According to James Conroy, the Post High School Counseling Facility Department Chair, 95 percent of all New Trier students go off to a four year college.
The other two to three percent go off to two year schools. Another two to three percent participate in a gap year after graduation, such as joining the workforce, volunteering, or joining the military.
Many perceive New Trier’s students as Ivy League bound. However, there are only nine Ivy League schools all of which have an acceptance rate just under nine percent, according to the Washington Post. “I would say 25 to 30 kids, at the most, go Ivy League,” said Conroy.
According to Conroy, students are also applying to schools far away from the North Shore bubble. “After last winter more and more kids are saying ‘get me to a decent climate,” said Conroy, “Hollywood also makes California look like Disney World and the East Coast still has a large appeal.”
Conroy also mentioned that more students are looking down south. “Southern schools are becoming more liberal and less entrenched in the southern way.”
Students do not limit themselves to just America too, but apply overseas, according to Conroy. “We have about six or seven students who are at University of St. Andrews in Scotland. McGill in Montreal is a popular choice as well as University of British Columbia.
Some of the kids choose to go overseas because they are citizens of that country as well.” However, there is a small percentage who do choose to go overseas for college.
The top school for many New Trier students in the past has been Stanford. The location, division one sports, and academic excellence is appealing to many. “Last year 39 students applied and only four were accepted. All four chose to enroll,” said Conroy.
A small percent of New Trier students choose to do a gap year instead of going straight down the path of graduating high school at seventeen and college at twenty one.
“Most of the gap year students apply to a college, are accepted, and defer for a year. The college would just move you into the following year or semester. I would say that between 85 to 95 percent of the colleges encourage gap years,” said Conroy, “I am also a big promoter of gap years as long as the students want to do them.”
The gap rate percentage has gone up within the last ten years, according to Conroy. Ten years ago the percentage of students taking a gap year was zero while, as of recently, the rate has climbed to almost ten percent.
Overall New Trier is perceived to have a high college enrollment rate, which it does. However, not all students at New Trier are going to the “top” schools in the nation.
Most students go their best fit; whether that be a small school in the Midwest or a large school in California.
But some students elect to do something different and not go to school right away, or go to school in a different location. They take a gap year to travel the world, join the military, or venture over the border to go school in Canada.