High School Transcript

While reading Ken Bain’s book “What the Best College Students Do” of the five different types of students he describes, I feel like I fall under the label of one having mediocre grades but achieving success. I make good grades, however I do not necessarily believe my grades always reflect my hard work, determination and effort put in, similar to his theory on false hope in standardized testing. Throughout my school career, I have consistently made A and B grades. I can remember only one C grade, which was a quarter grade, and very disappointing, but a lesson learned. At the same time though, and as Bain helped me realize through his text, grades are not everything and making a C is not something that is going to kill me; there is simply more to school than a letter grade. In fact he points out through most of the 1800s schools only used two grades, pass or fail. As seen nowadays, schools have since adopted the letter grade system.

In general community colleges are helping students get through their obstacles to obtain a career. However, sometimes students in the little colleges are being categorized in the topic of stereotypes due to the judgement of others. This demonstrates that people from other countries pursuing a career, students that can’t afford, or get into senior colleges are being criticized due to not having the requirements needed to attend senior colleges. In the article “Community College to Bachelor’s”, the author Ashley A. Smith demonstrates that people who come from community college usually take six years or so to earn a bachelor’s degree. Why is this significant? In addition, it shows that many of us who attend community colleges are most likely to not earn a bachelor’s degree in four years, but instead it will take six or more years. This is because many students are taking developing courser to gain entry to the classes for their major.

Going to college not only helps you but also the individuals around you. A person works hard to make sure that their application is presentable to the college. Angel B. Perez tells us that we should learn to fail, if we want to go to college. This comes as a shock to many people however, he is correct. As a student we assume that colleges look for an “A+” on a transcript rather than a “B-”. Though they do not. In other words, you don’t have to have 4.0 gpa to get into college.

Being admitted into college is a difficult process, one that requires students to be diligent in their studies, engage in a number of extracurricular activities, and overcome the everyday pressures and challenges that high-schoolers face across the country. Admittedly, not everyone in the United States is born with the same opportunities as socioeconomic factors as well as historic injustices have contributed to a society in which some people are far more likely to achieve upward mobility – of which, obtaining a college degree is a necessary part – than others. While there is need to rectify this reality,

College: What is Was, Is and Should Be, by Andrew Delbanco takes both a historical and analytical approach to the evolution of higher education institutions in the United States. While thought provoking, some of his views balance on the verge of extremity. Many colleges provide students with the skills necessary for what is happening in society at that moment. This is exemplified in how the application process has changed from the earliest colleges to today. Also, when colleges were first introduced into society, students were recommended by members of society to attend a school, which is much different than the process today. Another aspect of what Delbanco discusses in his book is the disparity between a small liberal arts college and

Before one can truly dig in and unpack this texts, we first need to get to know the author. The author of the article, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s” Brent Staples, born on September 13, 1951, grew up an unpretentious boy in Chester Pennsylvania with nine siblings (“Brent Staples” 1). Staples grew up very financially challenged and “was accepted to Widener University through a program called Project Prepare (“Brent Staples” 1). By receiving his PhD in Phycology he then went on to teach at local universities in Pennsylvania and Chicago. Staple’s article, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s,” by the use of ethos gains instant credibility as he has personal experience in the field to back up his arguments. Also coming from such a poor family with so many siblings Staples work ethic had to be sickening to become as successful as he has. This has imprinted a moral of working hard for what is received, which explains his anger towards this undeserved sense of accomplishment that college students are receiving.

In Brent Staples' story, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A's” he explains how grades have gotten higher in colleges over the past years. Students and parents seem to demand for grades because of what they pay for college. Professors sometimes have no choice but to give in, because it might look bad on them or to avoid classes from being removed.

Once someone said that community colleges were for people that didn’t really care about school or for students that weren’t good enough to get accepted in a four-year college. In other words, that community colleges were for “failures.” Since closed minded people have a bad impression about community colleges, they encourage new students to feel bad about enrolling in a two-year college. Therefore, community colleges get discriminated and minimize, just how the author mention that community colleges were often

Eric Hoover, in “What Colleges Want in an Applicant (Everything)” explains that the college admissions process is very problematic. Many feel the process isn’t fair, focusing too much on testing, financial concerns, alumni status, and other factors that don’t show the type of person each student really is. In fact, several universities, such as Olin’s College of Engineering, have attempted to improve the problem, but for some it seems nearly impossible, or perhaps unnecessary. The hope is to make changes in higher, Ivy League colleges in order to disperse changes beyond.

Many people don’t know the real meaning of the word “stereotype”. Stereotypes are always a part of our everyday life. We see and hear about stereotypes in many different situations of our lives. Sometimes we can find ourselves in a situation where we make stereotypes for a large group of people. Everyone is marked with either positive or negative stereotypes. Stereotypes affect people’s social lives, emotions, educational status and how people interact with their environment. There is a rumor among community college students that they only attend the college because they can’t afford to go to a four-year university. However, statistics deny this assumption. It may be correct that in average community college students have lower SAT and ACT scores than university students, but most of the students attend community college for convenience, family, job or financial considerations. Community college makes a point, purely for economic reasons. We expect more students to use community colleges in the future because of the sheer cost of a university education. Community college

Adam Gorlick in “ Got an hour? Boost your grades. Stanford psychologists design 60-minute exercise that raises GPAs of minority student” talks about the transition from high school to college and the difficulties many students face. In his article Adam Gorlick brings up various questions many freshman ask for example, will they fit in but also brings up the issue of being a minority in a new college campus. He later goes on to talk about how these situations during the transition to college are situations that everyone goes through.

There’s no doubt core classes are important; however, some advanced students breeze through these classes. Offering some higher level courses within our high school could benefit those wanting to progress a little faster. We could achieve this by presenting advanced placement courses. They would not only allow students to learn at a higher level, but it would also enable them to work on their college career a little quicker or qualify them to take higher level courses when they begin their final chapter of their education.

However, just because the test is popular and widely used doesn’t indicate that it is a valid predictor of college success (Atkinson). The excessive utilization of standardized tests in no manner implies or suggests a higher accomplishment. The essentials of this debate are easily comprehensible: Standardized tests are not a high-quality predictor of college success.

Those concerns are trickier for black students and others who are often stereotyped or outnumbered on college campuses. They have good reason to wonder whether they will belong – worries that can result in lower grades and a sense of alienation.

Colleges can consider high school GPA as the alternative for test scores. Almost all of the schools during admission completely overlook high school GPA. William C. Hiss, a principal investigator of Defining promise, declares “High school grades matter, and they matter a lot” (Maitre, par.2). It is not fair for many students like Ms. Casimir, a sophomore attending Wake Forest University, who scored 1580 in SAT. This was “an embarrassment” as she graduated high school “with a 4.0” (Simon, par.10). Her dreams to go to “Cornell” and “Davidson” was shattered but yet she was admitted by the “Wake Forest University which gave her full ride without seeing her SAT score and she has 3.2 GPA now” (Simon, par.10). It’s not a miracle as diligence and