Superintedent's Column

College Admission Results

(Throughout the school year, distinguished members of the administrative staff contribute columns to this space. This week's column is by Art Mandel, director of K-12 guidance.)

As our students make their final college decisions as to which offer to accept, the Roslyn Public Schools and the high school administration in particular, are pleased to report that our students have once again had a phenomenal year in the college admission process. Twelve percent of our students have received acceptances from the Ivy League schools including Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania. Another 33 percent of our students have been accepted to what some refer to as the "other Ivies" such as Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, MIT, Duke, and Wesleyan for a total of 45 percent of the senior class. The high school guidance department attributes this outstanding number to the excellent college advising students receive from their counselors as well as their wonderful academic preparation.

Preparation for the college application process begins upon entrance into high school. Beginning in the freshman year, counselors insure that students are taking courses in which they can be successful. Teachers take a personal interest in their student's success, giving extra help during the day in the study centers as well as after school. Announcements are made in classes about SAT II exams and counselors meet with their students to discuss these exams as well as other issues of importance. This dialogue continues with the administration of the PSAT in October of the sophomore and junior years. When taken by students in 11th grade, it is the one score used by the National Merit Scholarship competition.

In the winter of the junior year, the guidance office mails home material for the students and parents to complete in preparation for the junior conference. Upon submission of this information, the counselors meet with the students and their parents/guardians to discuss the college application process and specific colleges the students might consider. It is at this time that the counselors can discuss with the families, not only the student's chances of being admitted to particular colleges or universities, but the changing demographics of the college freshman class.

The guidance department is committed to insuring that students' applications are completed accurately and packaged properly. All applications are submitted to the guidance office for completion, review, and mailing. The application review process is a three-tier system. The student's counselor, the guidance director, and the principal read each application. Teachers write letters of recommendations and mail them directly to the colleges, and English teachers enjoy working with students in the development of their essays. In fact, in the spring, the junior English teachers assign a college essay to their students to give them an opportunity to experience "the writing process."

This entire procedure is executed to ensure that each and every student is as prepared as possible for the ever-changing college admission process. Colleges are finding not only a dramatic rise in the number of applications, but also an increased competitiveness in the application pool. But they are not increasing the number of students they are willing to accept. They have only so much dormitory space available and are therefore not able to accept a larger freshman class. This has a direct effect on the admission process and the counselors have the specific information about these changes.

Roslyn High School counselors will continue their research and dialogue with college admission personnel in order to ensure that our students benefit from the information and continue to do well in the college admission process.