North Shore School District officials discussed changes in college acceptance trends and congratulated students on their academic achievements at a board meeting Thursday night.
Dan Doherty, the director of counseling, examined post-graduate trends among North Shore students with board members and district parents. He praised district students for their performance this year.
The Class of 2024 “navigated one of the more difficult college admissions seasons and they crushed it,” Doherty said.
The district typically performs well when it comes to college acceptances, according to statistics provided by Doherty. On average, North Shore seniors submit 10.8 college applications each and have an acceptance rate of 64%.
In the 2024 senior class, 110 students, or 60% of the class, were accepted into 60% or more of the colleges to which they applied.
A large majority of students will attend four-year colleges after graduation. In the North Shore Class of 2023, 87% of students attended a four-year college, 7% of students attended a two-year college and 6% of students entered the workforce, military or took a gap year following graduation.
Doherty said the district’s counselors provide a unique amount of support for students and parents during the college admissions process. North Shore counselors meet one-on-one with high school seniors and their parents. The school also hosts alumni panels, parent nights, financial aid nights, college representative visits and college representative fairs discussing the details of the admissions process.
Doherty said the district’s hands-on counseling approach is “one thing that makes us us.”
Some changes that have affected the college admissions process include the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action and test scores being made optional, he said.
The head of counseling said while schools cannot ask students their race, they can ask questions about feelings of exclusion or being “different.” And test-optional policies lead to students applying to more “reach” schools, which increases the applicant pool and decreases acceptance rates, Doherty said.
Other trends include colleges placing more importance on the major that students apply for and rising waitlist numbers, Doherty said.
In addition to recognizing students’ performance in college admissions, the North Shore board honored many students from the elementary, middle and high school-levels for their achievements in multiple math, foreign language, writing, music, science research and film-making contests across Long Island.
Board President Andrea Macari and Superintendent Chris Zublionis also thanked community members for their support of the 2024-2025 budget, a $122.6 million budget which passed with 63% of the 3,406 votes.
“This community has a long tradition of supporting schools but the last few years the margins of our votes have been very tight,” Macari said, referencing opposition from some community members who say the budget is too high. “I would like to express my appreciation for everyone’s efforts crafting this budget. Passing a budget takes the work of many, many stakeholders.”
