College Counseling and Advocacy

Hill Class of 2022 College News

The Hill Class of 2022, comprised of 99 students, has received early decisions from dozens of renowned colleges and universities. As of early February 2022, the Class of 2022 has accrued $32 million in academic scholarships from colleges and universities. 

 

Two Hill Seniors, Katherine Vogt and Josie Wong, received full tuition Posse Scholarships to Smith College worth $200,000 per student. Samantha Bentsianov received a Division I Tennis scholarship to Wagner College. Six students accepted Early Decision, binding offers to High Point University, Lehigh University, Sacred Heart University (watch Abigail Borg receive the great news here), St. John's University, Tulane University, and Villanova University.

 

Six students were accepted into 5-year Physician Assistant programs, 10 students were accepted into 5-year programs in Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy, and 1 student was accepted into a 6-year Doctor of Pharmacy program.

Hilltoppers Received Early College Acceptances from the Following Colleges and Universities

as of February 2022

 

 

College Counseling and Advocacy
Our college guidance begins in freshman year, with group orientation sessions with the Director of College Counseling.  We collect biographical information from each family and gain early insights into the special circumstances, strengths, and talents of each student.

We offer personalized student and family college guidance in junior year.  All students are programmed for College Guidance where they work on career searches/development, college resume writing, essay preparation; they also receive training on Naviance.  In addition, the College Counseling team meets with each student (with their parents) to offer advice concerning college selections, visits, interviews, and optimum standardized testing schedules.  Special scholarships (ethnic and financial service, athletic, music, theatre and art), enrichment and pre-college programs are identified early for each student. 

More than 50 colleges visit our campus in the fall and spring to meet with our students individually, not in a college fair setting.  They range in competitiveness (e.g., Barnard, NYU, Vassar) and geographical distance (University of Notre Dame (IN), Vanderbilt (TN), University of Miami (FLA), Catholic University, and American University (DC), Boston University and Northeastern University (MA), and numerous colleges from the tri-state area.  Most of the visitors are the decision-makers for these colleges (the representatives who will read our applications) and they often remark how poised and well-prepared our students are during these sessions—typically Hill.  We have continued this school year with a mix of in-person and virtual meetings with Hill students and college representatives. We remain committed to ensuring Hill students continue to receive individualized attention from renowned colleges and universities whether in-person or remotely. 

The College Counseling team personally advises each student based upon her individual profile and no preferential treatment is given to a student on the basis of GPA.  The team advocates for each Hill senior equally throughout the process.  In senior year, all students are also programmed for College Guidance to aid them with individual questions during the college application process.

Scholarship and Financial Aid Assistance
We host a financial aid seminar for all senior students and the College Counseling team distributes detailed scholarship information to the senior students throughout the year.  Advocacy in pursuing scholarships for our students yields great results for our students.

 

The 141 students in the Class of 2021 received $59.2 million in academic scholarships and 213 unique college and university acceptances. This was an extraordinary number given the class size. Seventeen students made commitments to accelerated programs in Medicine, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, and Physician Assistant. Seven students made commitments to accelerated programs in Business, Engineering, Journalism, and Law. One student accepted a Division I Swimming scholarship to Southern Connecticut State. 

 

In the past three years, every senior received academic merit scholarship, and the total figures for each class were: (Class of 2019—121 graduates—$42.5 million dollars), (Class of 2020—119 graduates—$42.3 million dollars) and Class of 2021—141 graduates—$59.2 million dollars).

 

Kerry S. Sullivan ‘81, Director of College Counseling