From Kindergarten to College
Each spring the media is filled with stories about the state of college admissions—it is either a difficult year for the students or a difficult year for the schools; there is a generous amount of financial aid available or institutions are cutting back. And so on. Whatever the particular challenge of the particular year, the college admissions process is complex, interesting, often misunderstood and always challenging. As our college list for the class of 2010 begins to take shape, I thought it might be helpful for LREI families to gain a better understanding of how our college list is an expression of LREI’s mission.
When does the college process begin? Some would argue that it begins on a child’s first day of school as new knowledge and skills are acquired and as children begin to understand themselves as learners. While we are not a school where the primary objective of each day is to move students ever closer to college acceptance—believing, instead, that today’s learning is important for what it offers today, not only for what it will bring tomorrow—it is clear that even a student’s early experiences exert significant influence on their later goals. Over the course of 14 years of school, through a variety of experiences, our students develop into the people who are now in the midst of making this important decision.
I am often asked what our perfect college list would look like. In a conversation with LREI trustee Robert Rosenthal, (LREI ’80), he commented on the similarities between the college list and the Kindergarten. Our Kindergarteners display a diverse range of interests and abilities, family structure, beliefs, as well as the other, more familiar, definitions of diversity (racial, ethnic, socio-economic.) This same diversity is present in our college list, indicating that we maintain a diverse student body throughout the fourteen years, staying true to the mission that attracts families to LREI. Rather than all seniors being drawn to the same group of very similar schools, our students apply to a broad range of institutions, based on their interests, needs and dreams. Technical schools, liberal arts colleges, larger universities, public, private, Ivy League, art schools—you will see all of these and more on our list. We are proud of the seniors—of those who are the first in their families to go to college and of those who are attending the universities attended by generations of kin. We are proud of those who have received generous scholarships and those for whom finances are not a deciding factor. We are proud of the art students and of the athletes, of the scientists and the historians and of those students who are a little bit of all. Looking for the perfect college list? Visit the Kindergarten.
What follows is the most current list of college acceptances for the class of 2010. Numbers next to the names of colleges and universities indicate the number of students accepted to that school. This list represents all schools to which each senior was accepted, those schools that students viewed as “likely schools,” “target schools” or “reach schools.” In a few weeks I will share a list of the schools at which our seniors will matriculate.
Adelphi University Marymount Manhattan College (2)
Albright College Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Alfred University McDaniel College (3)
Allegheny College McGill University
American University (2) Middlebury College
Amherst College (2) Montclair State University
Arcadia University Mount Holyoke College
Bard College (2) Muhlenberg College (2)
Barnard College New York University
Bates College Northeastern University
Bennington College Northwestern University
Berklee College of Music Oberlin College
Boston College Occidental College
Boston University Paul Smith’s College
Bowdoin College Pennsylvania State University, Berks College
Brown University (2) Philadelphia University
Carleton College Pitzer College
Champlain College Quinnipiac University (2)
Clark University (5) Rhode Island School of Design
Colgate University Sarah Lawrence College (3)
College of Charleston Savannah College of Art and Design
Connecticut College (5) School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2)
Dartmouth College (2) School of the Museum of Fine Arts
Davidson College School of Visual Arts
Dickinson College (2) Seton Hall University
Drexel University (2) Simmons College
Duke University Skidmore College (7)
Emerson College Smith College
George Washington University State University of NY- Binghamton (3)
Georgetown University State University of NY- Buffalo
Gettysburg College State University of NY – Geneseo (4)
Goucher College (3) State University of NY – New Paltz (2)
Hampshire College (3) State University of NY – Oneonta
Haverford College State University of NY – Purchase
Ithaca College (6) State University of NY – Stony Brook
James Madison University Swarthmore College
Johns Hopkins University Syracuse University (3)
Johnson & Wales University Trinity College Dublin
Keene State College Tulane University
Kenyon College University of Delaware
Lewis & Clark College University of Hartford
Macalester College University of Massachusetts, Amherst (4)
Manhattanville College University of Miami
Maryland Institute College of Art University of Mississippi
University of Montana, Missoula Vassar College (3)
University of New Hampshire Warren Wilson College
University of Rhode Island (3) Washington University in St. Louis
University of Rochester Wesleyan University (2)
University of Tampa Wheaton College (2)
University of Vermont (2) Yale University
Ursinus College
Finally, one significant change in our college guidance process is that Amy Shapiro, our Director of College Guidance, will be leaving after 10 years at LREI. Amy has added tremendously to the community and to the high school and collegiate experience of hundreds of LREI alumni. She has created a curriculum and process that will continue in the coming years and that will be of great support to her successor. Thank you, Amy, for your thoughtful and intelligent guidance to so many LREI students.
Amy’s able associate in the college guidance office, Carrie Korn, will also be leaving LREI at the end of the year and we will have much to say when the time comes to celebrate her achievements. I am thrilled to announce that Analisa Cipriano, (LREI ’05), will be joining the LREI staff as the College Guidance Associate. We are a few days away from introducing our new Director of College Guidance. I look forward to doing so.
Philip Kassen
April 21, 2010