GA Tech IRP: what does the "rigor" column mean? (Alpharetta: high school, universities)

[balrog]

What exactly does the rigor column mean on the IRP reports?

For example, Alpharetta HS has a rigor of 10, while Walton is 12 and Northview, Milton, JC and Chattahoochee are 9.

How is rigor in these reports?

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by balrog

What exactly does the rigor column mean on the IRP reports?

For example, Alpharetta HS has a rigor of 10, while Walton is 12 and Northview, Milton, JC and Chattahoochee are 9.

How is rigor in these reports?

I would guess it is the level of "rigor" of the courses the student(s) took in their high school career (AP, IB, honors, math level, etc).

It fits with the stats/information--especially since many colleges/universities give equal and often more weight to a student's selected coursework (in addition to looking at their GPA and SAT/ACT).


A higher rigor score probably means more AP/IB, honors, advanced math/science, etc. on the student(s) transcript...

[ChefRamsey]

It's probably number of AP classes guys. Rigor is another term for AP courses since honors are a joke these days.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by balrog

What exactly does the rigor column mean on the IRP reports?

For example, Alpharetta HS has a rigor of 10, while Walton is 12 and Northview, Milton, JC and Chattahoochee are 9.

How is rigor in these reports?

Originally Posted by aries4118

I would guess it is the level of "rigor" of the courses the student(s) took in their high school career (AP, IB, honors, math level, etc).

It fits with the stats/information--especially since many colleges/universities give equal and often more weight to a student's selected coursework (in addition to looking at their GPA and SAT/ACT).


A higher rigor score probably means more AP/IB, honors, advanced math/science, etc. on the student(s) transcript...

I'd also like to add--

The "rigor" column has nothing to do with the rigor of the high school. The rigor number is just showing the number+level of advanced coursework students from that particular high school have taken (and were admitted to Tech) for that school year. Just like the the GPA and SAT/ACT.

The stats will change from year to year depending on the students.

[balrog]

Originally Posted by aries4118

The "rigor" column has nothing to do with the rigor of the high school. The rigor number is just showing the number+level of advanced coursework students from that particular high school have taken (and were admitted to Tech) for that school year. Just like the the GPA and SAT/ACT.

That's what I wanted to know. So where did you find the definition for rigor? Is it stated on the gatech site?

So, if your definition is accurate, looks like students from Walton take more advanced schoolwork, followed by Alpharetta. I'm surprised that Alpharetta students were more "rigorous" than Northview students, since Northview has a stellar reputation and higher SAT scores. I thought [perhaps naively] rigor would correlate closely with SAT scores.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by balrog

That's what I wanted to know. So where did you find the definition for rigor? Is it stated on the gatech site?

So, if your definition is accurate, looks like students from Walton take more advanced schoolwork, followed by Alpharetta. I'm surprised that Alpharetta students were more "rigorous" than Northview students, since Northview has a stellar reputation and higher SAT scores. I thought [perhaps naively] rigor would correlate closely with SAT scores.

No, no, no, no, no.

It only means that students for that particular year that came from Walton took more advanced schoolwork. It can (and will) change from year to year. (And some or maybe a lot of the students from Walton may not have scored well on the end-of-year exams for the advanced courses since some students may have "overbooked." The rigor score does not show how well the students performed in the courses at the end.)

And a higher rigor score does not mean that the students from that school are higher-caliber or whatever. There are lots of reasons why a student may (or may not) take more (or less) advanced coursework:

1. Transcript stacking--rigor only shows what they took...not the scores they received on AP and IB exams.
2. Particular schools may advise students that "less is more" and wisely steer students to go deep and instead of spreading thin.
3. A student at a middle-income, lower-middle income, or even lower-income school may have the opportunity to take more advanced coursework since they will get more small-group and individualized attention than he/she would otherwise get a larger, higher-income hyper-competitive school. But this student may not score as high on the SAT/ACT since they cannot afford the expensive test-prep courses that many students take at schools like Walton+Northview (and they may not have the lifetime of outside-of-school life experience/academic enrichment that affluence affords more advantaged kids).
4. And there are many other reasons...


Moreover, the rigor score does not correlate with GPA or SAT/ACT Score. Take a look at Academy of Richmond County on the site, for example. The rigor score is 10...but the SAT/ACT score is lower than Northview, Johns Creek, Milton, and Chattahoochee.

There are many factors that go into admitting students. Admission committees (wisely) look at all factors knowing that coursework, extracurricular activities, scores, etc. paint a fuller picture of a what a student can bring to a school.

[balrog]

Thanks for the clarification aries4118.