On May 1st, many colleges and universities required accepted students to secure a spot by sending in a deposit. For many of our seniors this was a difficult decision, because they had been accepted to so many wonderful schools. Students in the class of 2018 earned admission to an array of institutions, including Bowdoin, The College of William and Mary, Davidson, Dickinson, Emory, Franklin & Marshall, Goucher, Haverford, Macalester, Middlebury, Morehouse, Oberlin, SUNY Purchase, Skidmore, Temple, The Ohio State University, University of Colorado at Boulder, Temple, Tuskeegee University, University of Vermont, University of Virginia, and Yale. Many celebrated this week by walking the halls in gear from their postsecondary school of choice.
Students prepared for this challenging decision with help from the dynamic duo in the college counseling office: Ms. Latham and Ms. Richardson. While the preparation process begins as early as middle school, one-on-one sessions with a counselor begin in earnest in the junior year. Students select schools based on a variety of criteria that interest them, including school size, location, areas of study, demographics, and specialty. Students meet with visitors from hundreds of colleges in Q and A sessions in the college counseling office, in college fairs, and on college trips. Several students choose to spend their spring break participating in school-sponsored college tours. Others visit prospective schools with family during vacations. All of this helps in the selection process.
This year 72 seniors applied to colleges, submitting a total of 654 applications. To date, members of the class have amassed more than $6.3 million in merit- or need-based aid, including a Posse Scholarship and the Children Defense Fund’s “Beat the Odds” scholarship. This assistance is critical not only in helping students get to college, but also to stay there. While we anticipate that more than 2 million students around the country will start college this fall, if current trends hold, only about six in ten will earn a diploma in six years. We appreciate everything done on behalf of these students by counselors, teachers and family members. Now the “village” needs to continue to support these young people as they embark on the next leg of their educational journey.
Valete!