College Counseling

North Shore Country Day is a college preparatory school with a program that prepares our students for attendance at a four-year college or university.

We believe the college search process is developmental. It helps students mature their skills as writers, communicators and thinkers, while developing a greater understanding of themselves and their abilities, and moves them forward into the world with a well-founded sense of confidence. 

While the college search is a collaborative process, students are firmly in the driver’s seat with college counselors and parents playing critical but supporting roles. The students who see their college search process as being the most successful are those who have taken full advantage of the four-year North Shore experience, academically and co-curricularly, and engaged with their college counselors in a thorough and exacting college search process.
 

Those who capitalize on the North Shore experience and present themselves to colleges honestly and confidently rather than “package” themselves, have the greatest level of success in securing admission to the college(s) they identify as being the best matches to their plans and goals. 

The College Counseling Office is first and foremost a “counseling” office. Counselors come to know the students with whom they work very well, particularly when students reciprocate and invest in their relationships with the counselors. The work with each student is distinct, individualized and focused on providing guidance relative to each student’s needs, talents and aspirations. 

BY THE NUMBERS

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52 to 2

Student to College Counselor Ratio

100%

Percentage of Seniors who Apply to Colleges and Universities and Receive Offers of Admission

140

Number of Colleges Offering Admission to Class of 2024 in 31 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, China, Ireland and the United Kingdom

121

College Admissions Representatives Who Visited NSCD in 2023-24

Signature Programs

With a student to college counselor ratio of about 52 to 2, we help students identify and apply to colleges and universities that best match their needs and aspirations.

Meet Recent Graduates

 

College Matriculation for 2020-2024 NSCD Graduates

​​American University 
Amherst College
Babson College
Barnard College 
Bates College
Beloit College
Boston College 
Boston University 
Bowdoin College
Carthage College
Champlain College
Chapman University
Claremont McKenna College
Clark University
Clemson University
Colby College
Colgate University 
College of the Holy Cross 
Colorado College 
Davidson College 
Denison University 
DePaul University
Dickinson College 
Dominican University 
Duke University
Durham University
Elon University
Emory University 
Eugene Lang College at The New School

The George Washington University 
Georgia Institute of Technology
Gettysburg College
Hamilton College 
Harvard University
Harvey Mudd College
High Point University
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Howard University 
Illinois State University 
Indiana University 
Johns Hopkins University
Kenyon College
Knox College
Lake Forest College 
Lawrence University
Lehigh University
Loyola University Chicago 
Macalester College 
Marquette University
McGill University 
Miami University 
Michigan State University
Middlebury College
Montana State University
North Park University
Northeastern University 

Northwestern University 
Oberlin College 
Occidental College 
Purdue University 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rhodes College
Rice University 
Richmond American University London
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Santa Clara University 
Sarah Lawrence College
Skidmore College
Southern Methodist University 
Stevens Institute of Technology
Syracuse University 
Temple University
Texas Christian University
Trinity College 
Tulane University 
Union College
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Santa Cruz

University of Chicago 
University of Colorado Boulder 
University of Connecticut
University of Denver 
The University of Edinburgh 
University of Glasgow 
University of Illinois Chicago
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
University of Iowa 
University of Miami
University of Michigan 
University of Notre Dame 
University of Pennsylvania
University of Richmond
University of San Diego 
University of Southern California
The University of Texas at Austin
University of Virginia 
University of Wisconsin - Madison 
Vanderbilt University 
Virginia State University
Wake Forest University 
Washington University in St. Louis 
Western Michigan University
Yale University 

Our College Counseling Department

Kristen Kaczynski

Kristen Kaczynski

Director of Strategic Initiatives and Special Projects; College Counselor
Matthew Mettille

Matthew Mettille

Director of College Counseling
Candice Sayles

Candice Sayles

Administrative Assistant, Upper School

 

Juniors Get a Taste of College Life During Annual “Bus O’ Fun” Trip

These students, accompanied by college counselors Matt Mettille and Kristen Kaczynski, visited 14 college campuses across the Mid-Atlantic region in five days.

Five Things Every Family Should Know As They Begin the College Search Process

Through our years of college counseling experience, it’s become clear that the mid-point of junior year is the ideal time to dive into the process.