Conducting a Search The college search process can begin as early as a student’s third-form year and continue until the regular decision application deadline during the winter of a boy’s sixth-form year. A search starts with research, primarily online, before continuing on to information sessions and campus visits. Counselors will work with boys during the search process to establish a large list of colleges — often of twenty or more schools — that a student will pare down before eventually applying to between five and ten schools.
WORKING WITH ADMISSION REPRESENTATIVES Each fall Woodberry hosts representatives from more than fifty colleges and universities for informational meetings with interested boys. These representatives often evaluate Woodberry boys’ admission applications in the late fall and winter. Students should take advantage of the opportunity to get to know these admission officers and use them as resources during the process.
RANKINGS vs. FIT College rankings can, at times, help students and families learn about the strengths or weaknesses of different schools. But rankings are limited, sometimes superficial, measurements of schools and should never dominate or dictate a search. Assessing fit — how a student fits with a particular college’s mission, how he might be made better by a college and in turn enrich that collegiate community — is far more important than rankings. The college counselors use their wealth of experience to help each boy find a college that is the right academic and social fit.
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WOODBERRY FOREST SCHOOL
