Great news abounds at Wakefield

Good morning! I am so excited to finally be posting another blog. You may recall that at the beginning of the school year I said that I was going to attempt to write every other week and I did, for a while. So now I am recommitting to sharing my bi-weekly musings on Wakefield. Next year I will endeavor to keep it up even through the peak of the admission season, so you will have to stay tuned to see if I can make it!

Of course I need to start by congratulating the deserving students who were admitted in the first round of admission decisions. We are hopeful that many of you will chose to join the Wakefield community in the fall.

March and April are always very exciting months in my home because in these two months much of the work my husband and I do throughout the year comes to fruition. As the Director of Admission the first week of March is when I have the privilege of sending out the first round of decision letters. I relish the opportunity to speak with the parents of admitted students when I call them that first Friday in March to let them know of their family’s acceptance to Wakefield. I can’t help but feel bolstered by the joy that I hear in parents’ voices as they learn that their child will have the opportunity to attend Wakefield and benefit from all of the wonderful opportunities that await them on our campus. As I have said in previous posts, the pleasure I derive from my work is helping families find the school that is the best fit for their child and hence I feel my energy renewed through these conversations.

However, it is the college counseling news about which I wanted to write today. Matt, my husband, is the college counselor at Wakefield so I have the chance to watch the cycle of list development, application submission, waiting, and notification of decisions play out up close every year. This past weekend the University of Virginia notified students of their decisions, with 20% of our senior class winning admission for the fall. While it will never be the case that every Wakefield student who applies to UVA, or any school, will be admitted but, just in the last five years Wakefield has made great strides with UVA. For a time UVA would reliably admit 10% of the senior class while reliably admitting 20% of the class from other independent schools closer to Washington, D.C.. Now, thanks to the wonderful and consistently exceptional work on the part of the Wakefield alumni at UVA, the university is confident that Wakefield students are prepared to face the rigors of their program. While I have highlighted UVA it is only one example of the way in which the same trend has played out at other institutions across the country. It just happens that UVA is the most highly sought after acceptance among our student body so the trend is all the more noticeable.

I would be remiss if I did not point out two important facts. First, many of our students this year have been admitted to wonderful colleges and universities, many to their first choice. Some of the other acceptances include Hobart & William Smith Colleges, James Madison University, Lehigh University, Tulane University, and Vassar College. Second, it is still very early in the notification season with many schools not revealing their selections for another few weeks. So, we congratulate all of those students who have already received their good news and keep our fingers crossed for those still waiting.

Finally, I, and I know many others at Wakefield, are grateful for the hard work of our alumni who are enrolled at colleges and universities around the country and are paving the way for future Wakefield students by demonstrating their extraordinary preparation for the challenges and rigors of college life. We are thankful, also, for that extraordinary preparation which is the result of the exceptional and committed teachers at Wakefield, who beginning in the youngest grades, instill in students an enduring curiosity and love of learning in addition to fostering a supportive community of teachers and students that embrace excellence, hard work, and achievement.