May 6, 2022

In college counseling, May 1 is sacred and represents the culmination of a four-year journey for students who began their freshman year of high school and are now transitioning to freshman year of college. Seniors can finally free themselves from the anxiety of admission decisions and the pressure they have put on themselves based on the narrative that where you go to college proves their worthiness to society. It’s the time of year when social media posts are filled with congratulatory messages to students, often by parents bragging about their success, or schools boasting their acceptance rates and merit scholarship awards for the senior class. As principals and Heads of School prepare graduation speeches, often college acceptances, matriculation, and scholarship monies are the pinnacle of how success is measured. School profiles are updated and published to websites, highlighting average GPAs and test scores along with a lengthy list of colleges to which students have been accepted. It’s a celebratory time, but this success did not happen overnight, or even over the course of senior year. 

In fact, to boast the statistics often found in independent schools, which reflect 100% college acceptance rates and millions of dollars…