College
Counseling
COLLEGE COUNSELING
PROGRAM
The Stony Brook School offers a comprehensive four-year college counseling program.
The college counseling program at The Stony Brook School takes a holistic view of the college process and sees it as a time when students can both discover themselves and the necessary skills to navigate the process successfully.
The program empowers students to make informed decisions, to advocate effectively for themselves, and use strong organizational skills throughout the process by following a schedule and meeting deadlines. The college counselors will act as coaches by providing timely information, counseling, feedback, and support to help each student in the process.
The program is based on three tenets:
Insight: We believe that each student is unique. Our mission is to help students know themselves in and beyond the classroom. This is accomplished through individual and group meetings, online personality and learning style assessments, and constant interaction with students in the context of boarding school life.
Information: Parents and students will receive current and timely information about the college application process. We believe knowledge is power. We want to empower students to move through the process with confidence.
Initiative: Ultimately, the college application process belongs to the student. Although parents and counselors can be great sources of support along the way, we want to encourage students to take control of their college application process in order to make the best decision for themselves.
The Stony Brook School offers a comprehensive four-year college counseling program.
9TH & 10th GRADE OVERALL GOAL
Increasing Self-Knowledge
We want to caution our 9th and 10th graders against becoming too preoccupied with colleges; instead, they should focus on growth through our college preparatory curriculum. Students will be encouraged to challenge themselves appropriately in their studies, identify their strengths, develop as leaders and continue to be involved in extracurricular activities.
- The college counseling office (CCO) will provide programming for parents and students to help encourage and guide families about student development.
- The CCO will cooperate with the Academic Dean and Registrar to provide input into academic advising and course selection.
- Beginning in 10th grade, students and parents will be given access to SCOIR, our online platform for college counseling.
- Students will be encouraged to complete YouScience, the personal inventory available on SCOIR.
11TH GRADE OVERALL GOAL
College Preparation
The focus of 11th grade will be on preparation for the college application process. Beginning in the second half of the junior year, students will meet with their college counselor in a collaborative effort to assess their academic achievement and potential, passions and talents, strengths and areas of growth, and other factors important to determining which colleges will enable students to thrive and flourish. Students will also be advised about standardized testing.
- The CCO will continue to assist the Academic Dean and Registrar in providing input about academic advising and course selection.
- The College Counselors use meetings, surveys, and classroom observations to prepare to write recommendation letters for rising seniors.
- Juniors will be invited to attend visits by college representatives to the Stony Brook School.
- Juniors often take the SAT or ACT in the spring.
- The CCO will provide programming to guide parents and students in preparing for college applications.
- The CCO will use SCOIR to record suggestions for creating the college list of potential applications. Students and parents should use SCOIR to consider suggestions and to begin building their college list.
- The CCO will advise rising seniors about the course selection for the senior year.
- Juniors should identify teachers who can serve as academic recommenders and should ask teachers to be recommenders by the end of the junior year.
- Juniors should begin working on the personal statement, with the goal of starting the senior year with a finished draft. In addition, juniors should consider other ways of using the summer prior to senior year to get ahead on the college application process, including attending virtual or in-person tours for potential colleges.
12TH GRADE OVERALL GOAL
Applying to Colleges and Making Final College Decisions
The focus of 12th grade will be to finalize college lists, finish all standardized testing and prepare college applications. Students will also be advised as they make final college decisions.
- Seniors will attend the College Readiness course during the fall semester unless otherwise excused.
- Seniors will be invited to attend visits by college representatives to the Stony Brook School.
- The CCO will continue to provide one-on-one counseling during the senior year to review college applications and to ensure informed strategic decision-making.
- Seniors will meet with the CCO to finalize their lists and establish a schedule for submitting applications. All applications are reviewed by the College Counselor prior to the student's submissions.
- The CCO will provide guidance about all aspects of the application process, including application writing.
- Any remaining standardized testing is completed in the fall.
- Parents and students will be invited to attend a financial aid workshop in the fall.
- Most applications are submitted by either November or January and decisions are received by mid-April.
- The CCO will assist students as they make their final commitment to attend a college by May 1.
Matriculation Data for Classes of 2019-2021
*denotes more than one student
- Adelphi University
- *American University
- Arizona State University
- Barnard College
- Baylor University
- Belmont University
- Berry College
- Boston College
- *Boston University
- Brooklyn College, CUNY
- Brown University
- California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
- *Carnegie Mellon University
- Case Western University
- Cedarville University
- Chapman University
- Claremont McKenna College
- Clemson University
- Colgate University
- *College of the Holy Cross
- *Columbia University
- *Cornell University
- Dalhousie University
- Dartmouth College
- *Davidson College
- *Duke University
- Eastern University
- *Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
- Emerson College
- *Emory University
- Farmingdale State College
- *Fordham University
- *Franklin and Marshall College
- Furman University
- *George Washington University
- *Georgetown University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- *Gettysburg College
- Gordon College
- Hamilton College
- *Haverford College
- *Hobart William Smith Colleges
- *Hofstra University
- Howard University
- *Johns Hopkins University
- Lebanon Valley College
- Long Island University, Post
- *Loyola Marymount University
- Marist College
- McGill University
- *Middlebury College
- Morehouse College
- *New York University
- *Northeastern University
- *Northwestern University
- Nova Southeastern University
- *Pace University, Westchester
- *Palm Beach Atlantic University
- Parsons School of Design at the New School
- Pennsylvania State University
- Pomona College
- Princeton University
- *Providence College
- Purchase College, SUNY
- Purdue University
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Rhode Island College
- Rice University
- Ringling College of Art and Design
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- Rollins College
- Rutgers University
- St. Louis University
- St. Olaf College
- Saint Peter’s University
- Sacred Heart University
- Sarah Lawrence University
- *School of Visual Arts
- Schreyer Honors College, Penn State
- Siena College
- Stanford University
- Stetson University
- *Stony Brook University
- Suffolk Community College
- *SUNY Albany
- *SUNY Binghamton
- SUNY College at Old Westbury
- *Syracuse University
- Temple University
- Texas A&M University
- The New School
- *Tufts University
- Tulane University
- United States Air Force Academy
- United States Naval Academy
- University of British Columbia
- University of Buffalo, SUNY
- *University of California, Berkeley
- *University of California, Irvine
- *University of California, Los Angeles
- *University of California, Santa Barbara
- University of Central Florida
- *University of Chicago
- University of Connecticut
- University of Delaware
- University of Denver
- *University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- *University of Miami
- *University of Michigan
- *University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- University of North Carolina, Wilmington
- University of Oregon
- University of Oklahoma
- *University of Pennsylvania
- *University of Rochester
- University of Rhode Island
- University of Richmond
- University of South Carolina
- *University of Southern California
- University of Tampa
- University of Toronto
- *University of Virginia
- *Vanderbilt University
- *Villanova University
- Villanova University/University of Pennsylvania Dental School
- Wake Forest University
- *Washington University in St. Louis
- Westmont College
- Wheaton College
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- Yale University