The Class of 2013
The counseling department bids a fond farewell to our graduates.  We wanted to report some of the information to you regarding their college placement.  During the course of the school year, our office processed 1468 transcript for college admissions.  Additionally, we sent 605 mid-year transcripts for our seniors.

Of the 203 graduates in the Class of 2013, 59% will be attending public colleges and universities and 56% will be staying in-state to go to school.  In all, the class of 2013 will be attending 77 different colleges and universities in 25 different states and the District of Columbia. The total scholarship worth of this class is $24,282,745.32

We have had an outstanding year with many of our colleges; public and private, in-state and out of state.  Students in the class of 2013 have been accepted and will attend some of the most selective colleges in the United States including Duke, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Vanderbilt, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Emory, Rice, Williams College, Wellesley College, Wake Forest, New York University, The University of Virginia, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UC – Berkeley, UCLA and Tufts.

Catholic college acceptances include University of Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College, St. Louis University, Creighton University, University of the Incarnate Word, Fordham, Santa Clara, University of San Francisco, Dominican University of California, Seattle University, Loyola at New Orleans, Loyola at Chicago, Loyola Marymount University, Loyola in Maryland, University of San Diego, The Catholic University of America, St. Edward’s, St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, University of Dallas and University of St. Thomas.

Students were also accepted to liberal arts colleges including Agnes Scott College, Austin College, Claremont McKenna College, Pitzer College, Pomona College, Scripps College, Cornell College, Denison University, Eckerd College, Emerson College, Emmanuel College, Franklin and Marshall College, Haverford College, Hendrix College, Ithaca College, Lewis and Clark College, Occidental College, Reed College, Rhodes College, Roanoke College, Salem College, Samford University, Sewanee, Smith College, Southwestern University, St. Olaf College, and Vassar College.

In addition, our students were accepted to colleges whose school spirit and athletic teams are equally as popular and strong as some of their academic programs.  These schools include LSU, Auburn, The University of Alabama, Clemson, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Colorado State, Kansas, Kansas State, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, University of Miami and Baylor.

Please know that we are extremely proud of ALL of our seniors and their final college decisions.  More detailed information about the Class of 2013 will be released in next fall’s school profile.

Trending:  We have also heard some important information from our college colleagues as we have talked to them about their admissions decisions in the last several weeks.  Application numbers at selective colleges and universities continue to increase at record numbers.  There are many reasons for including the ease of applying to multiple schools because of the Common Application and electronic submission of the application.  Some universities will waive the application fee and /or the essay requirement if a student submits electronically or by a certain date.  This is one of the many reasons that schools report record numbers of applicants.  We have seen this in our own office as we processed a record number of transcripts for our seniors this year.

As was said earlier, even as the number of applications increases, the number of admitted students remains about the same at most of the colleges.  This results in a lower acceptance rate which makes schools look and feel like they are more selective than the year before.  We have found that students at St. Agnes are applying to more schools and applying to schools with the early deadlines offered by the colleges.

We look forward to our work with the Class of 2014 as they prepare their lists of potential schools and their applications (essays, resumes, etc.) for next fall so that they can present themselves in the best possible light to all schools that are of interest to them.

Virtual Campus Tours
Having the opportunity to visit and tour a college campus can really enhance your daughter’s perspective and ability to see themselves at a particular college or university. However, we know that time is short and sometimes it’s not possible to visit every campus your daughter is interested in. There is now an online solution to that problem. A website, www.youvisit.com has created virtual guided tours of thousands of campuses across the country. We have shared this site with your daughters and we encourage you to explore it as well. Not every campus is listed, but you can request a tour of a campus if there is not one posted; so go virtual visiting!

Recommendation to Ninth Grade Parents from Mrs. Sarah Luna
When I came across this article, “Parenthood: It Doesn’t Get Any Easier,”  the title grabbed my attention as a new mom of a 5 month year old and an almost 10 year old who believes she is actually 15.  Sound familiar?  Probably, and that’s why I thought I’d share it in this week’s Tiger Tracks. Although it may come across as a negative title, as a high school counselor and mom, I found it pretty validating and positive in the end. Hopefully, you will, too.  Check out this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/grown-and-flown/parenthood-it-doesnt-get-easier_b_3079845.html