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define YOUR FUTURE COLLEGE AND LIFE GOALS. Applying to a college used to be fairly simple and relatively casual, but no longer. The gentility of that bygone era has given way to a process that is usually long, time-consuming, and filled with stress and pressure. You will need a clear strategy for getting accepted by your colleges of choice. Fortunately, at Mercersburg our college counselors will work with you every step of the way to ensure that you and your future college are a truly ideal fit.
Brief Sample of College Matriculations for Graduating Classes 2007–2010 (in alphabetical order)
Bates College (5) Bryn Mawr College Bucknell University (6) Colby College (2) Columbia University (3) Cornell University (3) Duke University (4) Georgetown University (4) Harvard University Haverford College Johns Hopkins University Kenyon College (3) Lehigh University (7) McGill University (5) Mount Holyoke College (3) New York University (12) Oberlin College Smith College (3) Stanford University (2) Swarthmore College (4) University of Chicago (2) University of Pennsylvania (6) University of Richmond (9) University of Southern California (3) Vanderbilt University (3) Wake Forest University (5) Yale University (3)
college counseling at Mercersburg isn’t merely sage advice, but a highly intentional, multi-year process of building and shaping a strategic plan around you and your goals. Our goal is that in your senior year you will receive acceptances from at least one, if not several, of your preferred colleges. Our counselors will assist you in laying out your Mercersburg and summer activities in order to meet your objectives. They’ll help you find volunteer work, plan college visits, and organize your applications. All of this is how we prepare students to succeed. We’ve had hundreds of students named National Merit or AP Scholars. Indeed, 86 percent of our students who take AP tests get 3 or better, and 63 percent score a 4 or the “perfect 5.” Counseling begins when you first arrive in the ninth grade, with informal advice and test prep classes. Pretty soon, you’ll take the real tests, like the PSAT, which can qualify you for a National Merit Scholarship. Your college counselors will schedule you to meet admission officers from colleges and universities all over the U.S. who visit Mercersburg every year. Our recent graduates are enrolled at the top schools in the country. We take our role in helping you discover the college of your dreams and getting you accepted there very seriously.
The College Counseling Team
an interview WITH BILL McCLINTICK
(Excerpted and adapted from Mercersburg magazine, December 2008)
What distinguishes Mercersburg’s college counseling program? BM: We are truly a national prep school, and that’s what makes us truly a national college counseling office. We need to have a working knowledge of 400, 500, 600 colleges, because every year we will have kids apply to 300 or 400 different colleges. It’s important for students and parents to take the time to really do their homework in the search process. We won’t let you get through this process without doing some real soul-searching. If you give us quick and easy answers, we’ll challenge those answers to see if you’ve really thought through all of the issues.
What’s the one thing parents and students should be focused on as they approach strategies for applying to college? BM: There are many myths out there about applying to and getting accepted by one’s target colleges. And to fight nearly every myth, we constantly knock people over the head with one large fact about getting into a college: what matters most is the transcript of what you studied at Mercersburg and how well you performed. If you don’t have an appropriate transcript, then the rest—SAT scores, extracurricular activities, family connections—doesn’t really matter, with the exception of those who may qualify as Division I athletes.
Bill McClintick Director of College Counseling, Mercersburg 2008–2009 President, National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)
Do you think the U.S. News & World Report rankings aid or skew people’s perceptions and decisions? BM: U.S. News & World Report has filled a void for many families who don’t have access to good college counseling. On the other hand, Americans have always loved the quick and easy fix. If someone else does all of this wonderful scientific research to help them and ranks colleges for them—given our national obsession with rankings—then U.S. News has been able to fill that void. However, U.S. News does not provide an individualized ranking system: it does not, because it cannot, take into account the strengths and weaknesses of every individual child, which, of course, is THE most important variable in the college search process. In general, the media have actually helped parents to achieve a much better understanding of how exceptionally difficult it is to get into elite schools today and how important it is for them and their children to receive truly expert college counseling.
If you were standing in front of an audience made up of Mercersburg parents whose children are now very much in the zone for college selection and application, what brief counsel would you give? BM: Focus on what’s going to be best for your child—on their happiness and their ability to succeed at school, and not on the bumper sticker that’s going to be on the back of your car. Make it about the child, and not about you. Know that we in College Counseling at Mercersburg will help open up a world of possibilities to them. We will work with them, and they will get the best advice we can possibly give them. We will get through this process and keep the stress level to a minimum, to the extent that we can. We work with them to find that fit, because to us in College Counseling at Mercersburg, it’s always about the fit.
And if the audience were a group of Mercersburg 11th graders? BM: Don’t limit yourself. This is your chance to think broadly, to take risks, and to be open to considering things that you may have never even thought of before. Don’t become part of the generation that feels as if you’ve never seen a school on ESPN or if the school is not in the top 50 of U.S. News & World Report, it can’t be any good. Nothing could be further from the truth. Be flexible. Follow your heart. Really take the time to take a step back and look at a wide variety of options.
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Mercersburg Academy abides by both the spirit and the letter of the law in all its employment and admission policies. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.