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 |
| Log into your SCOIR (score) account. |
| 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 2022–2025
Aberystwyth University (UK) | Gonzaga University | Stony Brook University |
American University (3) | Harvard University | Swarthmore College (2) |
Amherst College | Harvey Mudd College (2) | Syracuse University (4) |
Auburn University | High Point University | Texas Christian University (2) |
Barnard College (2) | Howard University | Trinity College |
Bates College | Lafayette College | Tufts University (8) |
Baylor University | Lehigh University (2) | Tulane University (3) |
Biola University | Loyola Marymount University (3) | United States Naval Academy |
Boston College (2) | Loyola University Chicago | University of British Columbia (CAN) (4) |
Boston University (8) | Macalester College (3) | University of California – Berkeley (11) |
Bowdoin College (2) | McGill University (CAN) (4) | University of California – Davis (5) |
Brandeis University | Middlebury College (2) | University of California – Irvine (3) |
Brown University (2) | New York University (7) | University of California – Los Angeles (8) |
Bryn Mawr College (3) | Northeastern University (6) | University of California – San Diego (4) |
Bucknell University (2) | Northwestern University (4) | University of California – Santa Barbara (9) |
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (5) | Oberlin College (2) | University of California – Santa Cruz (11) |
California State University – Chico | Occidental College (5) | University of Chicago (5) |
California State University – Northridge | Oregon State University | University of Colorado Boulder (4) |
Carleton College (2) | Parsons School of Design at The New School | University of Denver |
Carnegie Mellon University | Pitzer College | University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign |
Case Western Reserve University | Pomona College (2) | University of Maryland – College Park |
Champlain College | Pratt Institute | University of Massachusetts – Amherst |
Chapman University (4) | Purdue University | University of Michigan (2) |
Colby College (2) | Reed College (2) | University of Mississippi |
College of William & Mary | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2) | University of Nevada – Las Vegas |
Colorado College (2) | Rhode Island School of Design (2) | University of Nevada – Reno |
Colorado State University – Fort Collins | Rice University | University of New Mexico |
Columbia University (2) | Rochester Institute of Technology (2) | University of Oregon (8) |
Cornell University (2) | Rutgers University (3) | University of San Diego |
Dartmouth College | Saint Mary's College of California | University of San Francisco (3) |
Davidson College (2) | San Diego State University (3) | University of Southern California (5) |
DePaul University | San Francisco Conservatory of Music | University of St Andrews |
Drexel University (2) | San Jose State University | University of Technology Sydney (AUS) |
Elon University | Santa Clara University (3) | University of Utah (2) |
Emerson College (3) | Sarah Lawrence College | University of Virginia |
Emory University | School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2) | University of Washington (3) |
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University | Scripps College | University of Wisconsin (2) |
Fordham University | Smith College | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University |
George Washington University | Spelman College | Washington University in St Louis (5) |
Georgetown University (4) | St. Lawrence University | Wellesley College (3) |
Georgia Institute of Technology (2) | Stanford University (4) | Wesleyan University |
Willamette University | Williams College (2) |
