Miramonte seniors chart their course: Where the class of 2025 is headed

    It’s Sept. 6, and students constantly pop into Karen Rooff’s office for permission slips to attend one of today’s four scheduled college presentations. DePaul, Reed College, St. Mary’s and UC Santa Barbara are on the docket. Each is presenting its pitch to Miramonte Seniors.
    “As long as they have a genuine interest in the college, we’ll let students leave classes to attend a school presentation,” said Rooff, a college and career counselor at Miramonte. “It’s a great way for kids to learn about schools they might never have considered before.”
    From August through October, about 130 colleges and universities will make their pitches.
    Miramonte is a treasure trove for schools looking for high performing students who likely can pay close to full tuition over four years – an increasingly rare combo. The visits are a prelude to the application frenzy in which Miramonte students will submit 3,000 to 3,500 college 
applications this year.
    Rooff estimates each student will compose 10 to 14 applications.
    Recruitment appears to be paying dividends for schools. Two years ago, Indiana University wasn’t even on the radar. A year ago, two Miramonte graduates enrolled. This year – 10 students headed for its Bloomington campus.
    Miramonte students chose to enroll at 93 different colleges. That’s a decline from 107 in 2023 and 108 in 2024, but still remarkable for a class of just 297 graduates.
    Cost and value-consciousness seem to be driving the drop.
    Across the board, the 2025 class chose more California public colleges, fewer private schools overall and more two-year colleges – especially Diablo Valley College (DVC), an established transfer route to California’s UC system that can cut the cost of a four-year UC degree almost 
in half.
    Thirty-nine Miramonte students selected DVC, and overall, 19% of Miramonte graduates opted for two-year colleges.
    “Certainly, for any class, DVC represents an incredible value, especially if the ultimate goal is UC,” said Rooff. “It’s a great pathway.”
    California public college and university enrollment by Miramonte graduates grew more than 15% from 2024, with 91 students enrolling in four-year institutions, and more of those choosing California State schools.
    “Cal State has a very friendly price tag compared to UC,” said Rooff. UC tuition – not counting housing, fees and other expenses – is $15,384 for 2026-27. Cal State schools, on the other hand, check in at $6,084, according to the systems’ web sites.
    Among California universities, the big winners were Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (22 students) and San Diego State (12). UC San Diego drew nine. UC San Diego and UCLA were the most popular among UC schools, drawing a total of 16 class members. UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz each enrolled eight.
    The most popular private California institutions were Santa Clara University and the University of Southern California, both perennial favorites for Miramonte graduates.
    Fewer students chose out-of-state public or private schools this year – with 55% staying in California, compared with 49% in 2024.
    Still, the impressive array of out-of-state colleges is a testament to the College and Career Center at Miramonte that is largely funded by the Orinda Network for Education (ONE). ONE provides resources available to few high schools, including a relatively robust staff that manages the college visit/recruitment program, alerts students to key deadlines and even provides help with application essays. Students not only are exposed to more choices, but have a realistic chance of being accepted.
    The College and Career Center has two full-time counselors and another part-time person, with other temporary staff members.
    “It’s a bit unusual,” said Rooff. “The [high school] district can only fund one staff member, so we’re incredibly lucky to have additional support from ONE.”
    Senior Claire Casado said she started turning to the center for help in her junior year when counselors set up meetings to explain the application process and timeline. This year, the center’s website has become invaluable. It offers lists of resources, including workshops and “how-to” programs, and a timeline of specific dates their tasks should be started or completed. Emails are sent regularly to remind students of impending deadlines.
    And there’s another bonus – Miramonte seniors looking to stand out in the competitive college admissions process are turning to a new resource at the counseling center: professional editors who help them craft essays that are both authentic and appealing.
    But since applications are time-consuming, zeroing in on a few favorites is a key part of the process. Casado recently attended a presentation from Dartmouth, a school barely on her radar previously. After hearing about its emphasis on hands-on experience, she said she will probably apply.
    Miramonte graduates ended up at nearly all the Ivy League schools in 2025, including Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania. They also enrolled at Amherst, Johns Hopkins, Northeastern, the University of Chicago, Boston College, Bryn Mawr, Carnegie Mellon and New York University, among others.
    However, many also landed at colleges off the list of “usual suspects,” including Mount Holyoke, Oberlin, Tulane, University of St. Thomas, Villanova, Howard University and Grambling State.
    In addition to Indiana University, 18 other out-of-state public universities attracted Miramonte graduates. Among the most popular were University of Colorado, Boulder (nine) and the University of Washington (five).
    The University of Wisconsin, the University of Oregon and the University of Michigan snagged four each. One student enrolled at the United States Naval Academy (one of the most selective schools in the country, requiring a nomination from a Senator, Congressperson or the Vice President).
    A handful of students have headed to international programs, including the University of Cambridge and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
    The 2025 graduation rate of 98% (slightly up from last year) compares favorably to statewide and national rates that hover around 87%. Nationally, about 63% of graduates enroll immediately in college, compared to 97% of Miramonte’s most recent graduates.
    For Casado, she said the college application process has been daunting, but exciting.
    “This time last year I had no idea what I wanted to do,” she said. “My friends who were seniors kept telling me to get super-focused by this summer or it would all pile up this fall. But while other people are stressed about getting into a four-year institution, I feel like I could be perfectly fine with going to DVC with the intent to transfer after two years. Maybe some students see that as a failure option, but I know I could do it and get a great education at a great value.”
    Trisha Prabandham, another current senior, appreciates the opportunity to sit down with visiting schools, often in small groups. She recently attended a presentation by Pitzer that no other student attended – a rare opportunity to dive deeper into what makes that college unique.
    She uses the College and Career Center’s website continuously to track deadlines and find resources. She calls it, “the most up-to-date section of the entire Miramonte website.”
    For Ava Barton, the College and Career Center has made a significant difference as she prepares to start her applications.
    “I don’t think I could do it without them,” Barton said. “I visit the center once or twice a week with questions. Their weekly newsletters tell me exactly what I should be doing and what I should have finished by now.”
    Barton, Prabandham and Casado all mentioned how stressful it can be to discuss college applications with their friends.
    “They don’t necessarily want to tell you where they are applying,” said Barton. “They think they might be judged if they do.”
    Casado has a different take; she thinks her peers don’t want other students to apply to the same colleges they have chosen.
    “I think they’re afraid maybe you’ll ‘steal’ their school and become a competitor for the slot that might go to them,” she said.