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Dr. Gay Stebbins Pepper - Professional Educational Counseling
College and More, Inc.
1. What is the single biggest challenge highly selective colleges face in making difficult admissions
decisions?
2. Is there an additional measurement that could be used in college admissions to provide a more
accurate reading of a student’s potential growth?
3. How would using an abilities assessment such as the Highlands Ability Battery work in practical terms
for a college-bound high school student?
4. What exactly does the Highlands Ability Battery measure?
5. Why is it important to understand Personal Style when thinking about college?
6. How would knowing about your preference as an Introvert or an Extrovert affect the way you evaluate
colleges?
7. What are Driving Abilities and why are they important when thinking about colleges?
8. How can Driving Abilities be included as part of the college application?
9. How does knowing if you are a “ big picture” thinking or a “logical” thinker apply to college admissions
process?
10. Why would knowing if a student could generate multiple ideas quickly, a Driving Ability called Idea
Productivity, matter to an admissions dean?
11. Is there a way to “fail” an ability assessment? For example, what are the implications of having a low
score in Classification and Idea Productivity?
12. What do the Specialized Abilities measure?
13. If you discover that your scores in Verbal Memory and Tonal Memory low are low, what kind of impact
would this have on college admissions?
14. Why would strengths in Design Memory, Pitch Discrimination, Observation, and Number Memory be
important to an admissions committee?.
15. Do you feel the Highlands Ability findings made the difference in college acceptances in the case study
you just described?
16. Who is the major beneficiary of the Highlands Ability Battery, the student applying to college or the
admissions person reading the summary report?
17. Can an ability battery be helpful for students who are unhappy in their college and want to transfer?
18. Can an ability assessment help a student decide on a major?
19. Is it ever too late to take an ability battery?
20. What are some of the lessons you have learned from using the Highlands Ability Battery in your work as
an independent college counselor?
decisions?
2. Is there an additional measurement that could be used in college admissions to provide a more
accurate reading of a student’s potential growth?
3. How would using an abilities assessment such as the Highlands Ability Battery work in practical terms
for a college-bound high school student?
4. What exactly does the Highlands Ability Battery measure?
5. Why is it important to understand Personal Style when thinking about college?
6. How would knowing about your preference as an Introvert or an Extrovert affect the way you evaluate
colleges?
7. What are Driving Abilities and why are they important when thinking about colleges?
8. How can Driving Abilities be included as part of the college application?
9. How does knowing if you are a “ big picture” thinking or a “logical” thinker apply to college admissions
process?
10. Why would knowing if a student could generate multiple ideas quickly, a Driving Ability called Idea
Productivity, matter to an admissions dean?
11. Is there a way to “fail” an ability assessment? For example, what are the implications of having a low
score in Classification and Idea Productivity?
12. What do the Specialized Abilities measure?
13. If you discover that your scores in Verbal Memory and Tonal Memory low are low, what kind of impact
would this have on college admissions?
14. Why would strengths in Design Memory, Pitch Discrimination, Observation, and Number Memory be
important to an admissions committee?.
15. Do you feel the Highlands Ability findings made the difference in college acceptances in the case study
you just described?
16. Who is the major beneficiary of the Highlands Ability Battery, the student applying to college or the
admissions person reading the summary report?
17. Can an ability battery be helpful for students who are unhappy in their college and want to transfer?
18. Can an ability assessment help a student decide on a major?
19. Is it ever too late to take an ability battery?
20. What are some of the lessons you have learned from using the Highlands Ability Battery in your work as
an independent college counselor?
Abilities Count in College Admissions: What Parents Need to Know
A Talk by Dr. Pepper
A Talk by Dr. Pepper
Getting into highly selective colleges is never a given, even for the student with
straight As and high test scores. So what really counts in making college admissions
decisions? Going beyond the numbers, what do colleges look for when they evaluate
candidates? The challenge for admissions professionals is finding clues to predict a
student’s growth potential. Admissions deans look for evidence of a student’s full
range of abilities that can reveal insight into how a student looks at the world, solves
problems and communicates with others. These 20 questions are designed to help
you understand how abilities can play an important role both in the personal life of
your son or daughter as well as in the college admissions process. In discussing
abilities testing, I will be drawing on both my work as a college admissions dean and
on my professional experience using the Highlands Ability Battery as a foundation
for college counseling.
straight As and high test scores. So what really counts in making college admissions
decisions? Going beyond the numbers, what do colleges look for when they evaluate
candidates? The challenge for admissions professionals is finding clues to predict a
student’s growth potential. Admissions deans look for evidence of a student’s full
range of abilities that can reveal insight into how a student looks at the world, solves
problems and communicates with others. These 20 questions are designed to help
you understand how abilities can play an important role both in the personal life of
your son or daughter as well as in the college admissions process. In discussing
abilities testing, I will be drawing on both my work as a college admissions dean and
on my professional experience using the Highlands Ability Battery as a foundation
for college counseling.
