Dear Bridgton Academy Class of 2008, Parents, and Guardians:

College counseling is a major component of the postgraduate year at Bridgton Academy. Historically, the school's college matriculation list is a long one, with a wide array of institutions represented. Ranging from Ivy League institutions to technical programs, students' college choices are indeed the result of a deepening appreciation of each one's unique academic and co-curricular talents. As a result of the intensive nature of the college process in a one-year institution, the bond between students and their college counselors is an important one.

In terms of the process itself, each student, having already filled out several comprehensive interest inventories during the summer, is assigned a college counselor upon arrival. Individual meetings start soon after and continue through the entire thirty-week program. Additional resources provided by the College Counseling Department include an extensive library of college catalogues, viewbooks, and DVD/video materials as well as several on-line resources subscribed to by the College Office. We also welcome approximately sixty college admission representatives over the course of each fall. In terms of testing, Bridgton Academy offers three administrations of the SAT and two of the ACT standardized tests in the fall and early winter each year. (We will also help students arrange for testing at nearby schools on those dates we do not offer certain tests.) Additionally, we will provide extended-time testing for those students who require and qualify for it under the guidelines set forth by the ACT and the College Board.

In an increasingly tight college market where the differentiation between schools is increasingly blurry, the college process is more complicated than ever. At Bridgton Academy, our experience, drawn from over thirty years of counseling and placing postgraduats, demonstrates clearly that there are indeed programs for everyone, and our goal each year is to find the best fit for each of our students, academically, socially, athletically, geographically, and financially. Finding this fit is not always an easy process, often entailing hard work and even some rejection, but our historical average of placing ninety-seven percent of our graduates in four-year colleges and universities continues to validate our efforts and college placement philosophy

As the year unfolds, please check back often at the College Counseling website for reminders and updates. Thanks and welcome to Bridgton Academy!