Academics

College Counseling

The goal of the College Counseling Office is to support, inform and encourage students and their families as they navigate the exciting, complex and ever-changing process of college admissions.
Lawrenceville’s college counseling program is designed to be an extension of the overall education taking place in the classroom, in the Houses, on the athletic fields, and in each venue on-campus where active learning takes place. Lawrenceville’s college counselors offer the Lawrenceville community decades of professional experience both as secondary school counselors and as college admissions officers. This degree of experience from both sides of the admission process enables the counseling staff to provide valuable and timely advice to families as the process unfolds and to help students effectively present their abilities, talents, and experiences to the colleges. Over the course of their Lawrenceville careers, families and students receive information through Form specific newsletters, class-wide meetings, Parent Weekend programming, publications such as “The Underformer’s Guide to College Counseling" and other communications designed to maximize a student’s Lawrenceville Experience.  The College Counseling Office designs these materials to ensure that students and their families are well prepared to embrace the college counseling process in all its complexities when students are officially assigned to individual counselors in the middle of their Fourth Form year.
 
As Fourth Formers, students begin a series of college related standardized testing and launch a self-reflective process with their counselor in preparation for college research. Students visit colleges during spring and summer vacations, attend on-campus college fairs with over 100 colleges represented, and meet individually with college counselors to discuss their goals and aspirations. Students and their counselors work together to develop a list of college options for active research and consideration while keeping an eye on the realities of their college admissions prospects.
 
In the Fifth Form students work with their counselors to develop final lists with an eye for fit and selectivity balance and begin to focus on the final details of the application process. College admissions counselors visit the School to meet with groups of interested students and/or to conduct individual interviews during the fall term, while counselors work closely with Fifth Formers on their essays in order to refine their self-presentation. Counselors and students then work in concert through November and December to finalize a college list that comprehensively connects to students’ personal attributes, supports their intellectual endeavors, and provides them with exciting options for their undergraduate study.
 
When the college search concludes in the spring, Fifth Formers leave Lawrenceville with a sense of satisfaction for what they have accomplished, a healthy dose of enthusiasm for advanced study and community engagement in college, and the individual resources necessary to have a superlative experience in colleges and universities around the world.  

Colleges/Universities Attended by Five or More Graduates of the Classes of 2017, 2018, and 2019

New York University 35
Princeton University 31
University of Pennsylvania 27
University of Chicago 24
Cornell University 22
Georgetown University 21
Brown University 20
Columbia University 18
Yale University 17
Tufts University 16
University of Virginia (Main Campus) 14      
Duke University 14
Boston College 13
Harvard University 12
Carnegie Mellon University 11
Bucknell University 11
Northeastern University 10
Davidson College 10
University of Richmond 10
University of Michigan 9
University of Southern California 9
Colgate University 9


 Dartmouth College 8
Colby College 8
Lehigh University 8
Vanderbilt University 8
Stanford University 8
Southern Methodist University 7
University of Miami 7
The University of Edinburgh 7
Middlebury College 7
Trinity College 7
Hamilton College 7
Bates College 6
College of William and Mary 6
Washington and Lee University 6
Boston University 6
Lafayette College 6
Bowdoin College 5
Tulane University of Louisiana 5
University of Wisconsin (Madison) 5
Claremont McKenna College 5
Fordham University 5
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5

Contact Information

List of 9 members.

College Representative Information

Parking

There is visitor parking available in back of the Mackenzie Administration Building.
 

Scheduling Visits

We ask that you visit https://app.scoir.com/admissions/recruit/visits/view/month?hsid=5515a1fe8fde3c91770bcb77 and search for The Lawrenceville School to schedule an appointment. 

Please contact Pam Frakes at pfrakes@lawrenceville.org or call 609-895-2042 if you have difficulties with the calendar system or if the date you want appears to be booked.


What to Expect

  • Most visits are scheduled in half-hour time blocks
  • Our students are not permitted to miss class to visit with colleges
  • One of our counselors will meet with each college representative
  • If interested, interview days with potential applicants can be arranged

Visit Hours

As school policy prohibits students from missing class to meet with college representatives, we have organized our visit times during common free periods or periods which tend to have a higher number of students without a class. Given our daily schedule, the available 2019-20 dates fall between September 16 and October 25.
  • Monday: 9:45 -10:15 a.m. and 10:15 -10:45 a.m.
  • Tuesday: 9:45 -10:15 a.m. and 10:15 -10:45 a.m.
  • Wednesday: 8:30 - 9:00 a.m., 9:00 -9:30 a.m., 12:45 -1:15 p.m., and 1:15 -1:45 p.m.
  • Thursday: No Visits
  • Friday: 9:45 -10:15 a.m. and 10:15 -10:45 a.m.
All the counselors at Lawrenceville have worked in college admission so we know how complex travel planning can become, but we hope one of these visit times works for you this fall.

Direction to Campus

The College Counseling Office is located in the main Admissions/Administrative Building (Mackenzie) on the 2nd floor.

Other Schools in the Area

  • Hun School of Princeton - 8 minutes away
  • Lawrence High School - 5 minutes away
  • Notre Dame High School - 7 minutes away
  • Peddie School - 24 minutes away
  • Pennington School - 10 minutes away
  • Princeton Day School - 12 minutes away
  • Princeton High School - 12 minutes away
  • Stuart Country Day School - 13 minutes away
  • West Windsor High School - 13 minutes away
Through House and Harkness, Lawrenceville challenges a diverse community of promising young people to lead lives of learning, integrity, and high purpose.  Our mission is to inspire the best in each to seek the best for all.