College admission can feel overwhelming. Hargrave’s comprehensive counseling process guides every student from junior year through enrollment. Here’s exactly how we support students and families through college applications, step by step.
Junior Year: Foundation Building
College counseling begins junior year with specialized seminar classes teaching every application aspect. Students explore interests and potential majors, research colleges matching their profiles, understand admission requirements and timelines, learn about financial aid and scholarships, and begin building college lists.
This early start prevents last-minute panic and allows strategic planning.
Creating the College List
College list development balances reach, target, and safety schools. We help students identify reach schools (competitive admissions, aspirational), target schools (realistic admission probability, good fit), and safety schools (highly likely admission, still good options).
The list considers academic profile and GPA, SAT/ACT scores, geographic preferences, desired majors and programs, campus size and culture preferences, financial considerations and aid availability, and whether NCAA athletics are involved.
Most students apply to 8-12 schools across these categories.
SAT/ACT Preparation
Standardized test prep happens on campus. Required on-campus testing dates ensure all students take exams. Integrated prep courses teach test-taking strategies. Practice tests familiarize students with format and timing. Individual score analysis identifies areas needing improvement. Multiple test attempts optimize scores.
Many students improve scores significantly between first and final attempts through structured preparation and practice.
Essay and Personal Statement Support
The personal statement is crucial. Our support includes brainstorming authentic topics reflecting student experiences, outlining compelling narratives, drafting and revision with individual feedback, editing for grammar and clarity while maintaining student voice, and ensuring essays reveal character and growth.
We help students tell their stories authentically. Admissions officers can spot manufactured essays—we help students present genuinely.
Faculty Recommendations
Strong recommendations matter enormously. We coach students on selecting appropriate recommenders (teachers who know them well), requesting recommendations professionally and respectfully, providing recommenders with helpful information about goals and achievements, ensuring timely submission of recommendations, and understanding what strong recommendations contain.
Hargrave’s small classes mean teachers know students personally. Recommendations are detailed, specific, and authentic—exactly what colleges seek.
Application Management
Applications require careful management. We monitor common application or school-specific application completion, supplemental essays for individual schools, activity lists and descriptions, transcript requests and submission, test score submission to schools, financial aid form completion (FAFSA, CSS Profile), and application fee waivers when appropriate.
Mandatory check-ins ensure nothing falls through cracks. Students can’t passively hope things happen—we verify completion.
Financial Aid Guidance
College affordability is crucial. Our financial aid support includes FAFSA completion workshops, CSS Profile guidance for private schools, scholarship search and application support, understanding financial aid packages and comparing offers, negotiation strategies when appropriate, and realistic planning around college costs.
Many families don’t realize they qualify for aid until they apply. We encourage all families to complete aid applications.
Early Decision and Early Action Strategy
Some students benefit from early applications. We advise on differences between Early Decision (binding) and Early Action (non-binding), which schools offer early programs, when early applications make strategic sense, how to balance early strategy with regular applications, and financial aid considerations for binding early decisions.
Early applications can improve admission chances at some schools but require careful strategy and certain readiness.
Service Academy Appointments
Service Academy admission requires specialized support beyond regular college counseling: congressional nomination assistance and strategy, physical fitness assessment preparation, candidate questionnaire completion, multiple interviews with diverse panels, medical examination navigation, and backup plan development (ROTC, other academies).
Hargrave’s endorsement by West Point and Naval Academy reflects our expertise in Service Academy preparation. We’ve sent 75+ graduates to academies historically.
NCAA Athletics Compliance
Student-athletes navigate additional requirements. We help with NCAA Eligibility Center registration, core course GPA calculation, amateurism certification, recruiting communication guidance, Division I, II, or III considerations, and scholarship negotiation when offers arrive.
The intersection of academics and athletics requires specialized knowledge. Our experience with 100+ Division I athletes helps us guide this process effectively.
Senior Year Timeline
Fall of senior year is intensive. September-October focuses on finalizing college lists and starting applications. November 1 marks Early Decision/Action deadlines for many schools. November-December continues regular decision applications. December-January completes final applications by deadlines. January-March brings acceptance notifications rolling in. April-May requires making final decisions and committing by May 1.
This timeline is unforgiving. Our structure ensures students stay on track.
After Acceptances Arrive
Once acceptances come, new questions emerge. We help students compare financial aid packages, evaluate total cost of attendance including hidden expenses, consider academic and social fit beyond prestige, assess opportunities for growth and development, make site visits to top-choice schools, and make final decisions with confidence.
The relief of acceptance can lead to hasty decisions. We help families make thoughtful final choices.
Gap Year Consideration
Some students benefit from gap years before college. We support intentional gap years with structured plans, continued engagement and growth, college deferral when appropriate, and realistic preparation for delayed entry.
Gap years aren’t failures—they’re strategic choices for students needing additional maturity, clarity, or life experience before college demands.
The Counselor’s Role
College counselors are partners throughout this process. They have deep relationships with admissions officers at hundreds of colleges, understand what different schools seek, know how to position Hargrave students effectively, provide honest feedback and realistic advice, stay current on changing admissions landscapes, and genuinely care about every student’s success.
Students develop trusting relationships with counselors who guide them through stressful processes with expertise and compassion.
Parent Involvement
Parents play crucial roles. We help families understand appropriate parent involvement in the process, set realistic expectations about schools and costs, support without pressure or control, communicate effectively with counselors, and manage their own anxiety about outcomes.
The parent-student-counselor partnership works best when roles are clear and everyone stays focused on the student’s interests.
100% Acceptance Track Record
For over a decade, every Hargrave graduate has been accepted to college. This reflects our comprehensive process ensuring no student falls through cracks. The structure guarantees every student takes necessary steps, meets deadlines, and submits strong applications.
We believe there is a leader in every boy. That belief drives us to ensure every graduate has genuine college opportunity.
Ready to learn more about Hargrave’s college counseling process? Contact us to meet our college counseling team, understand how we support students and families, learn about our 100% acceptance track record, and discover how we ensure your son’s college success.
Contact us at 866-994-4582 or admissions@hargrave.edu.
