Every year hundreds of talented newborn people enter independent schools eager to wax their chances of gaining admission to an excellent college. These students aren ' t fourteen and penetrating the ninth grade though - - they are seventeen or eighteen and getting ready for a postgraduate year. The postgraduate year provides an extra year of junior school at an independent high school before moving onto college and it is becoming an increasingly popular option for high school students.
You may be fear why anyone would want to stay in high school for an extra year, but efficient are various worthy reasons to consider a post graduate year of high school. Here are just a few reasons why a student may consider fascinating a post graduate year.
The student was an academic slow oversight - Innumerable students don ' t vision how important their grades are for college admission until it is too tardy. Since most colleges require students to submit an application early in their senior year, a student who received poor grades in the 9th and 10th grades only to realize their potential in the 11th grade or later will be at a disadvantage in the admissions process. A postgraduate year allows students to show a strong senior year and one extra semester of postgraduate year grades thereby increasing the student ' s chances of being admitted to the program of their choice.
The student is chronologically or socially less mature than their peers - With only 37 % of students graduating college in four years it is apparent that many students lack the maturity to handle all the responsibility and independence that comes with being in college. An extra year in a setting that allows some independence from home but also offers more structure than college can help many students make the appropriate transition from high school to higher education.
Students who are athletes or artists and need an extra year to work on their skills - The postgraduate option has always been popular with athletes who need an extra year to work on their skills. Many independent schools offer athletics programs which are a step up from the typical public school offerings thereby increasing their chances of being recruited by a competitive program. Alternatively, some athletes are unable to meet the academic standards required by a particular athletic organization and thus need to work on their academic skills. Increasingly artists of all types are also engaging in a postgraduate year in order to be competitive in the admissions process to conservatories or art schools. Some postgraduate programs offer arts intensive programs specifically marketed as a pre - professional arts program.
The student with a learning difference - Often times students with learning differences are not provided with the services they need in a public high school or are diagnosed with a learning difference very late in their academic career. A year at an independent school offering specific services for LD students can help these students acquire the skills they need to successfully move onto the next stage of their education.
The student who is dissatisfied with his or her choice of colleges - Some students come away from the college admissions process dissatisfied with the options available to them. Some did not think about the college admissions process enough during the application stage and eventually realize the schools they applied to were not right for them. Other students were overly ambitious with their college applications and emerge from the process with no acceptances. Whatever the case may be, a postgraduate year can help these students strengthen their record as well as provide intensive college admissions advising resulting in a more successful college search the second time around.
No matter what a student ' s reasoning is for attending a post graduate year, the most important thing to remember is the limitations of a post graduate year as well as the benefits. A student who earned D ' s and C ' s in high school who achieves excellent grades during a post graduate year will probably not be admitted to Harvard. On the other hand, an average student who achieves outstanding grades throughout the end of his or her high school career and continues to achieve excellent grades during the post graduate year may have a good chance at being admitted to a selective college. To avoid disappointment or a negative experience, the student should always keep realistic and well articulated goals in mind for the post graduate year.
