Course Rigor, Grades, and Context: How Admissions Officers Read Transcripts

Webinar Transcription

2026-2-11-Course Rigor, Grades, and Context_How Admissions Officers Read Transcripts

Anna: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. Welcome to our webinar on, “Course Rigor, Grades and Context: How Admissions Officers Read Transcripts.” My name is Anna Vande Velde and I’ll be your moderator today. I’m a Senior Advisor at CollegeAdvisor. I’ve been with the company for about four and a half years, and in addition to working with students one-on-one, I’m a co-captain of our essay review team. Oo orient everyone with the webinar timing,

Anna: we’re gonna start off with a presentation, then answer your questions in a live Q&A. On the sidebar, you can download our slides in the handouts tab and you can start submitting questions in the Q&A tab at any time. Please note that super specific questions like, “These are the [00:01:00] four classes I’m choosing between” are not gonna be appropriate for tonight’s format because those require back and forth discussion.

Anna: But later on we’ll share about a free opportunity to meet with us one-on-one to ask exactly that type of question. Um, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you, your speaker for tonight, Dr. Aya Waller-Bey. Dr. Aya, could you please share a bit about your background?

Dr. Aya: Absolutely. Thank you so much and, uh, good morning, good afternoon, or a good evening depending on where you are in the world.

Dr. Aya: I am Dr. Aya Waller-Bey, and I am a former admissions officer from Georgetown University that will be delivering the presentation today. So just to give you a little background about me and from where I come, I like to be able to say, and I’m a proud first generation college student, which means I was the first person in my family to graduate with a four year degree.

Dr. Aya: I attended Georgetown [00:02:00] University in Washington, DC, where I studied sociology. Upon graduation, I also became an admissions officer there and the coordinator of multicultural recruitment. While there, I read first. Students all over the country, specifically students in the Midwest. And then upon graduating or finishing my tenure in admissions rather, I moved across the pond to England, uh, to earn my master’s in Philosophy of Education at the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Aya: And while there, I actually became an alumni interviewer for Georgetown Last spring, I completed my PhD in sociology at the University of Michigan, where I studied college admissions, specifically via college admissions essay. So I have a lot of experience in, in college admissions and helping young people navigate the college admissions process.

Dr. Aya: And I’ve been with CollegeAdvisor for about five application cycles now. So tons of experiences and, and so excited and so happy to answer your questions later on in our [00:03:00] conversation.

Anna: Thank you, Dr. Aya. I could not think of someone more qualified to be with us for this webinar. So thank you so much for your time.

Anna: Before we get into your presentation, I thought it might be helpful for us to get a sense of who’s joining us. So I’m gonna open this poll. Please let us know if you’re a student, what grade you’re in, if you’re here as a parent guardian. Um, select what grade your student is in, and while we wait for those results to come back, Dr.

Anna: Aya, um, here’s a question we got from a registrant. We know the focus today is gonna be primarily on course rigor and transcripts, but how important are grades in the overall picture and what else is factored in?

Dr. Aya: Yeah, that’s a great question. And again, we’ll talk a little bit about that in tonight’s presentation.

Dr. Aya: But grades are important. They are very important. When I interviewed admissions officers for my dissertation, I asked them on a scale of like [00:04:00] one to five how important grades were and the essay and et cetera, and grades, specifically that high school transcript was number one. So grades are incredibly important because they’re, uh, a record of a, of, of achievement, a record of performance over time.

Dr. Aya: So definitely want students to make sure that they are prioritizing performing their best in their classes. For sure.

Anna: Thank you so much. It looks like we have critical mass in our response. Uh, so Dr. Aya, just so you know, about a third of folks joining us are in or are parents of someone who’s in 11th grade, uh, almost a quarter said 10th grade.

Anna: We have some eighth and ninth grade families here with us. A few seniors and then some folks at others, so educators, um, college counselors, that sort of thing. I’m gonna close the poll and turn it over to you, but I’m remembering now [00:05:00] one piece of housekeeping, I forgot to say. This is being recorded and it will be emailed to everyone who registered.

Anna: Um, okay. Now I’m done and I’m gonna hand it over to you, Dr. Aya.

Dr. Aya: Fantastic. Thank you so much again, Anna. Alright, so to start our conversation, let’s begin with discussing how course rigor is actually defined, right? So course rigor refers to how challenging a student’s coursework is, and again, that’s relevant to what the school has to offer.

Dr. Aya: We often get questions from students, from parents, from families, wondering whether or not if their school, you know, only has five AP classes and another school that in their district has 20 AP classes, whether or not it will put their child as a disadvantage or at a disadvantage. And we often say it is relative to what your school has to offer.

Dr. Aya: And I’ll talk a little bit more about how admissions officers actually know what your school has to offer. [00:06:00] So in addition to that, admissions officers, again, are evaluating whether a student challenged themselves appropriately, not whether they took every hardest class available. Important caveat there.

Dr. Aya: We often have students again who think they have to take all of the AP classes or the most advanced math classes, et cetera. And sometimes, you know, a class or advanced class may not be appropriate given your strengths or your academic interests, right? So there are, again, there’s some relatively here, right?

Dr. Aya: Everything is not kind of black and white, but admissions officers definitely want students to challenge themselves. Rigor is always access in context, as I said earlier, and is never just a universal checklist. There’s no one size fits all in college admissions, and I know parents and families often like to say, if I do this, this will happen.

Dr. Aya: And unfortunately that’s just not how admissions works. Strong rigor aligns with the student’s academic interests, strengths and futures goals. Again, if you’re a student or a [00:07:00] child wants to study, you know, biology and they wanna be pre-med. Admissions officers would be expecting that a student takes a rigorous, uh, science sequence, right?

Dr. Aya: So that’s AP bio, that’s AP chem, that might be AP physics, that might be calculus, et cetera. So it’s really important that the rigors also align with the academic interests, strengths, and future goals. Future goals. I highlight strengths as well because some students might have interest in something, however, they struggle tremendously, right?

Dr. Aya: So if you’re only getting C’s or barely passing and a certain type of, uh, discipline, that may not be where you should, you know, apply all of your energy. Maybe you need to pivot to a different discipline or academic interests. Also, balance matters, right? So rigor that leads to collapse or burnout is not viewed favorably.

Dr. Aya: Again, I used the example of perhaps someone is really interested in biology and science, however, they’re not performing well. In those classes. And the [00:08:00] harder or more rigorous the classes get, the worse off that they’re doing on a consistent basis, right? So there might be signaling some gaps in proficiency.

Dr. Aya: And if a student is passing out, not eating, can’t sleep, you know, there’s a lot of angst and anxiety, a lot of pressure to the point that they’re breaking down or burning out, that also might signal that the rigor or the, the strength of the course load actually might be too much and might negatively impact the student’s health and wellbeing.

Dr. Aya: So again, these are all factors that families, college counselors, high school counselors, uh, need to kind of talk about when identifying which classes to take and the rigor of such classes. So, as I said in one of my kind of initial points, you know, colleges are looking at grades and performance and context, right?

Dr. Aya: Not just isolation. There’s a. Grades are a part of a larger story and a part of a larger puzzle. They’re interpreted relative to your course, difficult difficulties. [00:09:00] So not just as raw numbers. We know that in a traditional A through F or A through D sequence, A, A were is worth four points, right? B is worth three points C 2D one when calculating the standard 4.0 GPA.

Dr. Aya: But there’s so much more to that, right? Uh, A or a B in a very challenging course could carry more weight than an A in a less demanding one. But as I said earlier, is not always black and white. A question that we get every single conversation or presentation, and a question I’m sure someone was going to ask tonight is, Hey, Dr.

Dr. Aya: Aya, is it better to get, you know, all A’s and honors or regular courses or B’S and AP courses? In IB courses? And again, if you’re applying to selective universities, say schools that emit less than 30% of applicants. They’re gonna wanna see a’s in the most rigorous courses that you take, right? So it is not just black and white, whereas a student who only takes AP [00:10:00] classes but only gets B’s and C’s in those classes versus a student who takes honors or just kind of regular level classes getting A’s, it’s not like admissions officer say, oh, that student challenged themself.

Dr. Aya: They got B’s and C’s, but they took AP classes and that student didn’t challenge themselves and they got all A’s. It’s not black and white. They wanna see strong performance and proficiency in, in the reg rigorous classes that you do take. And I know that is often hard to kind of conceptualize and make sense of, but it is a, a reality of the admissions process.

Dr. Aya: Admissions officers are looking for consistency and not perfection, right? So again, we often have students who ask us, okay, if I get a 4.0 and or 4.5 GPA, which means all A’s and plus all A’s and AP classes, who in schools that give additional points, plus they have a really high, you know, um, SAT score, let’s say over 1500.

Dr. Aya: They’re like, am I a shoe in, in this very selective school in this Ivy League school? Right. [00:11:00] And again. You can have all As in a perfect SAT score and still get denied from really good schools, right? So again, admissions officers are looking for consistency and not necessarily perfection. Although students feel like they need to be perfect to, to, uh, excel in the admissions process.

Dr. Aya: Again, grading practices vary widely by school teacher and districts. And we know we’ve heard about grade inflation. We know that some schools give, uh, bo uh, additional points, um, to AP courses if you get an A or a B. So you’ll see weighted GPAs in some schools where you’ll hear numbers like 4.7 g, PA, 4.8, you know, weighted GPA.

Dr. Aya: So there is a lot of variability in the ways that schools and districts, um, grade and reflect a performance on high school transcripts. But grades are read alongside course level, right? School profile and transcript patterns. And I’m gonna talk a little bit more about each of these elements [00:12:00] specifically.

Dr. Aya: So the school profile, right? This is the, the hidden decoder, right? The school profile explains what courses are offered, grading scales and academic norms. And in some cases the, uh, the college counselor, your high school counselor, will submit it along with your application. Also, when I worked in admissions, we would go into the various schools websites, and most schools now, or most school districts have websites.

Dr. Aya: And the school profile is often very prominently displayed. I feel like back in the day, we used to have to dig forward, but now you can find them quite easily on your school’s website. Um, and the school profile is so important. Again, it really is a, a decoder, right? Um, we often rely on it to understand what rigor looks like to your school.

Dr. Aya: I gave the example earlier, some schools only have an IB diploma. Some schools have three AP classes, and they’re only in math, right? They, they’re, they don’t have APS in, in science, or they may not have AP economics ’cause they couldn’t find a teacher for it, which was the case actually in my school district growing up.

Dr. Aya: So it, there’s a lot of [00:13:00] variability there. So admissions officers are looking at that high school transcript to dec to determine or discern what the school had available to the student or to the applicant. Right. Um, again, the school profile provides context for GPA waiting, API B, availability and course sequencing.

Dr. Aya: So some school profiles I’ve seen some really thorough. 10 pages worth of, um, curriculum or syllabi, et cetera, where schools would say, okay, first year students take the one of five, uh, math classes, and then their sophomore year they take these classes. But if they’re on the AP track, they could take these classes and then senior they’ll take these classes.

Dr. Aya: So some school profiles get into great detail about the course sequences. Um, some will tell you, okay, we only give a extra point, uh, or a 0.1 on a GPA if a student gets a A as opposed to a B, right? Or if a student gets higher than a 95% in the class, then they’ll get a extra point. So they’ll also [00:14:00] provide context as far as how GPA waiting or if they wait.

Dr. Aya: You’ll also see increasingly, at least from my experience, schools also saying whether or not they rank students, right? So I, I’m seeing, uh, fewer schools are providing class ranks. Um, so you’ll see oftentimes on the school profile whether or not there is a rank, um, or in how many students are in the class, et cetera.

Dr. Aya: School profiles really helps officers determine whether a student maximize opportunities available to them, right? So again, is a student taking advantage of the opportunities available to them? Are they challenging themselves? And I want to remind you, there’s no one size fits all and not all schools are expecting the same, right?

Dr. Aya: So if you are trying to apply to a very selective school, say, say at MIT, of course they’re going to want to see that you’ve challenged yourself, especially in math and science courses, right? And not only that you challenge yourself, but you know, performed really well in those courses and by really well.

Dr. Aya: Primarily a’s right, but then you’ll have a smaller regional university or perhaps [00:15:00] even a liberal arts college in your, in your state, um, that is not expecting you to take, you know, all AP classes or a lot of AP classes or even any AP classes. Those schools might find, you know, the, the, the standard course sequence appropriate.

Dr. Aya: They may say that demonstrates proficiency or that shows that that student is competitive for our school, and that might be fine. Okay? So remember, different types of schools have different cultures, academic norms, different expectations. So take a look at their, their website, you know, reach out to an admissions officer where appropriate, right?

Dr. Aya: Not all schools are expecting the same thing, so please recognize that some of this advice or some of the kind of elements of this conversation might apply differently depending on what schools you apply to. Okay. And again, two identical transcripts can be read very differently depending on the school profile, right?

Dr. Aya: So if it’s a Title one school, a school where the students are overwhelmingly low income as opposed to a very well resourced suburban public school where you know, there are [00:16:00] teachers and admissions officers with PhDs and et cetera, there’s going to be a different kind of understanding of the school context, right?

Dr. Aya: Um, so again, two identical transcripts can read very differently dependent on the school profile. Keeping that in mind, I.

Dr. Aya: So in thinking about AP, IB honors and dual enrollment, it’s important to realize that not, not all rigor is equal. Now, uh, we joked earlier as we prepared to welcome you guys into the webinar that we get a lot of questions about AP versus IB versus dual enrollment. Um, and so we really wanted to spend time to talk about that and talk through it with you.

Dr. Aya: So, AP and IB generally preferred by highly selective colleges, right? They’re standardized or nationally recognized frameworks. There’s familiarity with it. Um, and there’s, you know, this exam that you take that is, again, there’s some, some standardization, um, that universities find appropriate and that [00:17:00] asterisk there.

Dr. Aya: Some universities find standardization appropriate, right? Honors courses matter when they represent the highest academic tier at a stu at a student’s high school. So, again, not all schools in this country or across the, you know, world have honors courses or have AP classes or have ib uh, diploma programs, et cetera.

Dr. Aya: So if the max level of rigor and challenge that your school has is honors, then that, that, then that is appropriate, right? That is appropriate level of rigor. You take as many as you can or uh, as many as that is aligned with your academic interests and ability and your strengths and you’re fine, right?

Dr. Aya: We’re not comparing your school to another school in a different district that has different levels of, you know, AP and IB offerings. Now dual enrollment. Now this is really important ’cause there’s a lot of conversations, a lot of research about dual enrollment and how it can provide, um, college level.

Dr. Aya: Uh, kind of expectations and it can instill young people with confidence [00:18:00] and improve college enrollment and completion for many students. So for, for a lot of students, particularly those who might be in school dis districts with fewer resources, the exposure and access to dual enrollment can actually be a benefit.

Dr. Aya: And it’s really important if, say, if you’re state and state, right? So your local public universities or smaller regional universities within your state might accept those dual enrollment, uh, credit that you can use that to when you, you know, matriculate into a four year university, you’ve already taken some of those standard classes, or you might get credit, so you’re taking fewer classes so you’re saving more money, right?

Dr. Aya: So dual enrollment does have its value, um, and can be really valuable for academic growth, right? There is data to support that. Access to dual enrollment can help students in really important ways. Now, with that being said. You know, dual enrollment typically isn’t viewed as equally rigorous to AP or IB courses at selective universities.

Dr. Aya: Okay, [00:19:00] so I, I want to, to to be clear about that, that again, dual enrollment frequently boosts access in college readiness, especially when it’s well supported and credits are transferable to a student’s college of choice. However, again, as selective universities, dual enrollment typically isn’t viewed as e equally rigorous, right?

Dr. Aya: Because say if you’re applying to, you know, a really selective university that’s, Harvard, um, and you took dual enrollment at your local community college. Which could be a fine educational institution. However, on the Harvard submission side, there might be, you know, questions about the rigor, um, of that, the, you know, the courses you took at that kind of local community college.

Dr. Aya: So it may not transfer those, or those college, uh, credits may not transfer, right? So you do want to talk through with your college advisor and also check in with the universities that you’re interested in, uh, and ask them whether or not they accept dual enrollment credit. And do you have to get an A in the class as opposed to a B.

Dr. Aya: So something that you should [00:20:00] think about. Again, AP and IB should still be prioritized when available. Sometimes students will say, I’ve taken the highest level of math AP in my class or at my high school, so now I’m gonna take a dual enrollment, um, class at a local community college. Um, so I can continue to challenge myself.

Dr. Aya: That’s appropriate, right? That, that really shows that you are truly taking advantage and some of the resources you have available to you. But again, if you are looking at selective universities, particularly those highly selective universities, keep in mind that dual enrollment isn’t always, uh, transferable, right?

Dr. Aya: So you really want to keep that in mind if you’re trying to make sure you can take fewer classes or have, you know, pay less if you will, um, when you, uh, matriculate into a four year university.

Dr. Aya: So trends over time is another very important conversation. Um. The academic trajectory and, and our, just our lived experiences, they’re [00:21:00] not linear, right. They just don’t, we don’t always just continue to move forward. There’s bumps in the road, people get sick. Um, just life happens. Um, students get injured, parents get divorced there.

Dr. Aya: There’s just a lot of things, you know, you know, war could break out. There’s, there’s a lot of things happening all the time in our world. So there’s a, you know, AOS are often, again, thinking about applications very holistically. They look at grades and course progression over time. Right? Again, are you challenging yourself?

Dr. Aya: Are you taking more rigorous classes as you per, you know, move forward throughout your high school career? They’re looking at upper twin. Upper trends in your, uh, grades or upper trends in your classes that signal growth and maturity and improve academic skills, right? You all, you know, realize that in high school you’re often, you know, what you learn in algebra two, it can serve as the foundation for, you know, trick, which can serve as a foundation for calculus, which serves as the foundation for physics.

Dr. Aya: There’s a lot of ways that, you know, um, there’s sequencing [00:22:00] that’s happening in our, in our high school. So a upper trend in grades and in rigor can really signal some strong proficiency in academic skills. A declining trend may raise concerns, a less clearly explained, and again, I talked about it and, and there’s more we can talk about here.

Dr. Aya: Life happens, right? Or sometimes you have a really bad exam period, right? There’s all, there’s all types of ways that, you know, students may not, um, have consistency, but there’s oftentimes an explanation for, and there’s a time to talk about it. Junior year is especially influential as it reflects readiness for college level work.

Dr. Aya: And it’s especially for students applying earlier rolling admissions. Now all of your high school matters, right? Even if you’re applying early action, early decision, or rolling, and you’re applying in the fall of your senior year, how you perform the fall of your senior year does matter, right? Uh, you know, a colleges will ask for that transcript.

Dr. Aya: You know, they’ll, a lot of them ask for mid-year grades. [00:23:00] So I’m not saying blow off your senior year. I’m actually, please do not do that. You wanna take that equally serious, ’cause colleges can and will resend offers. However, if you are applying, uh, early action, early decision rolling, and you’re applying anywhere between September and Dec, September and November of your, um, uh, senior year in high school, the last thing they’re gonna see, the most competitive, the most rigorous, um, classes they’ll see is that junior year.

Dr. Aya: Right? So you really wanna make sure, um, that you are. Performing well junior year. Okay? So trajectory often matters more than a single week semester. Again, life happens. Students have all types of experiences, or you might try out a class or a level, you know, a rigorous kind of course, and it does not align with your strengths, and then you, you, you bounce back the next semester.

Dr. Aya: So trajectory is what, um, colleges and AOs are looking for. So in thinking about how to balance that out with [00:24:00] electives, the deaf, and just the larger intellectual curiosity, right? As much as you know, our high schools, unfortunately, I feel like have prioritized grades. There also should be conversations about learning and intellectual curiosity.

Dr. Aya: So death is shown when students take multiple courses in the same subject area over time, right? I just have an example of a sequence here. AP US history, AP world history AP gov, um, or an example for those in the sciences. You know, biology, AP biology, independent research, right? So seeing these, uh, core sequences.

Dr. Aya: Really shows death and it’ll signal like, okay, this student might be really interested in history. I could see, or political science or government, you know, maybe you take the APUSH, the AP world history, AP government. Not just because you wanna show you’re competitive, but maybe ’cause you wanna major in political science or government right when you go to college.

Dr. Aya: Um, so just something to keep in mind, advanced electives, signal curiosity when they build on prior coursework rather than feeling random or disconnected. So when thinking about [00:25:00] kind of electives, some students like to compliment, right? Um, you know, maybe they’re interested in computer science or they’ll take AP computer science.

Dr. Aya: Maybe they’re interested in like art or design. So they’ll take an art or design class. So oftentimes students like to signal. With their electives courses as well. Again, subject aligned electives really help clarify academic interests and potential majors, especially at selective colleges. So again, not all, not all electives will be aligned, right, with your, with your subject area or your academic interests.

Dr. Aya: And that is okay too. Um, but sometimes, again, when you have those subject online electives, it can really signal again to admissions officers, like this student has, you know, took this elective environmental science class because they, they were interested in environmental science. Again, electives can strengthen rigor when academically demanding, right?

Dr. Aya: Intensive research base or analytically focused, right? So electives can be complimentary. I know for some schools you have to [00:26:00] take gym or dance, right? Um, you have to take foreign languages, which, you know, at my high school, those were not electives. You had to take four years of a single language. So I know, again, there’s variability within what schools have to offer, in course offerings, et cetera.

Dr. Aya: But keep in mind, if some students, for some students, they still wanna show that they’re very curious or they’re, they’re interested in research and they’re electives can be a good way to show that. Or an elective could be a great way to show creativity as well. You know, maybe they’re, they’re actually artists or dancers and they wanna use electives to signal that as well.

Dr. Aya: So this is an important and conversation and a reality, right? Sometimes grades dip, and we talked a little bit about that earlier. Not every grade drop is a red flag, right? They’re not all the same admissions officers distinguish between academic stretching and disengagement, right? So a temporary dip after increasing rigor, as I mentioned earlier, that first [00:27:00] semester of AP, IB or advanced math or science class could be viewed as that’s an appropriate challenge, right?

Dr. Aya: You put your foot into the the pond and it got wet, and you’re like, woo. You know, I’m not sure if that’s a good fit. Or you’re like, I need to adjust my study habits, right? Or instead of spending one hour on this study and I need to start spending two and a half to three hours, right? So. Sometimes students dip when they, they increase the rigor, but then they, they recover, they rebound, right?

Dr. Aya: So there’s also short term declines, tied to life circumstances. Again, illness, caregiving, health, school transition. Students move all the time because of parents’ jobs or just economic instability. A host of reasons. You know, those are read differently than unexplained drops. So there are aspects and parts of your application where that could be explained.

Dr. Aya: And this is where your high school counselor comes into place. You know, if something happens, uh, in your life, you move, you relocate again, a health scare, et cetera, you hospitalize. The high school [00:28:00] counselor in their letter of recommendation, the college counselor can write that, or a teacher can write and talk a little bit about that and kind of speak on your behalf.

Dr. Aya: Or some students where appropriate might actually use that opportunity to talk about that in their personal statement or other parts of their application. Again, where appropriate. Okay. Um, it’s, you don’t always have to hold a flashlight up to, you know, inconsistencies and et cetera, but sometimes things are so, uh, transformative that students actually might wanna even write about it in their college admissions essays.

Dr. Aya: So again, recovery matters more than a dip itself, right? We’re looking for improvement over time. We’re looking for resilient students, and we’re looking for students who can rebound and, and demonstrate college readiness, okay? Because college is challenging in, in most cases, in a majority of cases, it’ll be a lot more challenging than high school, right?

Dr. Aya: Um, you’ll have to be a lot more independent and things happen. That adjustment period is real, right? So colleges are looking at how students are [00:29:00] recovering and improving themselves while in high school as well. And again, patterns raise concern, not isolated semesters, right? So there’s a sustained decline without context, and it’s like things just kept getting worse and or your, your grades just started to go down and there’s no, you know, um, kind of explanation.

Dr. Aya: Um, it’s like, what happened? Did the students just stop applying themselves? Did they give up? You know, colleges need to have some type of context, okay? Again, one B is not going to. Ruin, you know, your, your college, you know, ambitions, right? Some, sometimes students are freaking out ’cause they got a b plus or a a minus.

Dr. Aya: You’ll be fine. Okay? Everyone, you, you’ll be fine.

Dr. Aya: All right, so contextual factors. Admissions officers consider, and we’ve talked a lot about co context and I’m often speaking from the holistic admissions lens. Those are universities that take into consideration all types of factors, right? They take [00:30:00] it, take into consideration grades and test scores, but they also take into consideration the types of schools, backgrounds, et cetera.

Dr. Aya: So. Admissions officers are looking at school resources, course availability, and counselor caseloads. We understand that at some schools there’s one counselor for 500 students. So those letters of recommendations are not gonna be robust or detailed unless you were, you know, maybe the counselor’s favorite or you know, maybe you’re in the top five, not 5%, top five of the stu, you know students.

Dr. Aya: So they give you extra attention ’cause you have all A’s. But a lot of those cases counselors are overburdened and that’s at across the country, public schools, private schools, et cetera. So AOs recognize that, and those are some of the contextual factors that they consider during evaluation. Family responsibilities, health issues, or significant disruptions?

Dr. Aya: Again, life happens all the time and students are often unfortunately, juggling, uh, really difficult things, right? Or some students have to work to help their families or, you know, take on, you know, raising their, their siblings or [00:31:00] health issues, um, for the students themselves, grandparents, parents, um, you know, best friends.

Dr. Aya: You know, there’s a lot of caregiving that happens in our very kind of multi-generational households. Or there could be significant disruptions again. Who, you know, during the climate that we’re in, things happen. Okay? So those are all contextual factors that AOs are considering. Uh, first generation status are navigating unfamiliar academic systems.

Dr. Aya: Um, that could be first generation college student. I mentioned I was the first person in my family to apply and attend college, but that also could be first generation American, right? Maybe you’ve spent, you know, um, elementary and middle school abroad somewhere, and then you came to the US and was navigating a completely different educational system, right?

Dr. Aya: Uh, and learning a new, you know, having to learn a new language. All of these factors are part of the context that AOs have, again, changes in new, uh, in school environments. This was a huge war during COVID when students went virtual. That was, that upended everyone’s lives, right? Everyone was trying to figure out what does it mean to [00:32:00] learn virtually or remotely and et cetera.

Dr. Aya: Students transfer schools, schools closed, you know, charter schools sometimes are here to here today, gone tomorrow. Again, the impacts of pandemics, you know, COVID-19, but also all types of national, you know, international pandemics or, you know, concerns that we’re seeing. And again, that and then evidence that students made the most of what was available to them.

Dr. Aya: That is what admissions officers like to see. You know? And I have, I’ve seen some students even name it, and again, an essay like, my school didn’t have this, but I did this. Right? I worked my butt off and did this, I took advantage of this because we didn’t have this, but I was really interested in this topic area.

Dr. Aya: I, you know, I took some, you know, classes at a local community college. You know, I started to listen to podcasts about this, you know, I started my own podcast or you know, there’s these YouTube series that really, you know, helped inform my thinking about these things. So, colleges wanna see that students may the most of what was available to them, and that sometimes mean creating their own avenues for learning, you know, stroking their own intellectual curiosity in very creative [00:33:00] ways.

Dr. Aya: So that is something I, you know, I want you all to, to keep in mind. So what students and counselors can control, you know? Um, and this is on the high school side, so course selection choices aligns with goal and readiness. So keeping that in mind when you’re thinking about your high school schedule, maintaining that balance between rigor, wellbeing, and performance, I cannot.

Dr. Aya: Emphasize enough the importance of student wellbeing. Um, given social media, um, kind of mental health anxiety, it’s really, really important that students are also thinking about their, their wellbeing. Um, you know, we work with a lot of incredibly gifted, uh, and talented reil resilient young people, uh, but who are juggling a lot of responsibilities.

Dr. Aya: They’re taking all, you know, the most challenging classes their school has to offer. They’re in seven clubs, they lead five of them. Sometimes they have jobs, they have pets. I mean, it’s a, it’s a lot of pressure. So please, please, please, please [00:34:00] think about your own wellbeing and your performance. Okay. Um, that’s, so, that’s personally important to me, but I, I just want to want everyone to know, like, that should be a priority for you, right?

Dr. Aya: You cannot pour from an empty cup. Um, using counselor recommendations to explain context when needed. I talked about this a little bit earlier. The counselor recommendation can really serve as a place where the counselor is advocating on your behalf. Or they might be articulating something that you didn’t wanna write about in your essay, and they can say, the student moved three times in our school year, so that’s why you see a disruption here, or whatever, you know, additional context, the counselor might need to kind of explain.

Dr. Aya: Also, students can control, like being strategic about seeing your course world. Like are you front loading, you know, certain classes. So your second semester of your senior year isn’t, you know, like a, a, a sprint or how you stacking your courses. You know, just kind of keeping that in mind. And again, students.

Dr. Aya: Counselors can control the, the storytelling, right? Communicating academic, your academic story [00:35:00] clearly through the transcript recommendations and throughout various parts of the application. You know, that personal essay, that personal statement, I always tell students, that’s one of the few opportunities you get to talk directly to the admissions office yourself, right?

Dr. Aya: So use that, that essay, or if a school requires an interview, use those opportunities to talk and speak directly to admissions officers because so many parts of the application are speaking on your behalf. So what you can control is how you talk about your story, your journey, your passions, your interests.

Dr. Aya: You can control that in various parts of your application. Now, for my final kind of insights, um, as far as like what’s really important or what a’s notice, you know, I often tell young folks. Please try not to obsess over the science. You know, every school is different and there’s so many different, um, decision making processes and you’re gonna be like, okay, Dr.

Dr. Aya: Aya. Like that is not particularly helpful, but it’s true, right? There are institutional priorities that [00:36:00] schools might, you know, be looking for students from certain geographical areas, certain academic interests. Um, they really needed a student who played a particular instrument or on this particular sports team.

Dr. Aya: I mean, there’s so many institutional priorities. They’re looking for more first generation college students. So I just want you to not try to do A plus B equal C. That’s just not how the a like admissions process works. And I know folks want it to be black and white, but unfortunately it’s not. Um, I always tell students to focus on what’s important to you as a student.

Dr. Aya: I think sometimes students feel like they need to perform, um, so they need to create personas or be, you know, they’re like, oh, this school really likes the nurse, so let me act like I’m this. And it’s like, well, that school may not be the best fit for you if that’s not your general kind of disposition, right?

Dr. Aya: So you wanna ask yourself, does the school align with your values and your principles? That’s equally important. Okay. Um, and then in terms of application component, do not collect extracurricular experiences. See it all the time. [00:37:00] Junior come and the student’s in 10 new clubs. And I’m like, when were you interested in a juggling club?

Dr. Aya: It’s like, oh, I, I found out the juggling club. It’s like, wait a minute. You’ve never talked about juggling a day in your life. Now you’re the president. Or you know, folks just start collecting activities like affinity stones and it doesn’t, it just didn’t come off authentically or genuine. So just please be, keep that in mind.

Dr. Aya: Um, choose letter writers that will write meaningful, strong letters if where possible, right? Sometimes students have limited options just based on the nature of their school or teachers’ capacities, but you want letter writers to, to be able to speak thoughtfully about you, especially teachers. And you want to be, there needs to be alignment in academic subjects.

Dr. Aya: So if you’re applying to study biology, you should try to get that AP bio teacher to write that letter, or at least that biology teacher. It could be the same person, it might be different, but you wanna have at least, you know, one of the areas to be, uh. Connect it to your academic interests to really show strength and proficiency.

Dr. Aya: Um, write essays about your, your passions and things that really make you come alive, or things that, [00:38:00] um, that really kind of show a little bit more about who you are outside of just your grades and test scores. Um, you don’t have to like, be robotic or say, oh, let me write this like a smart person, or, let me write this how I think an engineer would write it.

Dr. Aya: No, write about your passions. Think about your voice. You want it to be a thoughtful, well written essay, but make sure it’s, it’s, you shine in that story. And you also, again, you wanna balance academics so you can perform well. Very important by also pursuing rigorous coursework. So you wanna find that, that sweet spot, okay?

Dr. Aya: And that might be taking one less AP class one year, but you’re still challenging yourself. Again, you do not have to take every AP class. Your school has to offer a b IB class or program your school has to offer. But you do want to challenge yourself and you do wanna pursue. And then lastly, you just wanna make sure you have a balanced college list so you can ensure optimal success in the admissions process.

Dr. Aya: Do not just apply to the most selective universities in the country. Just don’t apply to, you know, all the IDs, MIT, Stanford and U Chicago and Northwestern, [00:39:00] and then that’s it. Those schools have really high rejection rates. They reject the majority of applicants. So you want to make sure you have options and that you actually want to go into those options.

Dr. Aya: So you wanna have target schools, you wanna have likely schools, right? So please, please, please, please try to make sure you have a balanced college list because we want to make sure you have yeses. Um, come spring of your senior year. All right. So with that, I think we’re gonna transition to questions.

Anna: Thank you so much, Dr. Aya. Like you said, that is the end of the presentation, part of the webinar. We hope you found this information helpful. Please remember that you can download the slides from the link in the handouts tab and that this is being recorded, and it will be emailed to everyone who registered and also available on our website.

Anna: Moving on to the live Q&A. We’ve been reading through the questions you submitted. Uh, my colleague Anisha Grant, a senior advisor at College [00:40:00] Advisor is here as well and is helping respond to as many questions as we can. For the ones we, uh, send to Dr. Aya, I will read them out loud, then paste them in the public chat so everyone can both see and hear them.

Anna: Before Dr. Aya responds. As a heads up, if your q and A tab isn’t working, if it’s not letting you submit questions, just double check that you joined the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page. All right, Dr. Aya, you were talking earlier about a dip in grades and how students might want to explain the reason for dipping grades.

Anna: We have a question that is, what do you mean by a dip? Does it mean a student who’s gotten all A’s and gets one B or is it something more noticeable than that?

Dr. Aya: Fantastic question. A dip is more noticeable than that, right? [00:41:00] Um, so a student who has all As and has a BI do not think that she, they should prioritize shining a light to that.

Dr. Aya: It’s just a reality. It just happens. A dip is something more consequential. Right. So maybe you have majority aids and then you just have a C that feels a bit random and inexplicable, given your performance in other classes. And there, there might be something that, um, it might be explainable, right? And again, not all, um, instances are the same.

Dr. Aya: So if you, if the explanation is you just got tired, you started skipping class, so you have a C because you didn’t turn in your homework, that would not be an appropriate thing to, uh, communicate in your application because that will look very unfavorable on your behalf. And admissions officers would not, um, take, you know, kindly to that.

Dr. Aya: However, if there’s a explanation, um, again, whether it was some of the explanations that we talked about in the presentation. Illness. Um, you [00:42:00] relocated, you moved during the school year. Um, there is a disparity in your school. Sometimes there might be something even happening with the actual teachers or something your teacher left.

Dr. Aya: Um, you know, tho those are, then there’s an opportunity to explain, you know, so when I say dip, I’m thinking something a little bit more noticeable that feels disruptive to your consistent academic performance. So thank you for asking that clarifying question because that was a, a good one.

Anna: Yes. Thank you for that question.

Anna: Um, I’ve gotten this question from a few of my students recently, so I, I’m glad to see it in the chat. Can you speak to the impact of a study hall on a transcript or a shortened a day your senior year?

Dr. Aya: Well, I mean, I think the impact is some schools have study halls and that is a part of the schedule. Um, I didn’t have those at my school.

Dr. Aya: We have like a different, like rotating schedule, but for a lot of students, those study [00:43:00] halls are really critical because that’s where students do their homework. Um, or they, they use it to ask teachers for help or they get tutoring or they work on their college application. So if I saw a student had, you know, to say you have six classes and you have five honors AP classes in a study hall, I don’t think that would put you at a disadvantage.

Dr. Aya: So I, I think it’s, I think it’s fine. Now, if your whole schedule was a study hall study, I would be concerned about that. But I think it’s okay to have some breathing room in your, in your schedule as well.

Anna: It’s okay to be human. Mm-hmm. How do admissions officers view homeschoolers transcripts? And what should the homeschoolers joining us know, um, when submitting their applications to stand out?

Dr. Aya: That is a fantastic question. Um, ’cause homeschooling is a bit challenging. It, it is not viewed, um, equally, um, with their, you know, traditional counterparts, if you will, [00:44:00] because home schools, unlike traditional districts, um, it’s not standardized. Right. And curriculums and, um, syllabi and course selection and et cetera.

Dr. Aya: It is just. It is very variable. So there’s different types of homeschools. Increasingly though. So you have the homeschool where it’s a parent teaching you the material and it’s just one in one. It’s one student, or it might be younger siblings. And then you have homeschool that are, students are in a virtual kind of community.

Dr. Aya: Everyone is schooling at home, but there’s still soccer leagues and sporting events and they get together. Those are a bit different. Um, the challenge is for homeschool is standardization, right? So you will have to, whatever the school, you’ll have to design a school profile that explains the curriculum.

Dr. Aya: Um, and you know, the types of classes that’s being offered. Um. And I think for homeschool students, standardized tests becomes really important because [00:45:00] that can signal some proficiency in the ways that schools cannot evaluate, um, in a singular kind of academic environment. So I also encourage, if you are a homeschooled student and parent to reach out to some of the schools they’re gonna list and ask them how do they make sense of it and what would be appropriate for them, because it might vary.

Dr. Aya: You know, what a local public university at, in your state might say, may look very different than a, you know, private liberal arts school on the East coast or, or Ivy League or a uc. So I would strongly, strongly encourage you if you are homeschooling, to reach out to schools directly and to ask them what do they expect to see?

Dr. Aya: What does this transcript look like? Or what does the school profile look like in homeschool context? Because it does vary widely.

Anna: Thank you. Really helpful, Dr. Aya, you’ve been going strong for over 40 minutes now, so I’m gonna give you a little break so I can talk a bit about CollegeAdvisor. [00:46:00] For those in the room who are not already working with us, we know how overwhelming the admissions process can be.

Anna: CollegeAdvisor has a team of over 300 former admissions officers, like Dr. Aya, and admissions experts who are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process in one-on-one advising sessions and essay editing. Through our digital platform, college advisors had 10,000 total lifetime clients, and we’re proud to have a 4.8 out of five star rating on Trustpilot with over 750 reviews.

Anna: After analyzing our data from 2023 to 2025, we found that clients working with CollegeAdvisor who have a strong academic and testing record are 2.6 times more likely to get into an Ivy League school around three times more likely to get into a top 20 college and around five times more likely to get into Johns Hopkins, UCLA and NYU when compared to national acceptance rates.

Anna: So increase your odds and take [00:47:00] the next step in your college admissions journey by signing up for a free 60-minute strategy session with an admissions specialist on our team using the QR code on the screen. If for whatever reason you can’t scan it now, please remember you can download the slides. The recording will be emailed to you.

Anna: Um, but please, however you do it, make sure you scan it and sign up for that session. It’s free. You get an hour with an admissions specialist, uh, where you’ll receive a preliminary assessment of your academic profile, along with some initial recommendations from our team on what you can do to stand out on your applications.

Anna: At the end, you’ll also learn more about the premium packages we offer that pair you with an expert who can support you in building your college list, selecting your high school courses, editing your essays, and so much more. We are here for the whole process. We would love to have you, um, take that first meeting with us, learn more about joining the CollegeAdvisor family.

Anna: [00:48:00] So we’re gonna go back to the Q&A, but I’m gonna leave that QR code on the screen in case you haven’t had a chance to scan it. Please, please go ahead and sign up for that meeting. All right, Dr. Aya, some high schools now have specialized tracks like in business or pre-med. How are those school curricula viewed and evaluated?

Dr. Aya: Fantastic question. And you’re right. There are specialized tracks in specialized high schools. I mean, it all goes to alignment, right? So say you are in a specialized. Nursing track at your high school and you’re interested in nursing, right? So you are being able to demonstrate death, right? You’re able to, you’re demonstrating consistency, you’re signaling your academic interest.

Dr. Aya: So it actually makes you quite competitive, right? Because your grades, I’m sorry, your, the classes and subject areas you’re taking will show a direct alignment with whatever your academic interest is, uh, for your undergraduate [00:49:00] experience. Um, now I think if there’s a complete misalignment, so say you’re in the business track at your, at your high school.

Dr. Aya: You want to study, um, let’s say physics, right? Um, there would need to, you’ll really have to make sure you’ve taken those science courses to show proficiency, uh, and to show that you can be competitive, um, when enrolling or matriculating to a four year university for physics, which will be really science and math intensive, right?

Dr. Aya: So. Again, it is not uncommon. I saw that quite a bit when I worked in admissions at Georgetown. For there to be students in track programs or specialized high schools, um, it’s all about alignment, right? Because oftentimes students are selecting tracks because that’s a part of their interest, right? They select the nursing track, they select the business track, the computer science track, because that’s what they think they wanna study in college.

Dr. Aya: So it oftentimes give them an opportunity to really lean into their interest. Um, you do wanna make sure though, for, in a case of like if you’re applying to the [00:50:00] UCs, they are very specific about what classes you need to take to be admissible. So you do wanna check the websites of the schools that you are applying to, to make sure you have the levels of math, the levels of science, the levels of foreign language that they require for applicants, uh, for admissible applicants.

Dr. Aya: So that’s the only caveat. You just wanna verify that you have taken all of the core requirements necessary to be accepted or admissible to a school on your college list.

Anna: Thank you. What about the difference between charter schools and like the traditional district school? Um, are charter schools viewed any differently?

Dr. Aya: Not necessarily. Um, charter schools are, I mean, I think in New Orleans they only have charter schools, so charter school is just a reality of our education system here. Um, particularly here in the, in the us. Um, the only difference would be if they’re, you know, kind of specialized in a particular way. And, and again, there [00:51:00] might be some different evaluations, but sometimes charter schools have relationships with the universities.

Dr. Aya: Um, I know KIPP is a very popular charter school. We used to, uh, run into, um, when I worked in admissions, uh, the Crystal ray, which is kind of like a charter slash private, um, school. So there isn’t any large kind of distinctions made from my experience between charter schools and um, traditional public schools.

Anna: Thank you. How important do you think it is to take advanced classes every single year of high school?

Dr. Aya: Well, it really depends on what your goals are. I mean, first, oftentimes ninth graders or first year high school students are not even allowed to take advanced classes, or advanced classes are not offered to them.

Dr. Aya: Like sometimes students have to get certain grades to be eligible to take advanced classes sophomore, junior, or senior year, or I’ve seen schools limit what ninth graders can take, or 10th graders can only take one, or something [00:52:00] along those lines. So it really. I mean, it really depends. Um, and also I’ve seen some middle school students who have demonstrated really strong proficiency in like math and science.

Dr. Aya: So they might enter high school already at a higher math level, if you will. So they’re more likely to take advanced classes earlier. But it, it, again, it really depends on your, your goals. Are you taking, it? Is the desire to take the advanced classes because you’ve demonstrated proficiency, you have interest and you really want to continue to challenge yourself.

Dr. Aya: Are you taking the advanced classes to signal to the selective universities that you are challenging yourself and you know, you just wanna show them? To me it kind of gets down to the root cause you really wanna make sure you are doing welding class first and foremost. So again, if you are able to take again, a AP class your freshman year or ninth grade year in high school and you think you can do well in that class, sure.

Dr. Aya: But I think, um, I don’t know. I don’t think you will be at a disadvantage from my experience if you do not take an [00:53:00] AP class. In ninth grade, you know, again, you really wanna make sure you have a strong foundation. So the goal isn’t to be, let me take an AP class every year, you wanna demonstrate strong proficiency and show that you can perform well.

Dr. Aya: And sometimes that means adjusting to high school, right? So again, there’s no hard, fast rule about it. I think it, it really is, the unpopular response I have is it really depends on the student and what the goals are there.

Anna: Thank you. So helpful. How do you think a withdraw on a transcript is viewed?

Dr. Aya: Yeah, withdraws are tricky.

Dr. Aya: Um, withdraws are tricky. I, I mean, if I’m being full, fully honest, again, the context on why the student withdrawal is withdrawal, uh, or withdrew rather, is important. But, um. They’re, I mean, they’re not the, the, the best signal if I’m, you know, if I’m being completely honest. Right. Um, but again, this is a, that’s a context situation [00:54:00] where a counselor.

Dr. Aya: Might signal in the, their essay or a letter of recommendation, rather, why the student withdrew from the class. But a withdraw is not a positive, you know, so I, I do wanna be honest. Um, is it a deal breaker again? Is it that one thing that’s gonna ruin your entire academic, you know, futures, no. Students do withdraw, you know, all the time, but it is not necessarily a favorable, um, kind of strategy.

Dr. Aya: But there’s always an explanation. And I think that will be a, a case where you’ll want to provide additional information in that additional information section and the application and where appropriate, your high school counselor might also talk about the circumstances that contributed to you withdrawing.

Anna: Thank you. Good advice. Of course. Um, how important are the AP Capstone programs?

Dr. Aya: How important are they? Um, the word [00:55:00] importance is a bit tricky when, um, when a student is asking the importance. Um, I mean, I think they, they really just show that, especially if you have research interest or research interest, um, and you really want to say you might have a free period, instead of just having that study hall, you’re like, I’m gonna use that to dedicate to, you know, AP seminar or AP research.

Dr. Aya: Um, they just, they look good as far as it gives students, particularly AP research, like the ability to like design the independent project, right. And show that they can, you know, come up with a research project and an idea and follow through. So, and then there, there is a diploma, right, in some cases. So I really, um, they, they can be very valuable for students who really wanna lean in and show depth and intellectual curiosity.

Dr. Aya: As I talked early, talked about early in the presentation, so I don’t think they. Can hinder a student per se. Um, I think they’re as valuable as a student makes them. And again, if you want to demonstrate [00:56:00] interest or academic interest or intellectual curiosity in particular area, and you wanna take advantage of that AP seminar, AP research classes, by all mean do that.

Dr. Aya: You know, but I, I, from my experience, it’s not a deal breaker, um, in an application.

Anna: Thank you. If students are applying early, do you recommend sending a list of their senior year classes so they know what they’re taking?

Dr. Aya: Yes. If I’m not mistaken, the application actually asks you to list your current classes or your senior classes anyway, so yes, that, that’s important.

Anna: Great. Easy answer. Um, how many admissions officers tend to view an application and do you know, is AI or some other method being used to like do an initial cut?

Dr. Aya: Yes. So I, I’ll answer the second question first. Ai, um, is being used at some institutions to do [00:57:00] initial reviews, perhaps initial cuts. Um, there’s different algorithms and thresholds that universities have.

Dr. Aya: You think about it, some large public universities, they’re getting 40,000, 50,000, 60,000 applications, and there’s only so much a human can do, right? So, ai, uh, from my, um, from what I know is being used at some universities for initial scans, um, and to help filter and organize applications. Um, this, the, the first question was, and what was the first question?

Anna: How many, how many AOs tend to review an application?

Dr. Aya: Okay. It varies. Um, yeah, it varies quite a bit because increasingly, uh, universities have committees, committee reads, which can make up. 6, 8, 10 people from an admissions office that could, it can include the dean of admissions, oftentimes a faculty member of a particular academic interest, a admissions officer from a different region.

Dr. Aya: Um, universities [00:58:00] typically have, and I’m thinking particularly some of the, uh, so the private schools and the, some of the smaller schools that have an AO sign to a region or ZIP codes, they might do that initial read and then the applications then go to a committee and the committee can be made up again from four to 10 to 12 people, and the committee reviews it and they kind of decide collectively whether or not the application moves forward or is wait list and et cetera.

Dr. Aya: So it really depends, you know, from my experience. Rarely is it one person making all the decisions on an application. It usually takes. Committees and other, um, AOs or deans to, to comment to, to provide context, um, before a decision is made. But it, it definitely varies. So it’s hard to say definitively, you know, a rough number.

Dr. Aya: It, it just varies quite a bit.

Anna: Yeah, it depends Is. The honest answer to a lot of these questions. Yeah. Um, last question, Dr. Aya, how should students with an IEP or a 5 0 4, um, so [00:59:00] folks with disabilities or learning differences, how should they approach. The college application and be thinking about their transcript?

Dr. Aya: Well, I mean, I think they should just approach it like any other student, you know? Um, there’s students who have IEPs or, or disabilities and you would not know unless they disclose it, you know? Um. I think if anything it is during the college research process, when they’re identifying schools to put on their list, you wanna make sure that those universities have robust resources for them once they become students.

Dr. Aya: That they have writing centers and disability centers and, and that they honor students with disabilities. And I think that’s incredibly important. So I think it really comes in on the research pro process. It’s like, do school support, uh, provide supportive, uh, environments that are inclusive that will make sure that you can thrive once you are on campus.

Dr. Aya: But I don’t think there’s any distinct, um, approaches that those students should take. They should apply regularly, like any other student. Um, and if, if it’s consequential in a student’s [01:00:00] kind of performance, then you know there’s an additional information session, then there might, you know, the, the high school, uh.

Dr. Aya: College counselor might be able to speak to that, but I, I don’t think they should take any, uh, distinct approaches. If anything, they should just research the schools to make sure that they will welcome and have the resources, uh, for the students to thrive once they’re on campus.

Anna: Thank you so much, Dr. Aya, for that and for all of your wisdom and insight.

Anna: Uh, we were grateful to have you with us. Folks, if we did not get to your question, or we did and you have more, remember, sign up for that free session with us. You can ask a lot more questions there because it will be one-on-one and then you can learn about how to become part of the CollegeAdvisor family.

Anna: We would love to welcome you. Uh, I’m gonna sign us off now, but thanks again everyone for joining us. Thanks, Dr. Aya. Take good care.

Dr. Aya: Thank you.