College Counseling
Welcome
The attention that Taft gives students comes into special focus during the college selection process. We have four full-time college counselors on staff, dedicated to helping students and families successfully navigate the college search process. We help students develop the analytical skills they need to best assess their own strengths and interests, allowing them to discover those schools offering the best overall fit. We also work directly with colleges on behalf of our students, presenting their character and achievements in an accurate, nuanced, and compelling light.
Our approach is student-centered, and spans the upper mid and senior years. Parents are also involved, through meetings, personal conferences, e-mails, and a bimonthly newsletter from the college office.
We get to know our students in virtually every facet of their lives at school: We coach, attend sit-down dinners, and interact continually with students, their teachers, and their coaches. We advise students on course selection, standardized testing requirements, essay writing, and how to best present themselves on their college applications. In the fall of their senior year, we help students finalize their list of colleges, and consult closely with teachers, coaches, deans, dorm faculty and advisors prior to crafting a detailed letter of recommendation, which highlights every facet of a student’s moral, intellectual, and social development.
The college counseling team also attends conferences, visits college campuses, constantly reviews media reports, and cultivates relationships with our colleagues in admissions offices.
Meet Our Team
Lydia Mann
Carla Ambrosini
Steffon Gales
Catherine Ganung
Cheryl Gatling-Galloway
Jon Gottsegen
Max Rosner
"The college process is often thought of as a series of steps: research schools, visit, take tests, apply, and choose. However, when done well, the college process is also a time when you can get to know yourself better. You get to examine where you've come from and dream about where you are going. The college office at Taft will encourage you to use this process as a time for larger personal growth that will serve you well long after you have graduated from college."
—lydia Mann, Director of College Counseling
Fast Fact
More than 100 representatives of colleges visit Taft each year, giving students the opportunity to learn about them and enabling the counselors to maintain the rapport and professional understanding that marks Taft's relationship with these colleges. The excellence of our academic program leads to outstanding options for students' post secondary education.