College Advising at Indian Springs School

An Indian Springs Education

At Indian Springs School, we believe in individualizing the educational experience. This allows students to construct their own unique, rigorous curriculum and to learn to explore their passions.

Our graduates may attend the most prestigious colleges around the country and across the world, but our approach to academics means that they discover something even more valuable—how to grow as a scholar, an individual, and a citizen.

Experience Our Campus

Set on 350 idyllic acres, Indian Springs School is a resource as much as a retreat. Our Fertile Minds Learning Garden and top-quality sports facilities help feed the body. Our sustainably designed facilities help feed the mind.

Emphasizing the quality of student life, our environment embodies the values of community, responsibility, and opportunity. Whether you are on campus for the day or make it your home for the year, this is a space for exploration, education, and engagement.

Giving at Indian Springs

Louis “Doc” Armstrong, Springs’ founding director, suggested that our important work is “to bridge the gap between what is and what might be” in the ways we learn, think, act, and participate in the wider world. This work is undergirded and extended by the generosity of all who share our mission.

Every gift makes a difference. Regardless of your age or situation, we have a means of giving to the school that suits your circumstances. Our Advancement staff stands ready to help.

Indian Springs College Advising

Our College Advising program strives to advance the school’s mission by engaging students in a highly individualized college search. Our program inspires students to seek to understand themselves, to approach their search with curiosity and an open mind, and to cultivate the courage to make decisions about college that reflect their true needs, desires, and values.

From residential liberal arts colleges to metropolitan research universities and conservatories to institutes of technology, our students’ collegiate choices mirror their myriad talents, interests, and personalities.

We get to know our students to build the trust necessary to challenge and support them as they embark on their college search and application journeys. Through individual and group meetings in 11th and 12th grades, we help students identify colleges of interest, think about how and what to research, and compose applications that authentically convey their individual strengths.

College Advising Timeline

List of 2 items.

Grades 11 & 12
Our college advising program intentionally focuses primarily on 11th and 12th graders because they are better equipped to take part in the self-reflection and research that goes into the college search. College Advising for 11th and 12th graders consists of:
- A series of small group meetings in fall/winter of 11th grade to introduce the college advising curriculum and process.
- Several one-on-one meetings with a college adviser in the second semester of 11th grade to begin individual college planning: self-assessment, course planning for 12th, standardized testing, building a college list, planning for summer, and requesting teacher recommendations.
- A meeting with each student’s parents or family members in the spring of 11th grade.
- Continued one-on-one meetings with a college adviser in 12th grade to balance and finalize the college list, work through applications, plan and strategize about deadlines, and review essays and other written materials.
- A series of optional application workshops, essay-writing workshops, and workshops on interviewing and other relevant topics.
- College visits to Indian Springs throughout the fall, open to 11th and 12th graders.
Grades 9 & 10
Because 9th and 10th graders should be busy establishing a solid academic foundation, engaging in activities they enjoy, and developing as human beings, the college advising process for them is broad and consists of:
- A group meeting in 9th grade to discuss maintaining good academic habits and exploring extracurricular activities and to answer questions students have about college and the college search. We will discuss what a transcript is and what it means moving forward.
- A couple of group meetings in 10th grade to reinforce messages about good academic habits, to answer student questions about the college search, and to introduce Naviance for students who wish to begin doing college research and self-assessment.
- A one-on-one meeting with a college advisor to discuss 10th-grade PSAT and Pre-ACT results and plan for future standardized testing and course selection.
- When requested, one-on-one meetings or phone calls with 9th or 10th graders or their parents (as time allows) to answer preliminary questions related to college.

Staff