When students want to know more about a school, when admission counselors are preparing for a visit, when a community member is seeking to understand the area schools, where do they turn?
More than likely, they seek a guidance counselor. A useful resource in a counseling office, therefore, is the school profile. NACAC has provided links to some sample school profiles below.
If you are starting from scratch, here are a few suggestions for creating your own school profile.
- List all the contact information for the school and the counseling office, as well as the CEEB-ACT code number
- Provide a brief overview of the school (e.g. its history and mission statement)
- Describe the student body, faculty, classes (including AP and IB courses, requirements and restrictions), classrooms, grading system, and ranking system
- Explain different degree tracks, requirements for each, and the minimum graduation requirements.
- Include opportunities for non-traditional students, such as transfer students, co-op students, special education students, or ESL students
- Highlight college admission results and standardized test scores. (Please note that NACAC policy stipulates that schools should “refrain from the public reporting of mean and median admission test scores and instead report scores by either or both of the following: (a) middle 50 percent of all students tested by discrete grad level, (b) appropriate score bands of all students tested by grade level”)
- Present unique aspects of the school, ranging from easily describable curricular features, student life opportunities, to honor programs
- Limit the profile to two double-sided pages*.
Sample High School Profiles
American Community School at Beirut (575K PDF)
Beirut, Lebanon
Brownell-Talbot (B-T) College Preparatory School
Omaha, NE
Darlington School (142K PDF)
Rome, GA
Friends Seminary
New York, NY
Herricks High School
New Hyde Park, NY
The Mariemont City School District (19K PDF)
Cincinnati, OH
North Shore Country Day School
Winnetka, IL
Oak Hall School
Gainesville, FL
The Pingry School
Martinsville, NJ
Scarsdale High School
Scarsdale, NY
Shanghai American School (530K PDF)
Puxi Campus
Shanghai, China
St. Teresa’s Academy
Kansas City, MO
Torrey Pines High School
San Diego, CA
Wyoming Seminary
Kingston, PA
Share your High School Profile
Want to share your high school profile? Email a copy of your profile to Kristen Bourke.
*Adapted from Skinner, Rod. (2006). Nuts and bolts: Operating a college counseling office. College Admission Counseling: A Textbook for Graduate Students and Practicing Counselors. Alexandria, VA: NACAC. Available for purchase.