February 28, 2013
We mailed out admissions decisions to almost 750 anxious eighth graders this morning. Our goal is to have 310 ninth graders in the Class of 2017. You can do the Math. Some will have competing offers and will choose to attend St. John's, Holy Cross, Gonzaga, and the like. Some will attend their local public school. What we do know is that if we have done this right, 440 of those boys and girls are going elsewhere.
How this all works out, year after year, is a tribute to the hard work of our Admissions Office staff: Kevin Collins and Emmy McNamara, assisted this year by Chris McKinney. Gathering and sorting thousands of pieces of paper into those 750 files, the exhausting process of reviewing and scoring each application, making the ultimate admissions decision, and, after that, allocating financial aid – all this takes place in a tight timeframe after we have hosted almost 900 shadow visitors in the fall.
The actual decisions to admit, wait list, or not admit are complex. Yes, there are some easy ones – a high percentile on the entrance test, straight A's, glowing teacher recommendations, and a well-written essay will get you in the door. We draw our fair share of top students. In our current freshman class, for example, half of our students scored in the top 25% of test takers.
Not surprisingly, the agonizing decisions are made on either side of the cutoff point. At this time of year at non-public schools and at colleges and universities across the country, no matter how much admissions officers strive to create precise distinctions that will help distinguish one candidate from another, we know that at the tipping point, many of the hardest decisions are based on impressions that can never reasonably be confirmed. Each student is unique. Each brings forward who he or she is for our consideration. Is her "B" from this school better, worse or about the same as his "B" from that school? How do we balance strong ratings for work ethic and maturity against evidence of some struggles in Math class? What do we think if the Language Arts grade is good, but the essay written during the shadow visit is not? How do we view a poor score on the High School Placement Test against consistently respectable grades? Questions like these come up in every case near the cutoff point. Even when the admissions officers do not know the student under consideration personally, the responsibility weighs heavily, especially when the decision is to not offer admission.
The best evidence that we are managing the "art" of selecting each class is found in the students who do take a seat at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. We are proud of the makeup of our student body. They have in common their decision to choose our school as a place to prepare them for their path to success in college and beyond. There is, however, no such thing as the cookie-cutter Falcon. In keeping with our mission statement, we attract and prepare "students with diverse learning abilities for the challenges of life by providing programs and activities that advance academic excellence and service to others; foster spiritual, emotional, and social growth; promote inclusion of all community members; and embody the Xaverian values of humility, trust, zeal, compassion, and simplicity upon which the school is founded."
We are happy to bring elation for some, and regret that we bring disappointment for others, as the envelopes arrive in mailboxes across the region in the next few days. We worked hard to get it right. Candidates, whichever school you attend, may God bless you, the Class of 2017.