College Counseling

Slade Mead, Director of College Placement
smead@trinitypawling.org

Matt Ranaghan, Assistant Director of College Placement
mranaghan@trinitypawling.org

Welcome to Trinity-Pawling’s College Placement Office.  There are over 2,500 colleges and universities in the United States.  Our Placement Office matches every Trinity-Pawling student with the college that enables our students to thrive academically, athletically and socially. 

At first, the “college process” may appear overwhelming, confusing and, quite frankly, stressful.  By working hand-in-hand with each student, our goal is to diminish that stress and make selecting the appropriate college manageable, exciting and ultimately rewarding.  This process starts informally as underclassmen, as students begin thinking ahead to their senior year. Contact between the student and the College Placement Office steadily increases; during junior and senior years the students are sharply focused on preparing applications, taking the numerous standardized tests, writing essays, visiting campuses, meeting college representatives who visit the Trinity-Pawling campus, collecting teacher recommendations and taking charge of their futures. 

To further the process, Trinity-Pawling utilizes the Naviance Network, which is designed for counselor, student and parental access during ongoing college processes.  This outstanding database (1) tracks college applications; (2) manages school documents ranging from transcripts, evaluation reports and teacher recommendations; (3) creates student graphs showing where an individual stands in comparison to other applicants to a particular college; (4) provides data on each college with summarizing statistics on the average and minimum SAT scores, ACT scores and GPA's of accepted students; and (5) shares centralized college placement information which includes search functions for several different categories, such categories as “Colleges that Change Lives” or “101 Undergraduate Business Schools.”

Our Placement Office encourages families to take an ACTIVE role in the college process.  Parental insight, personal experience and relationships play a key role in the choices students make.  The Placement Office guides juniors in putting together a list of prospective colleges.  For the next 22 months, these students work closely with the Placement Office in managing their applications.  Once potential schools are identified, essays are written, applications are filled out and deadlines are met.  The college process is and must be student-driven. We expect these young men to make positive, timely decisions based on careful and thoughtful research with the goal of success in mind. The Placement Office is the tip of a triangle comprised of the Trinity-Pawling student, parents and the school. The Placement Office shepherds the college process from A to Z with the students.  For many students this is the first time they have had to take ownership of a process.  Filling out applications, meeting deadlines, being on for on-campus interviews are all the ultimate responsibility of the student. We are available to parents for conferences in-person, by phone or via email. 

Behind the scene, the Placement Office serves as a link to the college admissions officers assisting each college admission’s committee to appreciate our students’ experiences and accomplishments within the context of Trinity-Pawling’s rigorous academic requirements.  Every college receives a personalized, comprehensive information package that is sent with each application.  The Placement Office collects and assembles this unique student profile with the efforts of advisors, teachers, coaches and/or others who have contact with each student. Our mission is to frame each student in the best possible light to each college with Trinity-Pawling serving as an advocate on the individual student’s behalf.

For the Trinity-Pawling student, the college experience begins with formal individual conferences beginning in January of their junior year when students begin the exciting task of identifying a group of 15-20 colleges and universities of interest for investigation. The parents of our juniors are involved in list preparation and college planning throughout the year.  Junior Parents’ Weekend in February combines formal presentations on the college process presented by the Director of College Placement accompanied by a panel of distinguished college admissions officers.

Group workshops and individual meetings with juniors continue through the year as students prepare to tackle the college experience during the summer months. In these workshops students learn about writing essays, preparing for upcoming tests (SAT, ACT, AP, SAT Subject Test), filling out college applications, using Naviance and packaging themselves as attractive applicants to the colleges of their choice.

Students planning to play Division I or II collegiate athletics work with the Placement Office by registering with the NCAA Eligibility Center (formally called the Clearinghouse).  Please see the link on this webpage to learn more on college athletics under “The NCAA and Student Athletic Recruitment.”

Before returning to Trinity-Pawling senior year, students are encouraged to tour college campuses and when available have an interview with an admission Placement Officer.  Communication between the director and the rising seniors is maintained in the summer months through the phone, in-person meetings and email. The first weeks back in the fall are used to polish the essays and fill out the Common Application which is used with Common Application colleges and serves as a template for non-Common Application Schools.

Witnessing and guiding each student’s exciting transition from high school student to grad on his way to college, is the ultimate reward for student, parent and Trinity-Pawling.   The Trinity-Pawling College Placement Office finds that college match which awaits each of our students.  Please direct any questions you have about the process to Slade Mead at smead@trinitypawling.org or call 845-855-4839.