About EWS

School Profile 2008–2009

Alma Mater Jester School Colors

School Crests School History

Head of School

Trudy E. Hall

The School

ince 1814, Emma Willard School has been one of the nation's leading college preparatory boarding and day schools for young women. At Emma Willard, every possible resource is dedicated to developing in students the values and skills that form the foundation of a life of accomplishment, leadership, and fulfillment. These include a love for the life of the mind, a commitment to service, courage and confidence, grace and creativity, and collaboration and friendship. Known for its rigor, the school promotes intellectual curiosity and disciplined study habits through a challenging curriculum distinguished by a wide array of advanced placement courses and electives. It also promotes active involvement in the life of the campus and off-campus communities through a rich co-curricular program. In all they do, students are both challenged and closely supported by an outstanding faculty and staff. The school's extraordinary physical plant is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and provides a breathtakingly beautiful yet state-of-the-art setting for learning and living. Throughout its history, Emma Willard has been committed to enrolling a diverse student body from across the Capital Region, across the country, and around the world. This commitment is honored by significant expenditures in financial aid to assist families who might not otherwise have the opportunity to provide an extraordinary secondary education for their daughters.

Average Class Size

11

Student/Faculty Ratio

5 to 1

Academic Program

Emma Willard’s curriculum reflects the school’s traditional pursuit of excellence, capitalizes on the strength of our community and relationships, sustains a belief in the centrality of ethics in adolescent education, and honors the women’s prospective. Emma offers college preparatory courses with advanced courses and electives offered in all disciplines. Most students take five academic classes and may take one elective each semester. Classes generally meet four times a week in blocks of 50 or 75 minutes. An ESL program offered at the advanced level and supports a small number of international students for whom English is the second language. Core requirements for graduation include a minimum of four units of English; three of history, foreign language, and mathematics; two of lab science (one each in biology and chemistry), and two in the arts. All students are required to participate in the service program and the Emma Willard seminar program each year and must take physical education or its equivalent each semester in the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. (Seniors must take at least 10 weeks.) The school's Practicum program offers students the opportunity to pursue internships in various professional, artistic, and athletic fields as a means to gaining practical experience in real-world occupations. The curriculum is complemented by the Serving and Shaping Her World Speakers Series, which invites accomplished and renowned experts in various fields to speak at assemblies throughout the school year.

Advanced Placement

AP preparation is offered by all academic departments, including the arts and computer science. In 2008, 139 students completed 259 AP examinations. Grades of 3 or higher were earned on 85% of the exams (33% were 5s, 28% were 4s, and 24% were 3s.)

Faculty

66 full-time, 13 part-time; 76% female/24% male; 51 hold advanced degrees.

Student Body

311 (219 boarding, 92 day.) Current students come from 26 states and 21 foreign countries. One-hundred eight new students enrolled in fall 2008. Of the 311 students, 52 are students of color (according to guidelines established by the National Association of Independent Schools), 65 are international students, and 58 have an alumna or current sister relationship to the school. There are 92 students in the Class of 2008.

Campus

Emma Willard's extraordinary 137-acre campus on Mount Ida, above the City of Troy, contains 43 buildings. The three oldest buildings, all of collegiate Tudor Gothic style, include a cathedral-like reading room, classrooms, offices, a main auditorium, a dance studio, a lab theater, three residence halls, two dining facilities, a student center, and a chapel. The art, music, and library complex includes classrooms, a display gallery, a media center, studios, and a performance auditorium. The library holds more than 32,000 volumes and 77 periodical subscriptions. Twenty-one online databases with full text augment the journal collection. The school's Laptop Initiative provides HP tablet laptops to participating students, who can access the Internet via wireless zones in dorm rooms and other strategic locations, as well as at more than 100 computers throughout campus. Athletic facilities include a gymnasium with two basketball/volleyball/ indoor tennis courts, full facilities for fitness training and aerobic dance, a weight room, an aquatics center housing a competition-size pool, three large playing fields, and an all-weather track. The three-story Hunter Science Center houses state-of-the-art laboratories and teaching facilities for chemistry, biology, and physics. The campus is famous for its gothic beauty. Approximately 75 percent of the faculty reside on campus in houses and apartments provided by the school.

Student Support

Aside from the intimate friendships, personal teacher-student relationships, and peer support that are innate to life at Emma Willard, each student has numerous opportunities, during the day and in the evening, to forge meaningful connections with the adults in her life. Faculty advisors, resident faculty, dormitory affiliates, interns, and student proctors are the primary individuals who act to support the student in her academic and personal life. This immediate network is further enhanced and supported by an involved and caring Health Center staff, as well as both the Dean of Curriculum and Programs and the Dean of Students. Collectively, this team has a strong overall understanding of each individual student.

Residential Life

Mutual respect and consideration are the essential elements of the residential experience at Emma Willard. Ten professional resident faculty members (some with families and/or pets) manage the dorm community and are committed to working with and supporting young women. In addition, faculty members serve as dorm affiliates. Each houseparent is responsible for specific halls within the dorms and acts as a resource for students about all aspects of life within and beyond the school. A team of proctors and peer educators assists the resident faculty in leading, inspiring, and guiding students through the academic year. Ninth graders share a common hall, while upperclasswomen live on halls of mixed age groups. Each day student has a residence hall to which she belongs.

College Matriculation

Ninety-one students in the Class of 2008 have enrolled in 62 colleges and universities, including Amherst, Bates, Boston University, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Colorado College, Connecticut College, Cornell, Dartmouth, Emory, Franklin and Marshall, Grinnell, Hamilton, Haverford, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, MIT, Mount Holyoke, NYU, Northwestern, Oberlin, Pomona, RPI, Rhode Island School of Design, Skidmore, Swarthmore, Syracuse, Trinity, Tufts, Tulane, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Illinois, University of Miami, University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester, University of St. Andrews, University of Vermont, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Villanova, Wake Forest, Wellesley, Yale. The average SAT I score for the Class of 2008 was 1951: 644 (critical reading), 642 (math), 665 (writing).

Athletics

A competitive athletics program includes interscholastic varsity and junior varsity sports in cross country, field hockey, soccer, tennis, track, volleyball, basketball, swimming, crew, lacrosse, and softball. Recent athletics achievements have included Central Hudson Valley League championships for varsity basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and tennis; record-breaking individual performances in swimming and track; and the crew team's historic debut of the Emma Willard Invitational Regatta.

Co-curricular Opportunities

In addition to an active student government and class leadership system, there are dozens of student clubs and organizations, including Emma Green (environmental awareness), Student Organization for Animal Rights (SOAR), The Clock (student-run newspaper), JSG and Twelve Tones (junior and senior singing groups), and Phila (charitable services club). Activities in community service and in the fine and performing arts are particularly strong and popular.

Tuition, Room, and Board

$38,400 for boarding students and $25,000 for day students.

Financial Aid

A financial aid budget of $3,239,800 enables 148 students (48%) to receive awards ranging from $1,000 to $39,500. The average grant is $21,891. The average award for boarding students is $25,794; the average for day students is $14,240. Eighteen students received merit scholarships. Ninety-nine percent of grant dollars is awarded on the basis of need and 1% is given on the basis of academic merit or special talent.

Alumnae

7,657

Admission

Emma Willard seeks students who possess the abilities, talents, motivation, and maturity to take full advantage of its rigorous academic program and opportunities. The school also seeks students having the talent, energy, and enthusiasm to contribute to the co-curricular life of the school. Students are annually admitted to the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades, and the post-graduate year. Deadlines are December 15 for mid-year admission and February 1 for regular admission. A campus visit and interview are strongly encouraged. Of the 363 applicants for fall 2008, 192 (53%) were offered admission and 108 enrolled.

Affiliations

Emma Willard School is a member of the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), the New York State Association of Independent Schools, and the National Association of Independent Schools.