Process & Philosophy

There are two counselors in the College Counseling Office at Potomac, and there is little reticence on the part of students when they enter our informal chambers. We engage in many unique conversations each day and love these interactions. The aims of our conversations are several-fold. In keeping with Potomac’s educational mission, our goal is to help students, first and foremost, to make the most of high school and help them question and, therefore, better know themselves. More specifically, we encourage students to continue challenging themselves intellectually, to keep pursuing some of the opportunities available to them outside of the classroom, and to remain mindful of others both in and out of the school community.

We believe that the skills, but more importantly, the attitudes and self-knowledge that students develop from their involvement in school life are what will determine their future happiness and success. While we do not meet individually with students until the middle of the junior year, we stress collectively to underclassmen that they should challenge themselves and do well in class. We also strongly encourage them to be involved in the activities that they find meaningful. We provide information about standardized testing to underclassmen where relevant, but we are conscious to allow them the space to do their best work without thinking about the details of the college process.

The actual nitty-gritty college counseling work begins in the middle of junior year, when students begin to meet individually with one of the two counselors. They are encouraged to drive their own search, using professional advice from us and input from their families as their guides. Many will visit colleges over spring-break and the summer, and students will file applications in their senior year by November (early plan) and/or January (regular plan). Students who own their search process feel most empowered and motivated to do the best that they can through the application cycle.

There are many changes in the world of college admissions today that have caused frustration at the high school level over the past few years. Through close relationships with many admission officers around the country, we have been able to be at the forefront in our preparation for these changes. The most noticeable shifts are the result of a growing population of high school graduates each year along with increasingly micromanaged admission priorities at the college level. We (and all high schools) continue to experience increased levels of selectivity at the colleges to which our students typically apply. Because we cannot change the reality with which we are faced, we make it a priority to be upfront in our provision of advice when we talk to students and families about selectivity, difficult though this might initially be for them to hear. Ultimately, the realization that "matches" are intrinsically more important than selectivity, and the revelation that there are hundreds of great institutions of higher education in the United States (and abroad) at which students are happy and successful, help students gain perspective.

The information on this website is provided for students and families to get a snapshot of where they should be in terms of thinking about the future. In addition to the thumbnail sketches available on this site, we will mail appropriate, timely, and detailed information to students and/or parents as we approach important milestones through the process.

While planning and preparing are the obvious and practical details with which we concern ourselves, we also have a vested educational interest in helping students find their authentic voices. They learn how to advocate for themselves with this voice (while we simultaneously advocate for them) as they plan their lives beyond Potomac.