College Counseling Program is Key Component to Success
As thousands of young adults make their way to college campuses across the nation for the start of the next phase of higher education, 101 students from the Mount Paran Christian School class of 2023 will be among them. For this year’s entering college freshman class, MPCS students received acceptances into 71 colleges and universities, including 16 in-state schools and 55 out-of-state schools. Of the 101 acceptances, 42 are public schools and 29 are private schools, including seven Christian colleges. The top college matriculations were the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech, with a 55% acceptance rate to one or both.
Each year, 100 percent of MPCS seniors are accepted to a college or university, a testament to both the college-preparatory curriculum of the school and the robust college counseling program, led by three high school counselors. The low counselor-to-student ratio allows for personalized attention for each graduating senior. The aim is for seniors to find colleges that offer the best fit.
Beginning their eighth-grade year, MPCS begins the college counseling process during what the school calls “Encounter Week.” Then, during their freshman year, the high school provides a comprehensive College Planning Guide to all ninth-graders, and counselors meet with students and their families to help students cultivate their talents and interests to find their academic and extracurricular strengths and passions. Students are then able to zero in on those colleges that will serve them best. College selection can often be confusing and even intimidating for families, but the MPCS college counseling department helps make the process manageable and exciting.
New this year, MPCS introduced “Camp College App,” a two-day workshop before the start of school during which the high school college counselors provided guidance and tips for seniors on building their common application, writing college essays, creating resumes, and drafting messages to teachers regarding letters of recommendations. This workshop allowed students to jumpstart their college application process before deadlines in the fall.
MPCS Counselor Amy Schwan shares, “It was exciting to see students engage in the application process prior to the start of their senior year. By helping them create task lists, students were able to enter the school year with a plan in place, rather than feel overwhelmed by the nuances of a new school year compounded with the application process.”
MPCS has developed a program that works for its students. Not only are 100 percent of students accepted to college, but many receive scholarship funds as well. For the class of 2023, there were 25 merit-based academic achievement scholarships, two performing and visual arts scholarships, and 14 athletic scholarships, totaling more than $5.6 million. An additional estimated $3.4 million dollars of HOPE/Zell Miller scholarship funding brings the total for this year’s graduating class to an impressive estimated $9+ million of scholarship funding.
