One of the hallmarks of the Upper School is our four-year college counseling program. The goal of the program is to provide students and their families with a series of incremental learning experiences in grades 9-12, designed to help make what can often be a stressful process as humane and as comfortable as possible.

As part of this effort, the school’s four college counselors have added another highly informative program to their growing roster of events. On April 11, the college counseling team hosted this new evening event called “Anatomy of an Application,” which was designed to keep Upper School students and their parents abreast of some recent trends in the college application process.

Meeting by Zoom, 115 participants, students and/or their families, had the opportunity to learn from five experienced college admissions officers. During the 90-minute session, Ginny Oberle of Elon University, Abby Vidmer of Davidson College, Daniel Schnall of Washington University in St. Louis, Brian Cusack of the University of Michigan, and Sarah Burns of Denison University focused on how they — and other college admissions officers — approach the complex process of reading a student’s applications.

Each admissions officer focused on one or two significant sections of the application, explaining its importance and how it is reviewed in their offices. They answered questions posed by parents and students as well as by our college counselors. By the end of the evening, they had provided valuable insight into how each section functions in an admissions committee’s application review and gave great advice on how students might approach the personal essay, supplemental essays, the activities list, and requests for teacher recommendations.

If you’d like to hear more, please click on this link (Recording: 2022 Anatomy of an Application) to access a recording of the program, and this link (Anatomy of an Application Workshop Materials) to access the materials discussed; sample transcript, school profile, activities list, personal statement, supplemental essays, excerpts from counselors, and teacher recommendations.

Many thanks to our college counseling team for providing this valuable opportunity for our students and their families.

Christopher P. Garten
Head of School