All things being equal, high school GPA carries the most weight in college admissions decisions. But when it comes to the classes those grades come from, all things most certainly are not equal. Amy and Mike invited educational consultant Aly Beaumont to explore the finer points about course selection for highly selective college admissions.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. What classes should a student really take in high school?
2. Do students really need to take foreign language for college, and if so for how long?
3. How important is it to take Honors, AP, or IB classes?
4. Where does dual-enrollment fit in the selective admissions equation?
5. What is more important: GPA or course rigor?

MEET OUR GUEST

Aly is the founder of Admissions Village, a family focused, affordable, one-on-one college guidance consultancy. Aly is deeply committed to making the college admissions process less stressful, and her success with this objective can be measured by both the growing number of referrals she receives as well as the repeat business of family siblings. Aly is also a founder and advisor to The College T, a website connecting high school students with college students and recent graduates so that first-hand information and experiences can be shared.

Aly is a graduate of Tufts University where she majored in History with a concentration in Modern Women and African American History, and was captain of the Equestrian Team. She lives in Wilton, CT with her husband Perry, their two dogs Buddy and Buzz and their three sons. Two of their sons are currently in college at The University of St. Andrews in Scotland and Keyon College in Ohio, and one graduated from Santa Clara University. Aly is an Associate member of IECA and she has her certificate as an Independent Educational Consultant from the University of California Irvine.

Aly previously appeared on this podcast in episode 212 to discuss PREPARATION FOR HIGHLY SELECTIVE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS and was the subject of an IEC PROFILE in episode 264.

Find Aly at https://www.admissionsvillage.com.

LINKS

What Classes Should I take Next Year?

Considerations for Admissions to Highly Selective Colleges

RELATED EPISODES

HIGH SCHOOL COURSE SELECTION AND ACADEMIC RIGOR

CHOOSING HIGH SCHOOL MATH COURSES STRATEGICALLY

CHOOSING BETWEEN AP AND IB PROGRAMS

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.