Rigor: What it means for college admissions (and how to get it)
Understanding rigor can save families a lot of worry — and even a lot of money. What’s more, achieving rigor can set students up for success both in high school and in college.
Rigor refers to the challenging coursework in a student’s profile. For competitive colleges, the motivation for considering rigor is simple: students who have taken challenging coursework (and succeeded) are more likely to succeed in college. In fact, for all of the fuss over extracurricular activities and volunteer hours, strength of curriculum and a student’s overall GPA consistently outstrips all other factors in college admissions (NACAC 2019 State of College Admissions, Table 7).
How is rigor determined? Competitive admissions officers emphasize that they look at the whole picture of a student’s academic “story,” so any attempt to slice off one element like rigor will always be a simplification. That said, most explanations of rigor boil down to a fairly simple division problem: the student’s own rigor divided by their school’s rigor.
Let’s start with the denominator, what’s called the school’s “strength of curriculum” or “strength of program.” This is an evaluation of the school’s academics, such as how many AP and honors classes they offer. Anyone can look at the high school report that colleges use to make their determination, but how an individual college measures any given school is unique. Unless a family is choosing between high schools, this element will remain unknown and is largely out of most families’ control.
In schools where the quality of the general program may be seen as average, a student who wants to demonstrate high rigor should consider programs like AP or IB because these nationally-standardized models have a similar level of rigor at all schools: teacher training, curriculum requirements, and the tests themselves are ways of ensuring a level of quality that colleges trust.
The numerator of the rigor equation, then, is the student’s own “level of rigor”; that is, the student’s choices within their school’s program. How many of those offered AP or honors classes did the student take? Colleges want to see evidence that the student made good use of opportunities to challenge themselves.
Now do the math. It’s a (metaphorical) percentage: the student’s actual attempts at rigor over the rigor offered, which is then set on a scale. For example, a college may rate students as having a very high, high, medium, or low level of rigor.
Rigor is relative. It is important to understand that colleges evaluate rigor within the student’s local context — that is, against the denominator of the equation. What this means is that a student will not be penalized for not having access to rigorous curriculum. Many students do not have the luxury to move or pay for a school with a better reputation than the one down the street. Colleges understand this, and they are mindful of not rewarding students for paying their way to better instruction.
Thus, if a school does not offer honors or AP classes for freshman or sophomores, a student isn’t penalized for not taking any honors or AP classes in 9th or 10th grade. If a school did, however, and a student didn’t take the opportunity, then the student’s individual rigor comes into question.
A prior administrator at Georgetown and George Washington and current Independent Educational Consultant Beth Fuson of Pathways College Advising explained it to me this way:
“Students are only expected to do what they can within the confines of the curriculum offered. If a student only has 2 AP classes available to him or her and takes them both, that student is looked upon more favorably than a student who takes two AP classes at a high school that offers 15.”
The GPA “Bump.” One way a school’s lack of rigor can influence a student’s application, however, is in the case of the GPA bump, given for honors, AP, or college classes taken in high school. While most classes are graded on a 4-point scale for GPA, these more rigorous courses are given an extra point at each grade (5 for an A, 4 for a B, etc.) in the GPA calculation. This is called a “weighted GPA” which many colleges consider in addition to the “unweighted GPA.”
If a school doesn’t provide enough opportunities for that bump in the 10th and 11th grades (the years colleges focus on in applications, 9th being considered too early by most schools and 12th grade still in process), the student is missing out on the chance to increase their weighted GPA in ways that other students might have available to them.
Take the University of California (UC) system’s GPA calculation as an example: a student is allowed to weight 8 semesters of honors, AP, or college credit taken in 10th-11th grade (or the summers before, after, and in between). UC (wisely) doesn’t trust schools to do this, so they recalculate GPAs themselves and cap the number of weighted semesters. (You can find out which courses qualify by checking your school’s courses on UC’s A-G Course List.)
Even in the UC’s “limited bump” environment, a student who did not have enough access to honors or AP curriculum, while not penalized for not having access, could be penalized by having a somewhat “flat” GPA compared to his or her peers at other schools. Any student in such an environment might want to consider taking additional steps — like taking an AP class online or taking a concurrent enrollment community college course — to increase their own access to rigorous curriculum — and the GPA bump.
[On that somewhat dodgy question of whether to get a B in an AP class or an A in a regular class: Competitive admissions officers will always say that they prefer the B in the AP class. The reason? They would prefer to see the attempt at rigor.]
Standardized Test Scores. One other way that less rigorous curriculum could appear on a student’s record is through their SAT or ACT scores. Access to less rigorous curriculum or curriculum that doesn’t align with the typical testing schedule could depress test scores (or, at least, delay reflecting the student’s full abilities). Again, students concerned about highly competitive college admissions might need to supplement their core curriculum with outside study to be sure that their scores reflect their best abilities by the time they need to apply.
In summary, understanding rigor can help a family build a high school program which will make the student as eligible as possible for the type of college they seek. (Note that not all colleges prioritize rigor — blog post coming soon!) Regardless of the school they attend, a student should focus on demonstrating rigor through their choices within their school’s offerings and seeking outside opportunities when appropriate. Keep in mind:
→ Students are not penalized for not having access to rigorous curriculum, but they are questioned if they don’t make use of opportunities that are available to them. Being at a great school won’t be enough — and could even decrease a student’s perceived level of rigor — if they don’t maximize the opportunities that have been provided.
→ The goal of “rigor” is to show success in challenging curriculum. In a schools whose overall strength of program may not be perceived as highly, a student can take nationally recognized programs like AP or IB, or take college courses in areas of strength to demonstrate their ability to achieve at a high level. These courses are likely to support their performance on standardized tests as well, further strengthening their overall profile. Student should do this only to the level that they are able to be successful: While a B in AP might be preferred, crashing and burning in 4 APs junior year is not.
At the end of the day, the goal isn’t just to get into college; the goal is to graduate from college. Colleges want students whose high school performance suggests that they will thrive at their school. The best any student can do is to make the most of the opportunities that are available to them and then find a college that best fits their level of (rigorous) preparation.
Kelly Mogilefsky is a high school English and AVID teacher in a Middle College Program and an Independent Educational Consultant. Learn more about her services at Mogilefsky Consulting.
