A Letter from

College Counseling: A Capstone Program of St. Andrew’s

Dear Friends,

In 1945 my father walked from his Winnipeg home to the University of Manitoba and registered for college. Four years later, he walked across the street to sign up for medical school. In 1984, my Boston-area college counselor met with me briefly to reorder my list of prospective colleges and make sure that I would apply only to a handful of schools to save unnecessary stress and paperwork. When discussing “going west to college,” she meant Amherst or Williams, not California.

Students today have more options and less certainty. Most twelfthgrade students apply to many more schools than I did, and the number of “first-generation” college applicants has increased significantly in recent years. College application dates and admission processes have become far less standardized, and decisions at highly selective colleges have become less predictable. As college tuition and discounting practices have both risen dramatically, the “real” price of a particular college can be hard to contemplate or even discern. It’s no surprise that student and family anxiety have increased at many high schools.

As Head of School and the parent of two Lion alumni, I hope this magazine helps lower that anxiety. The cover story strives to demystify several trends and factors in college admission, and to describe St. Andrew’s distinctive process for preparing and supporting students throughout their college applications and decisions. If you are a parent of a younger Lion, I hope you will see why so many current students, alumni, and alumni families cite their college counseling experience as a leading strength of St. Andrew’s Upper School program.

We are proud of the range and quality of colleges that accept and enroll our Lions each year. We even more deeply appreciate the St. Andrew’s faculty and staff members who make our college counseling process so informed, hopeful, and student-centered. Whether this magazine helps preview your child’s future or stimulates your own St. Andrew’s memories, I hope you enjoy this current view into a capstone program of our Lions’ education.

Thank you for making St. Andrew’s a place of constant growth and myriad possibilities, and for helping all of our Lions fulfill their promise.

Warmly,