College Visits for Underclass Students

As a college preparatory school, Blair Academy is committed to providing the finest college counseling possible. Certainly an integral part of the college process involves students’ visiting colleges and universities, as doing so is perhaps the best way for students to develop a better sense of what they might like or dislike in colleges. The College Office believes that any and all college visits to colleges and universities, from large state universities to small private liberal arts colleges to schools in their hometowns to schools across the country, are a very good thing indeed. To that end, we are flexible and accommodating in granting our seniors ample time away from Blair to visit colleges, just so long as these visits do not impact negatively on a student’s academic and extracurricular commitments at Blair.

The College Office, however, strongly discourages underclass students, particularly juniors, from missing any academic or extracurricular commitments to visit colleges. We believe that the best time for underclass students to see colleges is during their breaks from school and during the summers. In that way, students do not run the risk of jeopardizing their academic success at Blair, which of course is the most important thing they can do to prepare for the college process. What’s more, with admissions representatives from nearly 100 colleges and universities coming to Blair in the fall and another 80 to 90 representatives visiting Blair in late April for our Blair Spring Fair, our juniors as well as other interested underclass students have a wonderful opportunity to learn about colleges and universities from those representatives who know Blair Academy well. With so much available to our students right here at Blair, we believe that missing any Blair commitments — academic, athletic or otherwise — to visit colleges prior to the senior year is not necessary and not in any student’s best interests.

Lewis M. Stival
Dean of College Counseling
October 29, 2009

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