A strong college counseling program is a hallmark of the ASP. Throughout the program, counselors are available for individual sessions to discuss choosing a college, navigating the application process, and any other questions about the college process.
Weekly 60-minute workshops are offered on a variety of topics such as Interview Dos and Don’ts, Marketing One’s Talents, Selective College Admissions, Tuition Assistance and The College Essay.
On College Day students meet with college representatives during the morning and spend a half-hour session with three of their top-choice schools in the afternoon.
A written commentary on each student’s growth and achievement is compiled by their major course teacher, their Writing Workshop eacher, and a residential supervisor, and then reviewed by the director. These remarks, along with any distinctions earned, will be sent to students in the fall. The evaluations may be sent to colleges at the student’s request. It should be emphasized that the focus of the program is not on grading students, but on challenging them, broadening their horizons in the college selection process, and preparing them for the college experience.
College Advising
To help students prepare for the college application process, the ASP incorporates a college counseling program into the summer schedule. The program is run by two counselors and includes one-on-one meetings with students, weekly college counseling workshops, and a college fair that draws representatives from over fifty of the best colleges and universities in the country.
Recognizing the personal nature of the process, counseling is individualized and the counselors encourage students to sign up for a meeting regardless of where they are in the college search. Some students need help thinking about college majors, while others want to discuss their chances of getting into a specific school. The counselors strive to emphasize the importance of finding schools that are a good fit for students, both academically and socially, and to offer suggestions for staying organized during the college search and application processes.
Over the course of the ASP, the college counselors host a series of one-hour workshops. These optional evening presentations provide an opportunity for the counselors to explain in greater depth some of the important aspects of the college process. Topics discussed include the common application, early action versus early decision, the college visit and the college interview, and standardized testing.
College Day
College Day gives students an opportunity to meet with admissions officers to have their questions answered and to find out more about the colleges that interest them.
In a typical year, officers from more than 60 colleges and universities from across the U.S. and beyond are on hand to meet with interested students during ASP College Day. Below is the list of colleges who attended in 2026:
- Air Force Academy
- Amherst College
- Bard College
- Barnard College
- Bates College
- Bennington College
- Bentley University
- Bowdoin College
- Bucknell University
- Clark University
- Colby-Sawyer College
- Colgate University
- College of the Holy Cross
- Colorado College
- Dartmouth College
- Davidson College
- Denison University
- Dickinson College
- Duke University
- Earlham College
- Endicott College
- Fairfield University
- Florida Institute of Technology
- Hamilton College
- Hobart and William Smith Colleges
- Johns Hopkins University
- Lafayette College
- Marietta College
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Merrimack College
- Miami University
- Middlebury College
- Mount Holyoke College
- New England College
- Olin College of Engineering
- Princeton University
- Providence College
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Saint Anselm College
- Saint Michael’s College
- Skidmore College
- Smith College
- St. Lawrence University
- Stonehill College
- Trinity College
- Tufts University
- Union College
- The University of Chicago
- University of Denver
- UMass Amherst
- UMass Boston
- UMass Lowell
- University of New Hampshire
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Richmond
- University of Vermont
- Vanderbilt University
- Washington and Lee University
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Wellesley College
- Williams College
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
