College Guidance

The College Office’s goals in working with freshmen are very much aligned with the school’s desire to facilitate their entry into the Loomis Chaffee community. We meet with students during the spring term in their Best Self Seminar where we …

• inform students of the resources available to them,
• underscore the rationale behind the four-year academic plan,
• talk about the various academic opportunities available at the school,
• encourage them to work closely with their advisor and their academic dean,
• discuss the realities of a transcript and a GPA, and
• share the timeline of their four years at Loomis Chaffee with respect to the college selection process.

Ultimately, the message freshman year is “do Loomis well.” We hope students begin thinking about education — at Loomis and beyond — as an experience to be fashioned as opposed to a credential to be secured.

In the beginning of the sophomore winter term, every student is assigned a college counselor. Each counselor hosts cohort meetings with their assigned students throughout the year on a variety of college-related topics including standardized testing; course selection; and intentional thinking about the summer for things such as test prep, exploratory college visiting, and opportunities that enhance interests/demonstrated strengths.

With regard to testing, all sophomores take the PSAT in October. This PSAT is given in order to introduce students to the test that they will take again in the fall of the junior year. In addition, a practice ACT is given in the spring term.

In the spring term, sophomores are invited to attend an on-campus college fair with more than 100 colleges in attendance.

For parents, the College Office offers programming about the current state of college admissions, financial aid, and standardized testing. The College Guidance team also introduces its members to parents on Family Weekend in the fall.

In the junior year, the College Guidance counselors …

• introduce students to the specifics/logistics of the College Guidance Office, standardized testing, Scoir (the school’s college search, planning, and application software), college fairs, and the selective college admissions process;
• begin meeting with students one-on-one in the winter term;
• help students to explore the match between their own educational goals with the various types of institutions of higher education; and
• continue to encourage students to approach the college selection process with an open mind, to maximize the Loomis experience, and to think about college and the college selection process itself as opportunities for growth.

Programming in the junior year includes:

• an on-campus college fair in the fall term for Loomis juniors and seniors with more than 100 colleges in attendance as well as a college fair in the spring term;
• outside speakers from college admission offices in both class meetings as well as during Family Weekend;
• a college essay writing program, conducted in the spring of the junior year.

The College Office’s goals in working with seniors are:

• to work collaboratively on determining a final college application list;
• to complete the requirements of the application and financial aid processes (if applicable);
• to prepare for interviews;
• to manage the waitlist process (if applicable); and
• to further develop the student/counselor relationship. In doing so, the conversations that center around where and how to apply and where to matriculate become much more individualized and nuanced, leading to better decision making.

Programming in the senior year includes:

• an on-campus college fair in the fall term for Loomis juniors and seniors with more than 100 colleges in attendance;
• outside speakers from college admission offices in both class meetings as well as during Family Weekend; and
• college visit/re-visit opportunities.

Ultimately, we expect that Loomis students will gain access to an appropriate post-Loomis educational opportunity and that in so doing they will further develop the independence, decision-making skills, ability to collaborate, and self-advocacy that will enable them to thrive in that setting.