Our school often brags of a 98% graduation rate, and that 90% of graduates go on to pursue higher education at a university. Many parents, students, and even teachers have however, expressed a concern with what schools, and what kind of schools our students are encouraged to attend. Certainly, our region offers a plethora of options for prospective college students. Purdue Calumet is located within a few miles from our campus, Indiana University Northwest is just a city over in Gary, and Calumet College of St. Joseph is located in the neighboring city of Whiting. For those looking for a reasonablypriced college education, and those who wish to stay at home, or close to home, all three of the schools are great choices. They are also schools that a signifigcant amount of our graduates attend.
Students with a solid academic record and who wish to study a distance from home, should be encouraged to attend prestigious colleges. During the first few months of the school year, our guidance counselers arrange visits from admissions officers of various universities. Of these college visits, a representative from any out-of-state prestigious schools were absent.  In the long run, students at a college prep school are not only supposed to be set on the right track for college, but we are supposed to be given the tools to attend prestigious colleges. Granted, not every college prep graduate is expected to attend an Ivy League, or a highly ranked university. It is alarming however, that a school of our pedigree has arranged visits from 2-year and satellite college campuses, but very few from other top colleges.
Attending or applying to schools such as Vanderbilt, Duke, or Georgetown should not be out of the question for Bishop Noll students. Many students may not apply to these schools, however, because they do not receive exposure to them during our months of college visits. Attending a top-tier university may not only grant a student connections to powerful people in the field they wish to pursue, but they have a great chance at receiving a premier education. Hopefully, in years to come, our guidance office will encourage students to apply to competitive schools. Because if there is any student who should have broad horizons, it should be a Noll student.