Wake Forest

Laura Stewart, Ensworth School

Laura Stewart, our March Counselor of the Month, had both a unique opportunity and challenge when she joined the college counseling program at Ensworth School, an independent college preparatory high school in Nashville, Tennessee. For 46 years -- since 1958 -- the school had served only elementary and middle school students. Then, in August, 2004, Ensworth added grades 9 through 12, opening the new 127-acre Devon Farm campus one month after Stewart joined the school as Assistant Director of College Counseling.

Over the next five years, Stewart rose to become Director of College Counseling -- in 2009, one year after Ensworth School graduated its first senior class. As a result, she has had the opportunity to participate in building a counseling program where there were no preconceived ideas. As Director, she has been able to establish policies and procedures that reflect a philosophy with her own creative stamp and then watch the program grow. "It's hard for me to imagine being anywhere else because I've been so fortunate to get to do what I want," says Stewart.

FairTest's Updated List of Test-Optional Schools

There's a lot of talk about testing at the moment -- the SAT and ACT have just been administered and results of the PSAT arrive soon. But remember that today there are hundreds of four-year colleges that have deemphasized ACT and SAT scores in making their admission decisions. And the National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest) has updated and redesigned their listing of the more than 800 schools with test-optional policies.

"To make our list even more useful," says FairTest Public Education Director Bob Schaeffer, "FairTest rechecked requirements at all the schools. At the same time, we eliminated multiple listings of those that maintain several campuses. For applicants who care about rankings, it is worth noting that nearly 150 colleges and universities on our test-optional list rank in the top tier of their respective academic categories."

Students can find the free comprehensive list of these schools online here at fairtest.org.  National universities on the list include Wake Forest, New York University, Arizona State University, Kansas State University, University of Texas at Austin, and DePaul University. And national liberal arts colleges include Dickinson College, Bryn Mawr, Augustana, Middlebury, Hamilton, Mount Holyoke, and Pitzer College.