Seniors Receive Early College Decisions

It’s early in the college admission process, but St. Margaret’s students are eager to find their college or university of choice. To date, 92 seniors, 85 percent of the senior class, have received 191 acceptances to 99 colleges and universities, with many Tartans receiving multiple acceptance letters. Click here for the full list of colleges and universities.

Students who decide to apply to college early have two choices: early decision and 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 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 retains the choice to apply to multiple schools.

“Nearly 90 percent of seniors submitted at least one early application. Twenty-three of those students have applied early decision and been accepted to their first choice college,” said Director of College Counseling Roland Allen. “Students from the Class of 2016 are expressing interest in a range of colleges, including small liberal arts and research universities in all areas of the country. Early results account for only 15 percent of college decisions. The bulk of college news will arrive around April 1. The current results reflect the diverse talents and broad interests of our students.”

Senior Nick Williams offered a reflection on his decision to apply early decision to Tufts University. “Having applied and gotten into Tufts under the early decision process was one of the better choices I made my senior year. I worked very hard with diligent guidance from Ms. Warren, whom I have much thanks to give. I eventually decided that, if I were to move across the country for my education, I needed a place that was a home, not just a place to go to school, and that community was Tufts. The early decision option was clearly the right call for me as Tufts was my number one choice. Being able to get the acceptance letter before Christmas Break and go into the holidays fully relaxed was a large relief,” he said.

Acceptances for Tartans have come in from an impressive list of colleges and universities across the U.S., including Boston College, Brown University, Colgate University, Duke University, Emory University, Georgetown University, New York University, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California and University of Virginia.

William Miyamoto, who applied early action and plans to attend Stanford University in the fall said, “​I decided to apply to my first choice college, because I felt like if I was accepted, the rest of the college application process and the remainder of my senior year would be far less stressful. During Christmas Break, instead of working on my applications, I was able to visit the campus, and look around with the eyes of a new admit.”

Sarah Reeves had a clear choice on the university she wanted to attend this fall. She applied early decision to Cornell University and had this to say about her application experience: “My decision process definitely felt stressful at the time, but looking back on everything, I now see that it all went smoothly. My college counselor, Mrs. Hays, was amazing and was always eager to give me application suggestions and review any essays or short responses. She was very supportive of my decision to apply early decision to Cornell. When I visited Cornell, I absolutely fell in love with the campus and I couldn't believe how perfectly aligned the classes offered were with my interests. It had everything I was looking for and I knew it was the school for me,” said Sarah Reeves.

The seniors receiving early decision are:

Amherst College - Charlotte Duran

Amherst College - Dane Lind

Brown University - Shelby Nicholas

Claremont McKenna College - Matt Johnson

Colby College - Payton Fales

Colgate University - Gabby Benck

Cornell University - Sarah Reeves

Duke University - Freddy Hudoff

Emory University - Alyssa Maita

Haverford College - Kendall Robison

Middlebury College - Olivia Miller

New York University - Mckenna Hines

New York University - Owen Smith

Northwestern University - Erin Fitzpatrick

Northwestern University - Lexi Vollero

Pomona College - Sarah Grace Engel

Texas Christian University - Ariana Delgado

Texas Christian University - Rachel Ignat

Trinity College - Grace Chalmers

Tufts University - Nick Shanks

Tufts University - Nick Williams

University of Denver - Samuel Harnisch

University of Pennsylvania - Megan Phansalkar