Upper School

College Counseling

St. Margaret's Episcopal School's college counseling office works closely with our students and their families to help them plan and execute an appropriate and fulfilling college application process. The formal college advising process begins during the second half of junior year. Some components of St. Margaret's College Counseling Program include: individual meetings with students and their parents beginning the second half of junior year; specific workshops for students on the nuts and bolts of the college application, including the essay; workshops for parents on the college process throughout the year, some which are open to all divisions of SMES; advice on visiting colleges and admissions interviews; regular communication with the SMES community to share important information on applying to college; and providing support to the deans and academic advisors on issues pertinent to student preparation for college.

The college counselors at St. Margaret's Episcopal School bring a wealth of experience to the college process. Mr. Allen has nearly two-dozen years of experience as a college admissions officer at Westmont College, Colby College, MIT and Stanford University. Ms. McColgan came to St. Margaret's from the admission office at Stanford University. Her background also includes experience as an admissions officer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The college counselors are professionally active and maintain a national profile in order to proactively strengthen the relationship of St. Margaret's with colleges and universities.

Mr. Allen and Ms. McColgan work closely with the academic advisors to ensure that our students enroll in classes that meet their skill level and prepare them for selective college and university admissions. In a sense, the college counselors function as academic tutors, as that term in used in the world's great universities, interacting with students individually and in small groups to ask questions that encourage reflection and thoughtful responses.

Philosophy

Each year nearly 100% of St. Margaret's graduates enroll in a four-year college or university. We are proud of all of our students' accomplishments, and the college advising process we have created goes beyond the concept of "getting the best bumper sticker." Choosing a college is an opportunity for students to further develop interests, define talents, and to consider their own individual ideas, stances and values. College counseling at St. Margaret's will help students find college environments which best fit their unique interests and talents.

St. Margaret's Episcopal School's college counseling office helps our students and their families feel as if they have designed and implemented a direct and appropriate journey for their next academic adventure. We hope to "de-stress" the college process. As such, students and their families are asked not to focus too much on what they think or hear "looks good to colleges." Rather, we encourage students to become fully involved in the academic, social and extracurricular life of St. Margaret's during their four years in upper school and to develop individual interests for which they have a passion. This way, the college process becomes a natural part of a student's life, and not the all-consuming focus of his or her entire upper school experience.

The formal college advising process begins during the second half of junior year. This allows more than enough time for thorough research of colleges at a realistic point in the student's career here. We hope that students and parents will defer becoming seriously occupied with college issues until then. Again, the best college preparation is to be a fully involved student at St. Margaret's and to take advantage of all the wonderful opportunities and challenges that are available in this school community. I've learned from over twenty years of college admissions and counseling experience that this approach will serve our students very well.

Roland M. Allen
Director of College Counseling