Academics

College Counseling

The college counseling program at Hockaday is as individual as each of our students. Four full-time college counselors support students and their families, meeting with them regularly throughout the college research and application process. Our goal is for each student to find and be admitted to colleges that meet their personal interests, ensuring the most successful college career possible.

While the formal college counseling process begins in the junior year, we know families have questions throughout the Upper School years. To best serve families of freshman and sophomore students, we host a series of coffees throughout the year specifically designed to offer guidance and answer questions in advance of the junior year. In addition, the college counseling team will visit form meetings to speak to freshmen and sophomore students about standardized testing, planning their courses, their summer activities, and other relevant topics. Many sophomores will choose to attend College Previews, one of the largest college fairs in the city.
 
The college counseling program becomes even more robust in the junior year, beginning with an informational meeting for all juniors and their families. Students may meet with college representatives who visit Hockaday in the fall, they can opt to take a mock ACT on campus, they and their families can attend workshops on topics related to college admission, such as the financial aid process, standardized testing, visual and performing arts portfolios and auditions, and collegiate athletics. In addition, college admission deans will offer their candid advice on the admission process at the annual College Deans Panel.

In the second semester of the junior year, while the counseling program continues to offer topical workshops, the college counselors begin to engage students in a process of self-reflection. Through personal interviews and anecdotes from families, counselors learn their students’ hopes and dreams. The college research process, while guided by the college counselors, is primarily driven by the student’s growing awareness of their own interests and strengths and is conducted with the goal of finding colleges that are a good match for the student as an individual.

By the time the college application season arrives in the fall of the senior year, students have been educated about every element of that process and can prepare their applications with the confidence that they are presenting themselves as personally as possible to colleges which they are eager to attend. When decisions are returned, our college admission list is always as varied as our student body. Once more, at this last stage of the process, the college counselors listen to and guide students toward their final decision. Each year we watch our students go on to begin their brilliant lives at the colleges of their choice. 


The college counseling program at The Hockaday School is as individual as each of our students.

Meet Our Staff

List of 5 members.

  • Photo of Elizabeth Jones

    Elizabeth Jones 

    Co-Director of College Counseling
  • Photo of Micah  Lyles

    Micah  Lyles 

    Co-Director of College Counseling
  • Photo of Kim Pondrom

    Kim Pondrom 

    Associate Director of College Counseling
  • Photo of Allison Camp

    Allison Camp 

    Associate Director of College Counseling
  • Photo of Aspen Arnold

    Aspen Arnold 

    College Counseling Associate

College Matriculation - Past Three Years

Auburn University
Austin College
Babson College
Barnard College
Bates College
Baylor University
Belmont University
Boston College
Boston University
Bowdoin College
Brandeis University
Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Chapman University
Claremont McKenna College
Colby College
Colgate University
Columbia College Chicago
Columbia University
Connecticut College
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Davidson College
Duke University
Elon University
Emory University-Oxford College
Fordham University
George Washington University
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Hamilton College
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Haverford College
High Point University
Houston Baptist University
Howard University
Indiana University
Johns Hopkins University
Kenyon College
Lehigh University
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Mount Holyoke College
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Newcastle University
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Oberlin College
Occidental College
Oregon State University
Pennsylvania State University
Pepperdine University
Pomona College
Purdue University
Reed College
Rhode Island School of Design 
Rhodes College
Rice University
Santa Clara University
Sarah Lawrence College
Sewanee: The University of the South
Smith College
Southern Methodist University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
Syracuse University
Tel Aviv University
Texas A&M University
Texas Christian University
The American University of Paris
The University of Alabama
The University of Texas at Arlington
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Towson University
Transylvania University
Trinity College Dublin
Tufts University
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University of Stirling
University of Toronto
University of Virginia
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin
Vanderbilt University
Vassar College
Villanova University
Wake Forest University
Washington and Lee University
Washington University in St Louis
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
William & Mary
Williams College
Yale University
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