College Admissions

The practice of advising students through the college admissions process at Watershed School is one that is personal and reflective. All students meet with our college advisor throughout their junior and senior years, and are given an opportunity to consider questions about their own strengths, interests, purpose, character, values and contributions. Students and families are asked to think deeply about the significance and importance of education, as well as to consider the future in a broad and meaningful way. Since much of the education at Watershed is designed with a commitment to connection, relevance and insight, the college search process follows this same pattern.

Our students are able to think maturely about their skills and interests, and because their Watershed education has asked them to communicate about and consider expansive and relevant topics, they are particularly successful in finding post-high school options that are as diverse as the student body itself. Watershed students often stand out because of the varied and increasingly essential skills that their Watershed education has afforded them: independence of thought, problem solving, critical thinking, reasoning, research and analysis, speaking and writing, creativity, global awareness, sustainability.

Our faculty are wholly committed to the teaching and learning process on a level rarely found in our current education system. The compassion, insight, and loyalty demonstrated by their teachers provides Watershed students with the skills required to enter the post-high school world in a productive way. 100% of our faculty have advanced degrees, including PhDs, in a variety of fields including Medical Science, Medieval Literature, Biology, Education, Astronomy and Environmental Policy. Our faculty have both undergraduate and graduate degrees from notable institutions such as Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, Bowdoin, Colgate, Rhode Island School of Design, Colby, Brown, Smith, Williams, NYU, Tufts, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Our students, similarly, have gained admittance to some of the most respected institutions in the United States and abroad, including:

  • Middlebury College
  • The Royal Scottish Academy of the Arts
  • Tufts University
  • Wellesley College
  • Mount Holyoke College
  • Bowdoin College
  • Rhode Island School of Design
  • Georgetown University
  • Savannah College of Art and Design
  • Bates College
  • Oberlin College

Additionally, our students receive significant merit aid to the colleges of their choice.

Within a very small school, Watershed School in recent years has had 7 National Commended Scholars. Our College Advisor, Clare Charbonneau-Galloway, has worked within the field of College Admissions for 25 years, as a dean of Admissions at both Colgate University and Bates College, and as the Director for Overseas Admission at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. She has also worked more recently as an adjunct application reader for Bates College, and continues to consult privately on the college admission process in mid-coast Maine.

In addition to attending college, graduate school, and medical school, Watershed graduates have also entered the military and service organizations in the US and abroad, participated in apprenticeships, and traveled and volunteered extensively. Watershed alumni are teachers, musicians, writers, political activists, firefighters, editors, airline pilots, environmental educators, award-winning film producers, and computer programmers, engineers.

Here is what many of our alumni have to say about the quality of education and preparation Watershed provided:

“ A comfort level with discussion based classroom settings and the ability to write a well researched and arranged paper served me well throughout my post high school academic career. The ability to think outside of the box, work towards consensus, and listen to those with opinions that differ from my own are skills that I began developing at Watershed and have been continuing to work on ever since. The friends and mentors from my Watershed days have continued to be a source of strength and comfort.”

“Watershed was the perfect education for the undergraduate college I chose to attend, which was discussion and writing based.”

“Watershed forced me not to assume I understand things and prepared me to look at the world more critically.”

“The community based and student driven culture taught me to become my own advocate in both academic as well as social settings. Since graduation, I have been able to articulate my goals clearly, as well as seek them out with persistence.”

“I am very grateful to Watershed for having taught me that in order for a community to stay healthy and cohesive, each member must do his/her part.”

“The Watershed curriculum promoted creative and independent thinking, which has been instrumental to my success inside and outside academics.”

For more information about Watershed School, please visit us or call us at 207-763-2769.

Academically, Watershed could not have prepared me any better.

Watershed provided me with a strong background in writing that allowed me to transition into the rigorous collegiate workload.

I look back on my four years at Watershed with so much gratitude. I can credit my teachers, peers, and mentors for teaching me how to learn and expanding the scope of my curiousity. Watershed taught me how to write, how to engage with professors both as mentors and as friends, and how to ask probing questions and think critically.