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Friends’ Central College Counseling – A Personalized Approach to the College Search

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Friends' Central School
Courtesy of Friends' Central (by Jay Gorodetzer Photography) Courtesy of Friends' Central (by Jay Gorodetzer Photography)
January 13, 2025

A strong college counseling program is an essential component of a successful independent school education. Friends’ Central School, a Quaker school that borders the Main Line, Delaware County and Philadelphia, is a leader in this important area. Kimberley Lewis, Friends’ Central’s Director of College Counseling, shared several key factors that make for an outstanding college counseling program.

Access to Experts

When a college counselor has worked in a college setting, they know firsthand what makes a compelling file, and they can help their students build the strongest possible application. From guiding students as they create their college lists and helping them understand how their application will be perceived by a reader to delivering a curriculum that provides the scaffolding students need, experience and expertise are critical. At Friends’ Central, students are guided by full-time counselors who have deep experience in independent school college counseling and selective college admission from the college perspective.

A Highly Personalized Approach

With a truly student-centered approach, every aspect of a student’s college counseling experience is about the student themselves and preparing the student for a successful college application process and experience. At Friends’ Central, a student-centered, personalized approach with a low student/counselor ratio is the key to highly successful college placement. The result is students who look beyond college stats to really understand the ways colleges fit their particular interests and values.

Reflecting on their college search and ultimate choice, one recent FCS graduate shared, “I think Yale is the perfect combination of an academically rigorous environment and a caring community. Yale is excellent in every field, and although I do not yet know what subject I want to pursue, I know that I will receive a strong education regardless. Also, I got the sense that it was a much less competitive place than many of the other Ivy League universities, and the students there seemed truly happy.”

Another recent FCS graduate said, “I chose Tufts because of its emphasis on intersectionality, academic opportunities, proximity to Boston, and the overall energy of its student body. Tufts is the perfect fit for me because students have a love for learning, are down to earth and not competitive, and the values of the university coincide with my own.”

A large number of colleges and universities send representatives to meet Friends’ Central students each year. In the fall of 2024 alone, 119 college and university representatives came to the School, aware of the strength of the Friends’ Central’s academic program and its highly qualified student body. These visits provide valuable insights for the students and an important opportunity to forge a connection with the college representatives.

Courtesy of Friends’ Central (by Michael Branscom)

An Expertly Designed Common Curriculum

Kimberley Lewis explained that, while it may be counter intuitive, personal attention is most effective when it is coupled with a carefully crafted college counseling curriculum that all students follow. 

Guided by the college counseling team, Friends’ Central students follow these two paths, personal and shared, simultaneously. They begin a process of guided self reflection, which results in them identifying their own goals and aspirations for college or university. At the same time, they participate in an FCS-designed curriculum that builds their understanding of the college process itself and what they need to do to best present themselves.

Once students have completed this process, it’s the role of their counselor to help them match their goals with schools that offer what they are looking for. Creating “the list” is just the beginning; counselors then work with them on tailoring their materials for each school.

Access to Counselors As Early as Ninth Grade

Lewis shared that students often enter high school with all sorts of college-related misinformation. Access to counselors and a shared curriculum early in the process eases student stress and best positions them for success. For students who have specialized interests such as athletics, the arts, or engineering, early guidance on course selection can be a game changer. In ninth grade, planning course selection is the first step to college preparation, along with the building of key time-management and study skills and the opportunity to explore extracurricular interests.

Successful Outcomes

Each year, Friends’ Central students are admitted to an incredible range of schools across the country and internationally. For the School’s current seniors ,college processes are already off to a great start. A sampling of schools that have already admitted FCS seniors for the fall of 2025 includes (in alphabetical order): Bates, Bowdoin, Brandeis, Bryn Mawr, Brown, Colorado School of Mines, Connecticut College, Dartmouth, Haverford, New York University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Skidmore, Syracuse, Tulane, University of Pennsylvania, University of Vermont, University of Virginia, Washington University of St. Louis, William & Mary, and Yale.

While Friends’ Central’s college counselors are there for students at every step of the way, this is not about hand holding, said Lewis. The Friends’ Central team is preparing students to thrive in college, not just to get in. Students need to be strong self advocates and own their college process just as they will own their success once they get to college.

Discover how Friends’ Central School goes further at an upcoming Admissions event this spring:

Friends’ Central Lower School, 228 Old Gulph Road, Wynnewood, PA 19096 (Nursery-Grade 5)
Friends’ Central Middle & Upper School, 1101 City Avenue, Wynnewood, PA 19096 (Grades 6-12)

Published
January 13, 2025