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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50 to 2

Student to College Counselor Ratio

100%

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

135

Number of Colleges Offering Admission to Class of 2025 in 35 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom

139

College Admissions Representatives Who Visited NSCD in 2024-25

Signature Programs

With a student to college counselor ratio of about 50 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 2022-2025 NSCD Graduates

American University 
​​Amherst College
Auburn University 
Babson College 
Ball State University
Barnard College (3)
Bates College 
Beloit College 
Boston College (2)
Boston University
Carroll University
Carthage College
Chapman University (2)
Claremont McKenna College (2)
Clark University 
Colgate University (4)
College of the Holy Cross (2)
Colorado College (2)
Dartmouth College 
Davidson College (3)
DePaul University
DePauw University 
Denison University (4)
Dickinson College (3)
Dominican University (2)
Duke University (2)
Durham University (UK)
Elon University 
Emory University (2)
Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School 

George Washington University (2)
Gettysburg College
Grinnell College 
Hamilton College (3)
Harvard College
Harvey Mudd College 
High Point University
Hobart & William Smith Colleges
Howard University (2)
Indiana University Bloomington
Johns Hopkins University 
Knox College
Lafayette College (2)
Lake Forest College (2)
Lehigh University (2)
Loyola University Chicago (3)
Macalester College 
Marquette University (2)
McGill University (Canada) (2)
Miami University 
Michigan State University
Middlebury College 
Montana State University 
New York University 
Northeastern University (2)
Northwestern University (6)
Oberlin College 
Occidental College (2)
Purdue University (2)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 
Rhodes College
Rice University (2)
Richmond American University London 
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 
Santa Clara University 
Sarah Lawrence College 
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Skidmore College 
Southern Methodist University (3)
Stevens Institute of Technology
Syracuse University (3)
Temple University 
Texas Christian University
The University of Alabama
The University of Edinburgh 
The University of Tampa
The University of Texas at Austin (2)
Trinity College (2)
Tulane University (9)
University of California, Berkeley 
University of California, Santa Cruz (2)

University of Chicago (3)
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Denver (5)
University of Glasgow (UK) (2)
University of Illinois Chicago
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (12)
University of Iowa
University of Miami (3)
University of Michigan (2)
University of Notre Dame (3)
University of Oregon 
University of Pennsylvania
University of Puget Sound 
University of Richmond 
University of San Diego (3)
University of Southern California 
University of Virginia (3)  
University of Wisconsin-Madison (6)
Vanderbilt University (3)
Vassar College 
Villanova University 
Virginia State University
Wake Forest University (7)
Washington University in St. Louis (4)
Western Michigan University 
Yale University (2)

Our College Counseling Department

Kristen Kaczynski

Kristen Kaczynski

Director of External Relations & Strategic Initiatives; Director of College Counseling
Candice Sayles

Candice Sayles

Administrative Assistant, Upper School
Mark Seamon

Mark Seamon

College Counselor

 

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.

Advice for the Summer Before Senior Year

Though the school year is over, the Class of 2026 is already hard at work preparing for senior year and ensuring their college applications are ready to submit this fall.