Collegiate School College Admission Report Fall 2019 College Counseling – Helping Our Students Achieve Their Goals “Finding Great Fits” is no mere tagline for Collegiate School’s College Counseling Office. This phrase embodies the spirit of the School’s four counselors and what they do. “Walking hand-in-hand with each student and family down the path of finding an exciting set of college options that best fit them as individuals is an exceptional experience for us,” said Brian Leipheimer, Director of College Counseling. “From developing close relationships with them as we help to navigate the terrain, learning and sharing their stories, and witnessing their self-discovery to celebrating with them as they find great matches, fostering that process offers a far greater reward than tangible outcomes.” Across the board, satisfaction levels with the college counseling experience at Collegiate, and with the individual college counselors, remain steady at 98%. “Beginning our work with students during their freshman and sophomore years, in small groups and individually, puts us in a fortunate position,” said Kim Ball, Senior Associate Director of College Counseling. “By encouraging them to reflect and explore their interests and
passions, students are able to take all that they learn about themselves and apply it as they start their college search and application process. Their enhanced self-awareness affords them expanded opportunities for finding colleges that meet their preferences and support their growth and development.”
RELATIONSHIPS MATTER Research, and conventional wisdom, point to younger students not being ready to engage meaningfully with the
college process. However, given that the traditional model of starting individual college counseling halfway through the junior year has grown increasingly at odds with the acceleration of the process nationally, our counselors embrace a creative solution. For Collegiate students, individual meetings with their college counselors begin in January of sophomore year, but those meetings do not touch on college. Rather, they reflect a purposeful opportunity to begin a relationship, one
COLLEGE COUNSELING – HELPING OUR STUDENTS ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS, CONTINUED upon which the student and counselor will build during junior and senior year. There are tangible outcomes from those first meetings, such as testing and course selection plans. Meeting after meeting, semester after semester, those one-on-one relationships form the cornerstone of Collegiate’s college
counseling experience. Our relationships with college admission officers matter as well. Each year, more than 100 representatives visit Collegiate’s campus to meet with interested students and with the college counselors. Our counselors also travel, and collectively they have visited more than 250 college
campuses in the U.S., Asia, Canada, Europe and the Middle East, in addition to regularly attending national and regional conferences. Whether in person, on the phone or over email, the college counselors maintain close contact with college admission offices to cultivate and maintain strong relationships.
MILESTONES ON THE FOUR-YEAR PATH TO FIT 9th & 10th Grades Focused initiatives themed around selfdiscovery and forward-thinking, including personality and learning style inventory, academic goal-setting, activities and summer planning, building a resume
Class of 2019 Highlights Seniors posted a strong overall admit rate of 66% in 2019. Over the past decade, the admit rate has fluctuated between 64-70% with an average of 2 out of every 3 applications resulting in acceptances. Our 2019 admit rates continued to exceed the institutional rates in every Barron’s selectivity benchmark category, this year by an average of 10%. This year’s class of 132 seniors received 485 acceptances to 134 colleges and enrolled in 54 colleges in 25 states, France and the Netherlands. The Class of 2019 received more than $7.6 million in merit scholarship offers, including Washington & Lee University’s prestigious Johnson Scholarship. Also, one out of every five seniors earned spots in 15 honors colleges/programs across the nation.
10th Grade One-on-one meetings with assigned college counselors that forge studentcounselor relationships and begin the process of tailoring course selection and testing plans
11th Grade Individual full-family meetings with college counselors that include the process of building the college list
12th Grade One-on-one meetings with college counselors, assistance with application/ essay review and strategies
Expertise Expertise in college counseling is a prerequisite, and our office offers a wealth of it. Collegiate is home to the region’s largest independent school office, with four college counselors who collectively offer more than 60 years in the profession. This not only affords our students a low student-to-counselor ratio, the experiences several of them bring from having worked in highly selective college admission offices is also a critical benefit. Just as importantly, they provide a caring commitment in working with both students and parents.
DID YOU KNOW? MEET YOUR COUNSELORS Collegiate is fortunate to have four full-time college counselors who possess an unwavering passion for working with students. They are your family’s committed resources, advisors and advocates.
BRIAN LEIPHEIMER
KIM BALL
DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE COUNSELING Education: College of William & Mary (History); University of Virginia (Educational Administration) Prior Experience: Associate Director of College Counseling – Collegiate School (VA); College Counselor and Admission Officer – St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School (VA)
SENIOR ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE COUNSELING Education: University of Delaware (Finance & Management); University of Pennsylvania (Higher Education Administration) Prior Experience: Senior Assistant Director of Admission – Johns Hopkins University; Director of College Counseling – Indian Springs School (AL)
ERIN BREESE
ANDREW REICH
JENN EARLE
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE COUNSELING Education: University of Vermont (Communication Sciences); University of Miami (Higher Education & Enrollment Management) Prior Experience: Senior Assistant Director of Admission – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Assistant Director of Admission – University of Vermont
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE COUNSELING Education: Beloit College (Psychology); University of Oslo (Comparative and International Education) Prior Experience: Assistant Director of College Counseling – The Episcopal School of Baton Rouge; Admissions Counselor – Gettysburg College; International Undergraduate Admissions Application Reader – New York University
COLLEGE COUNSELING OFFICE ASSISTANT Education: University of Richmond (International Studies); Virginia Commonwealth University (Administration of Justice) Prior Experience: Deputy Clerk – Hanover County Circuit Court (VA); Instructional Assistant – Columbus Elementary School (IL); Legal Assistant – Supreme Court of Virginia; Deputy Clerk – Supreme Court of Virginia
The unique foundation of Collegiate’s College Counseling program is a fouryear developmental, stage appropriate model that begins in 9th Grade with small-group initiatives and moves to individual student meetings starting in 10th Grade. Counselors host informational meetings for parents throughout the Upper School experience, ranging from informal Q&A sessions for 9th and 10th Grade parents and presentations for 11th and 12th Grade parents to a panel of 10-12 veteran admission deans and programs on financial aid and scholarships. Students enjoy a bevy of programming as well, including small-group college counseling classes in junior and senior years, an essay workshop for juniors, a visit to a local college campus for sophomores and Myers-Briggs personality assessments for freshmen.
College Admission Rates 66 10 24
OUR HIGH ACCEPTANCE RATES REMAIN REMARKABLY CONSISTENT OVER TIME.
66% 66% of the class received at least one acceptance from institutions in the “Most Competitive” or “Highly Competitive” categories.
68
11 21
% Accepts % Waitlists % Denies
2019
10-yr Avg.
Collegiate’s Class of 2019: Beating the Odds 50 40 30 20 10 0 80 60 40 20 0
Barron’s Most Competitive Category Colleges typically accepting less than 33% Collegiate’s accept rate: 41%
Barron’s Highly Competitive Category Colleges typically accepting less than 50% Collegiate’s accept rate: 64%
100 80 60 40 20 0
Barron’s Very Competitive Category
100 80 60 40 20 0
Barron’s Competitive Category
Colleges typically accepting less than 75% Collegiate’s accept rate: 87%
Colleges typically accepting less than 85% Collegiate’s accept rate: 91%
Four-Year Comparison: Classes of 2016-19 2019 2018
2017
2016
# of Seniors
132
131 133 126
Average GPA
3.7
3.7 3.8 3.7
Average SAT
1312 1301
1310* 1235
Average ACT
28
Colleges Receiving Applications
166 191 164 163
# of Applications and % of Admits, Waitlists and Denies % of Class Applying Early Merit Scholarship Offers in $
733 66% Admits 10% WL 24% Denies
28 30 29
733 818 737 68% Admits 69% Admits 70% Admits 11% WL 12% WL 10% WL 21% Denies 19% Denies 19% Denies
95%
98% 100% 97% 34% Early Decision 33% Early Decision 20% Early Decision 27% Early Decision 7.6 + million
8.5 + million
9.3 + million
5.1 + million
Students Receiving National Merit Recognition
21
18 19 16
# of Seniors Competing in NCAA Athletics
14
14 14 14 7 Div. I 8 Div. I 6 Div. I 7 Div. III 6 Div. III 8 Div. III
9 Div. I 5 Div. III
% Enrollment 49% in VA 45% in VA 40% in VA 52% in VA 51% in 24 states, 55% in 25 states 60% in 32 states, 48% in 23 states * New SAT
France and The Netherlands
the U.K. and Canada
Class of 2019 College Acceptances CREATIVITY BEYOND Eight members of the Class of 2019 will move on to study and pursue the performing and visual arts in college.
PLAYING ON Fourteen members of the Class of 2019 will be taking their athletic and academic talents to the next level. We congratulate all of our students on their commitment and dedication.
American University (2)
Franklin & Marshall College
Middlebury College
Auburn University (5)
Full Sail University
Mississippi State University
Barnard College
Furman University
Norfolk State University
Belmont University (3)
George Mason University (6)
North Carolina A&T University
Boston College (7)
George Washington University (3)
North Carolina Central University (3)
Boston University (2)
Georgetown University (2)
North Carolina State University (13)
Bowdoin College
Georgia Institute of Technology (3)
Northwestern University
Brown University
Guilford College
Occidental College (2)
Bucknell University
Hamilton College
Old Dominion University (10)
Case Western Reserve University
Hampden-Sydney College (6)
Parson School of Design
Centre College (3)
Hampton University (3)
Pennsylvania State University (4)
Claremont McKenna College
High Point University (6)
Purdue University
Christopher Newport University (10) Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein Radford University (4) University (The Netherlands) Clemson University (14) Randolph-Macon College (5) Howard University College of William & Mary (11) Rhodes College (2) Indiana University Bloomington (3) Colorado College (2) Sciences Po University (France) James Madison University (43) Colorado State University Sewanee: The University of Lafayette College (2) the South (5) Columbia University Liberty University Skidmore College Davidson College (2) Longwood University (3) Southern Methodist University (2) Denison University (3) Louisiana State University St. John’s College DePauw University Loyola University Maryland (2) Suffolk University Dickinson College Macalester College Sweet Briar College Drew University Marquette University Temple University Drexel University (4) Mary Baldwin University Texas A&M University Duke University Marymount University Tulane University (2) Eckerd College Massachusetts College Union College Elon University (10) of Art & Design University of Alabama (13) Emory University Miami University - Ohio (5) University of California, Davis Fordham University
University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Santa Barbara
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (3)
ACCEPTANCES AT THE 11 COLLEGES RECEIVING THE MOST APPLICATIONS FROM 2019 COUGARS
University of California, San Diego
University of North Carolina Wilmington (3)
University of Chicago
University of Pittsburgh
University of Cincinnati
University of Richmond (3)
University of Colorado Boulder (3)
University of South Carolina (26)
University of Delaware (3)
University of South Florida Tampa
University of Denver (2)
University of Tampa
University of Florida (3)
University of Tennessee (4)
University of Georgia (11)
University of Texas Austin
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Vermont (3)
University of Kentucky (2)
University of Wisconsin Madison
University of Louisville
Vassar College
University of Lynchburg
Villanova University (2)
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Virginia Commonwealth University (15)
University of Maryland College Park (4)
Virginia State University (2)
University of Mary Washington (2) University of Massachusetts Amherst (2) University of Massachusetts Boston University of Miami (5) University of Michigan (3) University of Mississippi (4) University of North Carolina Charlotte (2)
100%
University of Alabama 13/13
93%
James Madison University 43/46
84%
Virginia Tech 32/38
83%
Virginia Commonwealth University 15/18
81%
University of South Carolina 26/32
65%
College of William & Mary 11/17
62%
North Carolina State University 13/21
59%
Clemson University 16/27
50%
University of Georgia 11/22
49%
University of Virginia 25/51
20%
University of North Carolina 3/15
University of Virginia (25)
Virginia Military Institute Virginia Tech (32) Wake Forest University (4) Washington & Lee University (3) Washington University in St. Louis (4) West Virginia University (2) Winston-Salem State University
WORKSHOP AND CAMP OPPORTUNITIES
APPLICATION WORKSHOP This all-day program takes our juniors on a deep dive through the application process with 10-12 veteran Deans of Admission from across the country. The day is punctuated by a mock committee session – students spend several hours in small groups acting as admission committees, each led by an actual dean, deciding whom to admit and deny amongst a set of four full applications – a true insider’s look into the process
JUMPSTART CAMP For a full week in the summer, our college counseling staff invites rising seniors to get a head start on their applications, with the goal of completing a full application draft with essay by week’s end. Highlights include in-depth focus on each element of the application, organizational materials, individual feedback, a communication seminar and one-onone practice interviews conducted by local admission reps.
103 North Mooreland Road / Richmond, VA 23229 / 804.740.7077 / Fax: 804.741.9128