PATH TOWARD COLLEGE

As early as fall of their students’ junior year, the top-represented high schools at the College use thorough counseling programs geared toward preparing students for college applications.

According to David Ding ’16, an Andover alumnus, each student at Andover is assigned a college counselor who keeps track of application deadlines, writes letters of recommendation, and reviews student essays.

“We encourage students to apply to a broad range of schools, and we’re really trying to help them find a match,” Palfrey said of Andover’s counseling program. “For some students that match may be an Ivy League school, and for other students that school may be another one.”

Casey J. Pedrick, Director of College Counseling at Stuyvesant, said she and her counseling team make themselves available to students almost 24/7 during the college application process, leaving their doors open whenever a student needs advice.

“We’re really good about being able to answer emails at night and making ourselves available for communications over the summer,” Pedrick said. “They’re always thankful when they see an email or a reply back at midnight.”

Noble and Greenough School also tries to form a strong connection between its college counseling program and its students, according to Ben M. Snyder, head of the Upper School at Noble and Greenough.

“All of our college counselors also teach, and then 75 percent of their job is college counseling,” said Snyder. “We want as many people as possible in the classroom with kids.”

Like counseling programs at other secondary schools that regularly send students to Harvard, Noble and Greenough’s program is comprehensive. It advises students on which courses and standardized tests to take, helps students determine their academic interests, and communicates with students about application deadlines.

“We’re very lucky,” said Snyder. “Both in being able to have really talented kids come into the school and then providing this program for those kids.”

‘A NATURAL CONTINUATION’

Because students from these secondary schools were exposed to educational and extracurricular opportunities similar to those offered by universities, they felt encouraged to apply to schools like Harvard.

“Harvard is a natural continuation of boarding school,” Ding said of Andover. “We had really hard classes, we had opportunities to do research, to participate in all sorts of different extracurricular activities.”

Palfrey, who attended Exeter during high school, also said his move from preparatory school to college was facilitated by his experience studying with intelligent students and exploring the school’s course offerings.

“I felt like I had an easy time with the transition to college,” Palfrey said, “Whereas for others there was a larger cultural leap between their high school experience and their Harvard college experience.”