Early Acceptance Letters Giving Tartans Impressive College Choices

The college-application season is still in its early stages, yet many St. Margaret’s seniors already are receiving letters of acceptance from colleges and universities around the country.

With letters still coming in, at this point 73 percent of the St. Margaret’s senior class already has an early college acceptance letter in hand. In total, Tartans currently have 189 offers to 85 colleges and universities across the country.

Students who apply early to college have two choices—early decision or early action. Early decision applications are binding. A student can choose to apply to their top-choice school by early decision, if it is offered by the school, and if they are accepted they are committing at the application step to enroll in the fall.

Early action, meanwhile, is a college admission process where a student has the opportunity to apply in an early admission round in the fall before the standard January application deadline. This process allows a student to apply early, but retain the choice to consider other schools.

St. Margaret’s college counselors worked one-on-one with seniors through the early-application process, and advised students on the pros and cons of applying early-decision. In total, 16 Tartans were accepted as early-decision applicants. They will enroll at schools including:

In addition, schools already accepting Tartans early action include Boston College, Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, University of Oregon, Princeton University, Santa Clara University and Yale University.

 

“Since these students arrived in the Upper School as freshmen, the college counselors have encouraged them to visit colleges in order to develop familiarity,” Director of College Counseling Roland Allen said. “We’ve helped students refine their thoughts over time, which is the basis of ‘fit,’ the foundation for building an application list during senior year. This year’s seniors were prepared to develop their lists strategically, which benefited them in early admissions.”

Senior Avery Edward applied early-decision to Duke University and was accepted. She said a visit to the campus in Durham, N.C., over the summer, a lengthy meeting with a family friend who graduated from Duke, and conversations and guidance from St. Margaret’s college counselors convinced her that Duke was the right fit.

“The college counselors at St. Margaret’s gave me feedback on essays, talked me through the entire process and encouraged me to trust my instincts,” Avery said. “I decided that applying early-decision was the right choice for me because I knew that doing so would increase my chances of getting in, and that even if I was admitted to every single school I applied to, I would still choose Duke.”

Skyler Cordrey, meanwhile, applied early-decision to the University of Pennsylvania and was accepted. She visited Philadelphia last summer and was intrigued with Penn’s academic programs, its proximity to several hospitals for her career aspirations in medicine, and its various clubs and organizations.

“Accepting early-decision was the right choice for me because I knew that Penn was my No. 1 school and it could only increase my chances of getting in,” she said. “I am so glad that I applied early because it is such a relief and now I can enjoy the remaining semester of my senior year.”