college counseling
COLLEGE COUNSELING
At the heart of Bentley’s college counseling program is the conviction that each student’s path to college is uniquely their own.
For this reason, Bentley offers a flexible program that attends to the specific needs and aspirations of each student. Bentley’s three full-time counselors work to see, know, and understand each of their counselees as individuals and provide them with the advice and resources that they need.
By creating an environment in which each student can explore the essential questions of adolescence – “Who am I? What do I want? What will I make of this opportunity?” – our process enables students to build from these early answers to college choices that represent the best fit: academically, socially, and culturally.
We want students to identify colleges where they will thrive as students, as citizens, and as people, recognizing all the while that the year-long college application experience can be an exciting journey of self-discovery, growth, and transformation.
| SCOIR |
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| College Counseling Guide |
| Updated CC Guide Coming Soon! |
| Senior Year Calendar |
| Class of 2027 |
| Junior Year Calendar |
| Class of 2028 |
PARENTS & GUARDIANS AS GUIDES AND MENTORS
Bentley embraces the involvement of families in the college process, appreciating the crucial role they have always played in their student’s lives as guides and mentors, while also acknowledging the seismic shifts that the college process can bring to family dynamics. This is an opportunity for families and adolescents to evolve together. While the focus of Bentley’s college counselors is primarily on the student, they are also readily accessible to families for regular check-ins, questions, and concerns.
We often say, “The best way to be a successful college candidate is to make the most of your high school opportunities - academically, extracurricularly, and socially.” Thus...
| Grade 9 |
| Students begin a year of personal growth by establishing strong academic habits, learning to find balance, and expanding their interests in extra-curricular activities. The primary job they have is to be the best they can be in a new setting. |
| Grade 10 |
| Students return to a program that is now familiar. Lessons learned in the first year are applied thoughtfully, completing the establishment of a two year foundation upon which the second half of their high school years will depend. (In October, 10th Grade students typically sit for the PSAT in October, alongside Eleventh Graders. This is strictly a practice experience.) |
| Grade 11 |
Students engage in the college counseling process in earnest. The PSAT in October is followed by a December kick-off meeting attended by both parents and students. By January, comprehensive questionnaires are completed, and formal one-on-one meetings with college counselors have begun, followed by standardized testing, online research of colleges, college visits, and an important April case studies/college fair event. By June, students will have a clearer picture of their academic profile, a working list of colleges, and be planning a summer that sets up successful engagement with the college application process in the fall. In addition, Bentley hosts over 125 college and university representatives each fall, encouraging juniors and seniors to meet with them. |
| Grade 12 |
Students immerse themselves in a three-day Senior College Workshop before fall classes begin. Ideally, students will identify targets for early applications, finalize their college lists, and perhaps plan to sit for one more standardized test, all while polishing applications. A majority of students file applications by November 1 (Early Action and Early Decision), and by mid-January, all applications are submitted. During February and March, decisions are released, students make final visits to colleges under consideration during April, and by May 1, each senior will have committed to one institution. |
College Matriculations 2023–2026
Aberystwyth University – UK | Indiana University – Bloomington | United States Naval Academy |
American University | Lafayette College | University of British Columbia – CAN (3) |
Auburn University | Lehigh University (2) | University of British Columbia – Okanagan – CAN |
Azusa Pacific University | Loyola Marymount University (3) | University of California – Berkeley (9) |
Barnard College | Loyola University Chicago | University of California – Davis (2) |
Bates College | Macalester College (2) | University of California – Irvine (4) |
Biola University | McGill University – CAN (3) | University of California – Los Angeles (7) |
Boston College (2) | Middlebury College (3) | University of California – Merced |
Boston University (6) | New York University (12) | University of California – Riverside |
Bowdoin College | Northeastern University (8) | University of California – San Diego (7) |
Brown University (3) | Northwestern University (6) | University of California – Santa Barbara (7) |
Bryn Mawr College (3) | Oberlin College (3) | University of California – Santa Cruz (12) |
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (7) | Occidental College (5) | University of Chicago (3) |
California State University – Chico | Parsons School of Design | University of Colorado Boulder (6) |
Carleton College (2) | Pitzer College | University of Delaware |
Case Western Reserve University | Pomona College | University of Denver (2) |
Chapman University (2) | Pratt Institute | University of Hawai'i – Manoa |
Colby College | Princeton College | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
College of William & Mary | Purdue University | University of Maryland – College Park |
Colorado College | Reed College (2) | University of Massachusetts – Amherst (2) |
Colorado State University – Fort Collins | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2) | University of Miami |
Columbia University (2) | Rhode Island School of Design | University of Michigan |
Cornell University (2) | Rice University | University of Mississippi |
Dartmouth College | Ripon College | University of Nevada – Las Vegas |
Davidson College | Rochester Institute of Technology (2) | University of Nevada – Reno |
DePaul University (2) | Rutgers University (2) | University of Oregon (7) |
DePauw University | Saint Mary's College of California | University of San Diego |
Diablo Valley College (2) | San Diego State University (3) | University of San Francisco (2) |
Drexel University | San Francisco Conservatory of Music | University of Southern California (4) |
Elon University | San Jose State University | University of St Andrews (2) |
Emerson College (4) | Santa Clara University (2) | University of Technology Sydney – AUS |
Emory University | Sarah Lawrence College (2) | University of Vermont |
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University | School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2) | University of Virginia |
Fordham University | Scripps College (3) | University of Washington (6) |
George Washington University | Smith College (3) | University of Waterloo – CAN |
Georgetown University (3) | Spelman College | University of Wisconsin (2) |
Georgia Institute of Technology (2) | St. Lawrence University | Vassar College |
Gonzaga University (3) | Stanford University (3) | Virginia Tech |
Harvard University (2) | Stony Brook University | Washington University in St Louis (5) |
Harvey Mudd College (2) | Swarthmore College (2) | Wellesley College (2) |
Haverford College | Syracuse University (2) | Wesleyan University |
High Point University | Trinity College | Williams College |
Howard University (2) | Tufts University (5) |
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Imperial College London – UK | Tulane University |
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