College Acceptances

Class of 2020 Boasts Impressive College Acceptance Record

On Saturday, June 6, The Storm King School Community recognized the hard work and accomplishments of the graduating Class of 2020 at its very first virtual commencement ceremony. The 52 graduating seniors had much to celebrate, including a very impressive roster of college acceptances.

“This class faced many hurdles and constantly changing parameters due to the recent crisis, but they’ve succeeded in having one of the best college acceptance records in the history of The Storm King School. I'm extremely proud of them,” explained Director of College Counseling Dr. Marti Kwon.

The 27 girls and 25 boys from 14 countries and seven US states making up this year’s graduating class applied to a wide roster of both public and private research institutions and smaller liberal arts colleges in North America, as well as institutions in Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, and Croatia. Their choices reflected their academic prowess, their diversity, as well as a myriad of professional interests.

“Like many of their peers before them, Storm King’s Class of 2020 sought to challenge themselves academically and professionally in the years to come,” continued Dr. Kwon. “Many had expressed a desire to combine their interest in business with a personal passion like visual and performing arts or causes important to them, such as social justice and sustainability. Some graduates may pursue post-secondary programs that offer interdisciplinary opportunities or options to double major. Others indicated they planned to pursue studies in the STEM disciplines and the traditional liberal arts. Several others also expressed a desire to play sports in college.”

“The Class of 2020 started the calendar year off with a bang as they finished up and submitted nearly 600 applications for admission to colleges and universities across the United States and the world,” explained Dr. Kwon. “For this class, the average number of colleges/universities applied to was nine. That is up by one from last year’s class average of eight. In addition, Storm King faculty submitted a total of 117 letters of recommendation in support of the Class of 2020.”

Despite the rapid and widespread changes to the college admissions landscape due to the COVID-19 outbreak which occurred shortly after, Dr. Kwon reported that the list of acceptances and commitments continued to grow through to National College Commitment Day on May 1, with most students gaining acceptance to one or more of their top three choices. “Even though I couldn’t enjoy seeing the seniors come into my office to write their college acceptances on the white board as per tradition, they connected with me virtually using the Naviance platform,” said Dr. Kwon.

Congratulations to the Class of 2020 for gaining admission to so many prestigious colleges and universities including NYU Stern School of Business, New York University, Tufts University, Wake Forest University, Vassar College, Parsons-The New School, Berklee School of Music, and The George Washington University; several UC campuses including Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and San Diego; Belmont University, Cornell University, DePaul University; SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Stony Brook, and SUNY Binghamton; University of Rochester, Norwich University, The Ohio State University, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida International University, Quinnipiac University, School of Visual Arts, University of Michigan, Fordham University, Wellesley College, The University of Chicago, University of Connecticut, Pace University, Penn State, University of Miami, Tecnológico de Monterrey, University of Sydney, University of Toronto, University of Virginia, and University of Washington; University of Zagreb, Pace University, National University of Singapore, New York University, Maryland Institute of Art, Arizona State University, Rutgers University, University of the Arts, Emerson College, University of São Paulo, Clarkson University, Dominican College, University of Florida, and Clark University among others.