College Counseling

Penguin Hall’s four-year College Counseling Curriculum supports students in showcasing their achievements, following their passions, navigating the search and application process, and choosing the best postsecondary fit.

Our students meet with our experienced College Counselor throughout their four years at The Academy at Penguin Hall. Students receive individualized advice throughout the college process as well as engaging in meaningful conversations and activities to help them discover who they are as learners. This process facilitates students identifying different post secondary pathways that are the best fit for their interests and abilities, and to prepare them for demonstrating their gifts and talents in the application process.

College admissions officers from around the country visit the APH campus every fall to meet with juniors and seniors and to provide information about their schools. In addition, our Director of College Counseling visits college campuses, and attends college admissions events in order to stay current with trends in college admissions.

APH is a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and subscribes to NACAC’s Students’ Rights and Responsibilities statement. APH is also a member of the New England Association for College Admission Counseling (NEACAC) and Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools (ACCIS).

Penguin Hall At a Glance

100%

Students Accepted to
4 Year College

120

Different
Colleges

$140,000

Average Merit Scholarship
$ Awarded Per Student

College Counseling Program

At The Academy at Penguin Hall there are no best colleges and universities;
only, pathways, colleges and universities that are the best fit for each individual young woman.

High school is often the first time that young people are asked to pause and proactively think about and answer some tough questions like,”who are you and what do you want for yourself and future.” For many students, the college application process is also their first time learning about how to handle rejection, how to self-advocate to parents and other authority figures, and how to be independent. By the time they make a commitment to a college, it’s our goal that students be able to comfortably and confidently answer these questions and have started developing these important life skills.

All students will meet with our experienced Director of College Counseling throughout all four years at The Academy at Penguin Hall. They receive individualized advice on extracurricular involvement, as well as opportunities to engage in meaningful activities that further their understanding of themselves as students, learners, and young adults. This process underscores our efforts to help students find colleges and universities that are the best match for their interests and abilities. The College Counseling journey is an opportunity for personal growth and self-reflection, as students address who they are, what they want from life, and how to represent themselves to others.

As the school year gets into full swing and students settle into routines, the question about what they should be doing to best prepare for college often arises. While the journey toward college is an individual one, there are some age-appropriate steps that can provide a roadmap for that journey. The Academic, extracurricular, behavioral and social decisions students make beginning in the ninth grade can either broaden or narrow the opportunities they have. Listed below are both general guidelines for college applications as well as guidelines specific to each grade level.

Universal Guidelines
  • Work hard in your classes. Participate fully and turn in assignments on time.
  • Maintain a planner to track and manage your assignments. Check in with teachers to make sure you understand the assignments.
  • Utilize resource blocks and the hour immediately after school to meet with teachers to review your progress and to ask questions about your classwork. This is good practice for utilizing a professor’s office hours in college.
  • Read broadly and for understanding as it’s a skill that will help you in all of your classes as well as on standardized testing. It is a good habit to annotate your texts as you read.
  • Get deeply involved in the life of the school or your community. Select a few activities that you enjoy and fully commit to them.
  • Think carefully about the behavioral choices that you make. Academic integrity, the way you treat people, and your actions all matter at APH, in the college process, and beyond.
  • Pay attention to your social media. What kind of pictures or commentary can be attributed to you?  Just because you delete something, doesn’t mean that it won’t resurface later.
  • Pay attention to absences as they do appear on your transcript. Excessive days of school missed can be a red flag to colleges.
Grade Nine Tips
  • Work hard in your classes and get involved in the life of the school and your community.
  • Begin keeping a list and tracking the amount of time you spend on activities — athletics, arts, volunteering, work, clubs, organizations, etc.
  • If you are near a college campus on a family vacation or other trip, take a look and get a feel for different types of campuses – urban, suburban, rural.
  • Meet with the College Counselor periodically to engage in discussions and activities around the college application process.
Universal Guidelines
  • Work hard in your classes. Participate fully and turn in assignments on time.
  • Maintain a planner to track and manage your assignments. Check in with teachers to make sure you understand the assignments.
  • Utilize resource blocks and the hour immediately after school to meet with teachers to review your progress and to ask questions about your classwork. This is good practice for utilizing a professor’s office hours in college.
  • Read broadly and for understanding as it’s a skill that will help you in all of your classes as well as on standardized testing. It is a good habit to annotate your texts as you read.
  • Get deeply involved in the life of the school or your community. Select a few activities that you enjoy and fully commit to them.
  • Think carefully about the behavioral choices that you make. Academic integrity, the way you treat people, and your actions all matter at APH, in the college process, and beyond.
  • Pay attention to your social media. What kind of pictures or commentary can be attributed to you?  Just because you delete something, doesn’t mean that it won’t resurface later.
  • Pay attention to absences as they do appear on your transcript. Excessive days of school missed can be a red flag to colleges.
Grade Ten Tips
  • Work hard in your classes and get involved in the life of the school and your community.
  • Begin keeping a list and tracking the amount of time you spend on activities — athletics, arts, volunteering, work, clubs, organizations, etc.
  • If you are near a college campus on a family vacation or other trip, take a look and get a feel for different types of campuses – urban, suburban, rural.
  • Take the PSAT in October as a standardized test practice. This test is purely practice and scores are not seen by anyone but the student, their family, and College Counselor. Scores do not go to colleges.
  • Meet with the College Counselor periodically to engage in discussions and activities around the college application process.
  • Individual meetings to discuss maximizing opportunities of summer plans.
Universal Guidelines
  • Work hard in your classes. Participate fully and turn in assignments on time.
  • Maintain a planner to track and manage your assignments. Check in with teachers to make sure you understand the assignments.
  • Utilize resource blocks and the hour immediately after school to meet with teachers to review your progress and to ask questions about your classwork. This is good practice for utilizing a professor’s office hours in college.
  • Read broadly and for understanding as it’s a skill that will help you in all of your classes as well as on standardized testing. It is a good habit to annotate your texts as you read.
  • Get deeply involved in the life of the school or your community. Select a few activities that you enjoy and fully commit to them.
  • Think carefully about the behavioral choices that you make. Academic integrity, the way you treat people, and your actions all matter at APH, in the college process, and beyond.
  • Pay attention to your social media. What kind of pictures or commentary can be attributed to you?  Just because you delete something, doesn’t mean that it won’t resurface later.
  • Pay attention to absences as they do appear on your transcript. Excessive days of school missed can be a red flag to colleges.
Universal Guidelines
  • Work hard in your classes. Participate fully and turn in assignments on time.
  • Maintain a planner to track and manage your assignments. Check in with teachers to make sure you understand the assignments.
  • Utilize resource blocks and the hour immediately after school to meet with teachers to review your progress and to ask questions about your classwork. This is good practice for utilizing a professor’s office hours in college.
  • Read broadly and for understanding as it’s a skill that will help you in all of your classes as well as on standardized testing. It is a good habit to annotate your texts as you read.
  • Get deeply involved in the life of the school or your community. Select a few activities that you enjoy and fully commit to them.
  • Think carefully about the behavioral choices that you make. Academic integrity, the way you treat people, and your actions all matter at APH, in the college process, and beyond.
  • Pay attention to your social media. What kind of pictures or commentary can be attributed to you?  Just because you delete something, doesn’t mean that it won’t resurface later.
  • Pay attention to absences as they do appear on your transcript. Excessive days of school missed can be a red flag to colleges.

Recent Acceptances

For more information about our College Counseling Program, please contact Kate Widener  Here

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