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What is a School Profile?
A high school profile is a useful tool for college admissions officers—and prospective students and families—to interpret and understand general information about your school. This PDF is ideally two pages and is created and updated by a high school official. It can be uploaded on many application platforms (such as the Common App) or sent with a transcript. The school profile is also specific to your school, whereas a transcript is specific for the individual student.
Many U.S. universities use the school profile to better understand:
Overall context of your school
School-specific graduation requirements
Rigor of a student’s curriculum and the opportunities available
Student’s performance in context with peers
Academic records from your high school
Readers can then evaluate a student’s accomplishments within the academic and social context of the opportunities available at school.
Still not sure what a school profile is? Here’s an example.
(Want more? Here are examples of 1200+ U.S. Secondary School Profiles, including 30+ outside of the U.S., courtesy of the National Association for College Admission Counseling.)
Never heard of a school profile and deadlines are fast approaching? Rest assured—whether you’re a school official creating/revising a profile to help your students or an applicant researching the application process for your school, read through this article carefully to develop a beautiful high school profile.
In this blog we’ll help you...
(If you’re a student) understand the importance of making sure your school profile is created and updated as part of your application on behalf of your school official.
Note: if it is challenging for you to make a school profile with someone at your school, you can still make note of some of the points below to potentially include in a letter of recommendation or an additional information section.
(If you’re a school official) learn how to craft a great profile.
Before we get into how to create a profile, let’s address:
Can a school profile make a big difference in a student’s application chances?
In short, yes. While most students don’t actually realize it’s even part of the application, the school profile’s content is extremely valuable to understand the context of a student’s application—especially the transcript. For example, what’s considered a good GPA at your school … or does your school even calculate a GPA? What classes are available to you? Where do students from your school attend college or are applicants among the first in your school to study internationally? Who should admission officers contact at your school if they have more questions?
What if our school doesn’t have a school ‘counselor’ to submit a school profile?
If that’s the case, the recommendation and profile can be filled out and uploaded by the principal or another school official, including a school’s administrative assistant.
Is the PDF of my school profile optional?
Yes—but highly recommended, especially for U.S. universities. Keep reading.
Who submits a school profile?
If a student is applying via the Common App, there are a few general questions that a school official is obligated to fill out, and then there’s an optional upload for a school profile document.
Some high schools use a document uploading platform such as Maia Learning, SCOIR, Cialfo, or Unifrog. If your school does not use a document uploading platform, then the school profile will be submitted through a Counselor Recommender account. The school counselor/official will be able to upload the school profile in the "School Profile" section in the "Profile" tab of the Common Application.
Typically, a school administrator or counselor is responsible for creating and updating the school profile annually, sending it along with a student’s transcript and relevant exam results to the universities to which a student applies, as well as including it on the school’s website.
Should a school profile be on my school’s website?
It is extremely helpful to have the school profile directly on the school’s website so the information can be easily located by admission officers who search for context about your school. Some non-U.S. universities, which do not use the Common App, still search for a school profile, even if it is not required as part of the original application.
A number of forms also ask for a link to the school profile, and school officials can also include the link when they are writing to a university to establish contact.
Can a student submit a school profile?
Yes and no. The information on the school profile is too specific for a student to even know offhand. However, many proactive students outside of the U.S. help the school official (and an English teacher) facilitate the translation of the information that ideally should be included. In extreme cases, the student can help the school official to share certain details about the school in a letter of recommendation or an additional information section.
How should the school profile be formatted?
These are tips recommended by admissions counselors from several U.S. universities:
Written in English (or in a language that the university can understand. i.e. written in Spanish for a university in Colombia with Spanish-language programs)
Include school’s logo/letterhead on all pages with school address, phone number, website, principal’s name, and ideal contact person for any needed follow-up information.
Ideally one page, front and back.
Use charts, graphs, bullet points, and color to break-up and highlight areas, as well as save space.
School’s name should be on every page of the profile (i.e., on the header or footer)
If school uses multiple curricula, include side-by-side comparison.
Define all abbreviations.
How to Create a School Profile: A Guide for School Officials and Students
There is no template on the Common App to create a school profile. A local EducationUSA office can be instrumental in providing resources to you. Remember to check out these examples of 1200+ U.S. Secondary School Profiles, including 30+ outside of the U.S., courtesy of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, and keep reading for how you can generate excellent and useful content for your school profile
Note to students outside the U.S.: don’t feel discouraged, or that this is only a problem limited to students abroad. The National Admission for College Admission Counseling research estimates that about 25% of schools in the U.S. do not maintain a school profile, particularly small schools and schools with large percentages of low-income students.
Students: here are your next two steps as you work together with your school.
Identify your school official who can serve as your “college coordinator.”
Who will advocate and work through the process with you as you plan and apply to college? When applying to institutions through the Common Application, you will need a designated school official to do several tasks on your behalf, including uploading a Counselor of Letter Recommendation, sending transcripts, identifying current year courses, answering basic questions about your school (these are minimal, which is why a school profile is highly recommended), approving a fee waiver if necessary, and uploading a school profile.
It is important that the information you provide as a student on the Common, Coalition or Institutional Application matches the information the counselor/school official is also providing. Embrace this experience together to take on this mission with enthusiasm. Communication is very important.
Remember that if you do not have a designated school counselor, and your school doesn’t use a service such as SCOIR, Maia Learning, or Cialfo, you will need the email of a school official in order to upload the information mentioned above.
Circling back to school profiles, students cannot write the school profiles as you won’t have all of this data available to you; however, you can assist your school officials in facilitating the information about school profiles and the other necessary documents that need to be uploaded. Be both gentle and assertive in your collaboration with your high school officials. Inform yourself through this blog so you can be clear about the information in the school profile that is preferred and recommended by experienced admission officers.Search if your school has an existing school profile. To do this, simply Google the name of your school plus the word “profile” to see what comes up. While it should be listed on your high school’s website, this is not always the case—although obviously preferred.
If you cannot find the profile, contact your school “college coordinator” as soon as possible to see if a profile is available and up-to-date, if it can be added to the website in the near future, and, above all, sent as part of your application along with your transcript.
School Official: here is your next step to creating/revising your school profile.
Use the guidelines below for suggestions for revising (or creating!) a school profile. There is no one way to write a school profile; some are succinct in two pages and cover basic information while other profiles are more descriptive and detailed. The goal, however, remains the same: be as straightforward and accurate as possible about your high school context.
School Official Pro Tip: Many admission officers are available to respond directly to your questions and concerns, especially outside of the busy time application season. If you’re early in the process, send your existing school profile to the admission officer for your geographical territory and ask for feedback: What needs to be clarified? Elaborated on? Eliminated? One college will not have the same preferences as another, but use this feedback as you work on revising your school profile.
What to Include in a Great School Profile
Pro Tip: A School Profile should be easy to find on your school’s website. If it is not on your website, if you Google “School Profile” + “Name of Your High School,” it should be at the top of the results. For example, Le Rosey has a clear and informative School Profile, and is found easily on the school's website, and via a Google search.
Remember that the suggestions below are not a checklist, but a guide of what thousands of college representatives and high school counselors have deemed helpful elements. A good profile is short, well organized, and contains useful graphics.
Remember that you can find more examples here: 1200+ U.S. Secondary School Profiles, including 30+ outside of the U.S..
Letterhead
Name, Address, Phone/Fax Number, Email, Website, Administrators’ Names
Information for the primary contact of the Counseling Team, including if college admission representatives are welcome to schedule visits (virtual or in-person), when, and who to contact
Date last revised/academic year (you need to be transparent about when the data were gathered and that it is current)
School & Community
Location: city, province, state, country
Type (i.e., public, private, technical, academic, independent, boarding, religious affiliation, for-profit, IB World School, etc.)
Accreditations (i.e., Cognia, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, etc.), licensing, institutional memberships (i.e., College Board, NACAC, Northwest Accreditation Commission, etc.), special recognitions, and honors
History (including the year founded), school ethos, vision/mission & admission guidelines
Languages (what language(s) classes are taught in)
Date opened & date of first graduating class
Student enrollment and distribution by grade level
Faculty demographic information (i.e. number of nationalities, % holding advanced degrees and/or teaching certificates/degrees, teacher-to-student ratios, counselor-to-student ratios, etc.)
District/community demographics (i.e., socioeconomic and ethnic mix, level of education of parents, major employers, etc.)
Student demographic information (% by ethnicity, number of nationalities, % by region, % receiving scholarships, % who participate in low-income programs, if applicable)
Special recognitions associated with school curricula, including terminology or acronyms specific to your school
Link to the Department/Ministry of Education’s website, especially for less well-known curriculum
Extracurricular opportunities (i.e., sports, clubs, etc.). Include if there are additional fees to participate.
Policies for reporting disciplinary infractions
Transcript availability (especially if not available until the end of the academic year) and if the country system is solely exam based
Curriculum
Academic school year, calendar system, and school schedule (i.e., quarters, semesters, trimesters; August to May, February to December; traditional or block; total class hours per week, minutes per class, etc.)
Academic Programs (i.e., national, IB, AP, British, special diplomas, tracks, nontraditional curricula, etc.) and % of students who choose each, if applicable
Offerings (i.e., IB Diploma Program, AP, Honors, college-preparatory courses, regular)
Requirements for course selection (open or selective—do you have to apply or take an exam to enter a class, or can anyone enroll in the course?)
Limitations (i.e., number of AP/IB courses taken per year, maximum number of classes taken per semester, number of universities a student can apply to)
Graduation requirements (i.e., number of credits needed, community service hours, etc.)
Special projects unique to your school (i.e. is a class research- or project-based?)
Context of how demanding is the curriculum and what are “impressive” grades within your school
Grading System
Scale details (you do not need to convert the scale to letters (A, B, C, D) if your school does not follow that format).
Grade distribution (many high schools use a chart or bullet points to list the ranges of the most recent graduating class’ GPA). If GPA is not calculated, that should also be indicated.
Class rank policy and, if applicable, how it is calculated
Policies on weighting courses, recording grades (if grades from all courses attempted are reported on transcripts), pass/fail, and repeating courses
Standardized Exams
Summary breakdown (i.e., how many students took “x” exam and earned “x” grade over “x” period of time or for the most recent class—some counselors include a chart with this information; others include middle 50% range)
Distribution of specialized test scores: AP, IB, TOEFL and/or IELTS scores
State-required or national test score summaries with timelines, including the state/national average as a comparison point (if applicable)
Disadvantages/hardships/restrictions/support (i.e., test cancellations, delays, capacity limits, lack of proximity to testing centers, availability for students to take a PSAT, SAT coaching availability, in-country resources available (or not) for recent books or e-books)
External exams (exams not affiliated with your school) offered on site (if applicable)
Simultaneous exam preparation for students: for example, prepping for non-U.S. based exams such as Cambridge English exams.
COVID-19 Related Issues (if not included in the counselor letter of recommendation)
Closing/reopening dates
Changes to grading system
Scheduling conflicts
Changes in instructional methods
Extenuating circumstances, including if students and teachers have had access (or lack thereof) to learning technology
Curricula changes due to COVID (i.e., removal of practical/lab requirements, did classes change to pass/fail? Were classes given on the same schedule via Zoom?)
Educational Outcomes
# of students from the Class of 20XX who have graduated (or are on track to graduate, depending on timing)
Post-high school placements (i.e., % students attending university in-country and international universities)
% of students who pursue a pre-university program of study (as dictated by the curriculum), two- and three/four-year degrees (a Bachelor’s), etc.
Alternative/mandatory post secondary destinations (gap year, workforce, military, etc.)
List of universities students have been accepted to and attended (include all schools, not just selective schools; indicate # next to school name of how many matriculate )
Awards/distinctions of recent graduates
Sources:
Counselor Session: School Profile and Transcripts: the University Perspective for counselors in Latin America, October 18, 2021.
Fulbright - Common Application School Forms
NACAC Guide to Ethical Practice in College Admission, June 2020.
NACAC Best Practices for Developing a School Profile, April 20
College Board: Creating Your School Profile. What colleges need to know about your school
Cambridge Assessment International Education: A School Profile
Concourse Global C4: Creating a high school profile, July 9, 2019.
Action Items for School Officials:
By using the credible resources highlighted in this blog to create/revise your school profile, you’re making a difference in how your students will be portrayed as applicants and how your school is represented to college admission officers, administrators, parents, and current/future students.
With this said, here are your next steps:
Collect all the information you have available about your school. Ask other teachers and the principal for help. You do not need to include all the points listed above: use what is most relevant, what a university needs to understand your students, and what accurately represents your school.
Keep your profile simple: especially under a time crunch, content is what is most valuable.
Ask for feedback about your school profile from admission officers and/or through the International Association for College Admission Counseling.
Make sure your school profile can be found on your school’s website and/or easily through a Google search.
Keep it up-to-date, and update the profile at least annually.
Action Items for Students:
Check on your school’s website and/or on Google to see if your school has a profile.
If your school is new to students applying to U.S. universities, in particular:
Identify your school official (i.e., principal, administrator, secretary etc.) who will be sending documents on your behalf.
Send an example of a school profile to this contact person and discuss creating one, updating it, and/or including some of these points in a recommendation.
If it is not possible to create a school profile, consider including some of the points above in the Additional Information section of the Common Application.
