School Profile

How We Use School and CBO Profiles

Our admissions officers use school and CBO profiles to evaluate each applicant within their context. A good profile helps us to understand a student's educational environment, community, opportunities, and the rigor of the curriculum offered. It also helps us make sense of an applicant’s transcript, and to understand a student within the context of their school community. 

We practice a holistic review at Penn, meaning we evaluate each student with their context in mind. We understand that schools and communities have different resources and offerings, so we evaluate each student individually based on what is offered to them. The profile helps us understand what classes and extra-curricular opportunities were available to a student and how a student challenged themselves based on the opportunity at their school.   

Key Parts of a School Profile

The most effective school profiles are up-to-date, concise, accurate, and easy to scan for information. A good school profile helps us understand what opportunities were available to an applicant, and to contextualize a student's transcript.

According to the College Board, the best profiles include:

• Contact Information
• Community & School Information
• Curriculum Overview
• Grading and Ranking Procedures
• Test Score Information
• College Attendance History
• Extracurricular Opportunities

We expand on each of these areas below.

Contact Information

This section covers some straightforward basics. It should briefly and clearly note:

• School name
• Address
• Phone and fax numbers
• Website url
• Any social media profiles
• CEEB code

This section should also include the names and contact information for the principal, as well as any counselors. If different counselors are assigned to students based on grade, alphabetical listing, or other divisions, this is a helpful place to note the students each counselor covers!

Community & School Information

What's your school like? Who makes up your student body? In this section we're looking to get a general understanding of your school and your students.

We recommend starting with your school's vision and mission statement. This can be followed by a short description of your school community and who makes up your school population. Some details you may include are:

• School location (including urban/suburban/rural or proximity to nearby cities, if applicable)
• Total enrollment size and individual class size
• The socioeconomic status and ethnic mix of your school community
• Common industries or demographic features of the surrounding area
• What percentage of students are rural/urban/suburban dwellers.
• If applicable to your community, it's also helpful to know what percentage of your students, if any, participate in low-income programs.

Next, please share any accreditations, institutional memberships, and special recognitions that pertain to your school. This can also be a good place to mention any points of differentiation for your school or program.

Finally, we want to know about your counselors! Tell us how many counselors your school works with and their caseload. Knowledge of a counselor's caseload helps us to understand further context about a school community and size.

Curriculum

What sort of curriculum does your school offer? What are your programs and enrollment policies? What are the most rigorous courses offered at your school? An overview of this information helps us understand what was available to an applicant, and how that applicant has sought out rigor where it was available to them.

Here we like to see a description of all available programs and enrollment policies, including an outline of academic programs (like IB, AP, or honors), as well as any track or nontraditional curricula. Please also state your curricular requirements for graduation.

For advanced curricula, it can be helpful to know which IB/AP/Dual Enrollment courses are offered, particularly when students are taking exams for courses not offered at their schools. Any special diplomas or specialized programs should be listed under this section as well. Noting the most rigorous courses offered by department is also helpful here (ie: what is the highest level of each core academic subject area offered in your school).

We want to know if your programs are open or selective, and if your school caps the number of AP/IB/honors courses a student can take. If your school does cap courses, we want to know if they are capped by year or total number, and whether you let students petition to take courses beyond the cap. Additionally, it is helpful to know if you prescribe a course sequence for students.

Note: Please be sure to explain all course abbreviations and naming conventions! These can vary from school to school, so having names spelled out is helpful.

Grading and Ranking Procedures

How are your students graded, and how do students typically perform at your school? We want to know the minimum requirements for graduation, as well as what grading system and scale you use (ie, A=90%, B=80-89%, etc…).

Next, we want to learn about how GPAs work at your school. If GPAs are used, how do you calculate GPAs, and what is included in the cumulative GPA? Please also share if you use a weighted or unweighted GPA, and what comprises each. Class rank and grade distribution, if displayed, can also provide additional context around the academic program.

A visual representation of grade distribution by class (like in a line graph) is another popular choice. It may show, for instance, the distribution of grades for each 11th grade class. If your school ranks students, we like to see the ranking, and to know whether students can share ranks. If you are not able to share your ranking, showing rank distribution is useful.

Test Score Information

Do your students typically participate in standardized testing? If they do, and you have sufficient data to report, we like to know your school's distribution and ranges for the SAT and ACT. If your students take AP, National Merit, IB, or other standard tests, please include that information as well. Some schools also provide high-level data, such as the percentage of students who opted to take a specific exam, and how many achieved top scores.

Penn remains test-optional and choosing not submitting test scores does not negatively impact applicants.

College Attendance History

How common is it for your students to attend college after graduation? In this section, we want to see the percentage of your graduates who are attending 2-year and 4-year institutions, as well as how many are attending in-state and out-of-state institutions. This is also a good place to share general college and career readiness indicators.

Extracurricular Opportunities

What extracurricular opportunities does your school offer? Provide a list of all the sports, clubs, and organizations students can join, including any special programs that may be noted on a student's transcript.

Key Parts of a CBO Profile

When looking at Community-Based Organizations, much of the same information we ask schools to share is relevant. Our goal is to understand the students you serve and the format of your program. All this information helps us understand what an applicant is dedicating their time to, what opportunities they avail themselves of, and how they impact their community.

Contact Information

This section covers some straightforward basics. It should briefly and clearly note:

• Organization name
• Address
• Phone and fax numbers
• Website url
• Any social media profiles

This section should also include the names and contact information for the head of your program, as well as any staff who work closely with students and are good points of contact. If different staff or volunteers are assigned to students based on age, alphabetical listing, or other divisions, this is a helpful place to note the students each person covers!

Community & Program Information

What's your organization all about? Who do you serve? In this section we're looking to get a general understanding of your CBO and the students you work with.

We recommend starting with brief overview of your organization's mission and history, and how students become involved in your program. This can be followed by a short description of your community and who makes up your student population, including any participant and family demographics you may be able to share.

Next, please share any accreditations, institutional memberships, and special recognitions that pertain to your CBO. We know each CBO is unique, so above all, we want to know of any points of differentiation for your program.

Finally, we want to hear more about your program. What have your outcomes and points of success been? How are you different from other programs? How do you impact your community?

Program Specifics

Instead of curriculum information, from CBOs we are looking for program information and features. How do you engage with your students? What activities can students participate in? How many hours do students typically dedicate to your organization? What ages or grade levels does your program engage? Does your program offer school year and summer programming?

College Attendance History

Next, the college attendance history of participants in your program is helpful for us to paint a picture of your community. What percentage of students who have participated in your program go on to 2-year or 4-year colleges? If available, we like to see what percentage of participants in your CBO show general college and career readiness indicators.