WESTPORT — College admissions reports and standardized test scores from the Staples High School class of 2022 show that 93 percent of the class are attending a four-year university, with the most popular location being Indiana University.
“By and large, our students ended up in a really good place, as we see every year,” director of school counseling William Plunkett recently told the school board.
The Annual College Admissions and Standardized Testing Report, now in its second year, showed a decline in overall college enrollments, although there was an “increase in applications to most and very selective colleges.”
The first report was prepared for the Class of 2021 at the request of Superintendent Thomas Scarice. The University of Connecticut and Syracuse University had the most students participating that year, with 16 each. Indiana University placed third with 15.
The most recent report showed that the University of Connecticut was the number one college the Class of 2022 had applied to, with 125 applications. Pennsylvania State University followed with 79 applications, then the University of Maryland with 78, the University of Wisconsin with 76, and Syracuse University with 74.
However, Indiana University topped the enrollment list with 16 students going there that year. This was followed by Syracuse University with 12 students, Lehigh University and the University of Connecticut with 11, and Boston University, Elon University and Northeastern University with 10.
Plunkett said those six schools were always popular, but “some of them were big leaps.”
“Our students like the big ‘rah rah’ football schools,” said Plunkett.
Norwalk Community College also has six students from the Staples class of 2022, which Plunkett says typically has more students.
Other results showed that about 2 percent of the Class of 2022 are in two-year college, 0.7 percent are in other forms of higher education, 0.7 percent are in college preschool, 0.9 percent are employed, 2 percent are on a gap year and 0.9 percent are undecided or have no plans.
According to the report, 91 percent of the students in that class said they were very satisfied or satisfied with their plans after high school.
According to the report, a total of 3,731 applications were submitted in the Class of 2022, with an overall acceptance rate of 51.7 percent.
Plunkett said that’s a slight decline in the acceptance rate for Staples High School, as it’s been in the mid-50 percent range in recent years.
“Because acceptance rates are affected by the number of applications submitted, it might be difficult to determine now what is considered a destination or likely college, so students are adding more to their lists,” he said.
Of the roughly 454 Class of 2022 seniors, 116 students were accepted into at least 75 percent of the schools they applied to and 231 students were accepted into at least 50 percent of the schools.
About half the class applied for an “early decision,” which is a mandatory application that, if accepted, requires the student to attend that college. Plunkett said that acceptance rate is typically slightly higher than overall.
The average SAT score for the Class of 2022 was 1224 out of 1600 and the average ACT score was 29 out of 36. Plunkett said her SAT score was the highest in Connecticut.
Not all schools required test results when applying. According to a post-high school survey, about half of the students submitted their scores to all colleges, half to some, or none at all.
According to the same survey, 41 percent of students in the 2022 class applied for need-based financial aid. Plunkett said this is slightly down.
“Despite an upside-down high school career, our students in the Class of 2022 have thrived in their post-high school results,” Plunkett said.
