activities, and transcripts. But there's another document that plays a major role in how colleges understand a student's accomplishments—and most students never even see it.

It’s called the School Profile, and it accompanies every transcript your high school sends to colleges. This one- to two-page document is created and updated each year by the counseling office. Its purpose is simple: to give admissions officers a clear understanding of the high school environment from which a student comes.

Context Matters

Colleges don't evaluate applicants in isolation. They evaluate them in the context of their high school, and the School Profile explains what that context is. Think of it as a lens through which colleges view the transcript.

Without it, admissions officers would have no way to know:

• Whether a high school offers 20 AP classes—or none

• Whether a particular GPA is considered excellent

• Whether a senior class of 60 has different leadership opportunities than a class of 600

What’s Included in a School Profile?

Most School Profiles include the same core information:

• Basic school details: enrollment numbers, student-to-teacher ratio, and school type

• Curriculum and academic programs: honors, AP, IB, or dual enrollment offerings, and access limitations

• Grading scale and GPA policies: weighted vs. unweighted GPAs and class ranking

• Graduation requirements: so colleges understand required courses

• School community info: available clubs, programs, and where recent grads have enrolled in college

How Colleges Use the School Profile

Colleges rely heavily on this document.

A student who takes two AP classes at a school that offers four is evaluated differently than a student who takes two at a school that offers twenty. The profile shows what “rigorous” means in that specific environment.

It helps admissions officers:

• Determine whether a particular GPA places a student in the top 10% or is average

• Understand whether leadership roles are competitive or limited

• See if certain activities or programs even exist at the school

Leveling the Playing Field

Most importantly, the School Profile helps level the playing field.

Two students from completely different backgrounds should not be judged as though they had identical opportunities. The profile ensures colleges evaluate students on what they did with the resources available to them, not what their school did or didn’t provide.

How to View Your School’s Profile

Students don’t submit or interact with the School Profile at all. Counselors send it automatically alongside transcripts.

If you’re curious, you can often find your school’s profile by searching your high school’s name along with “school profile.”

Colleges use this document to understand the academic landscape you’re learning in and to evaluate your choices within that context.

What matters most:

• How you challenged yourself

• How you made the most of your environment

• How you grew within your capabilities

Admissions officers are looking for students who have pushed themselves given their unique school setting.

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Garrett Educational Consulting provides comprehensive counseling for college and boarding school admissions as well as academic advisement. Click HERE to learn about our services.

Prepared especially for our clients and their families The information included in this newsletter is generic and assumes no liability for loss or damage due to reliance on the material contained herein. Copyright © 2025 by The College Advisor, Inc. All rights reserved.