School Profile Project
School profiles are a critical but often overlooked component of students’ college applications. Typically managed by school counselors, profiles provide admission officers with contextual information about an applicant’s high school environment, including school demographics, academic and extracurricular opportunities, and student outcomes.
Recent research by Dr. Tara Nicola has identified that, while many schools have a school profile, very few profiles include all of the features considered most necessary for admission officers to holistically review an applicant.*
To better support school counselors in producing, updating, and maintaining their school profiles, Making Caring Common has launched the School Profile Project. The School Profile Project seeks to provide counselors, school leaders, and advocates with applicable research, profile examples and templates, and insights from current counselors on best practices and expected challenges in designing the profile. We hope you’ll review the following resources and share widely with colleagues who may benefit from them.
*Dr. Nicola’s original research may be found here: Nicola, T. P. (2022). Assessing applicants in context? School profiles and their implications for equity in the selective college admission process. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 15(6), 700–715. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000318
Understanding the significance of the school profile
Creating a School Profile: Why and How FAQs for School Leaders
What Should the School Profile Include? Specifics for School Leaders
Insights from and dialogue with current counselors
Based on interviews conducted by MCC with school counselors in spring 2024
Templates and example profiles
School Profile Sample A: Two-Page Profile Example (PDF | Word)
School Profile Sample B: Three-Page Profile Example (PDF | Word)
School Profile Editable Template (Word)
If you have recommendations for improving these resources, we welcome your comments or suggestions on our anonymous feedback form here. You may also email collegeadmissions@makingcaringcommon.org.
Contact
Trisha Ross Anderson
collegeadmissions@makingcaringcommon.org
Related reading
Join Making Caring Common for this free one-hour webinar for school counselors, in which participants will learn about recent research conducted on the school profile with admission officers and counselors, as well as practical suggestions and concrete tools for building effective school profiles.
School profiles are a critical tool for addressing equity in college admissions. By providing admission officers with essential context about students' high school environments, they can help level the playing field. Join us for this one-hour webinar where we will share insights from recent research on school profiles.
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