College Prep Curriculum
The Urban Academy curriculum was designed to prepare students for college. Our seminar/discussion based classes get students asking questions, building arguments based on evidence, analyzing, writing and re-writing, exactly the skills that college classes demand. Our graduation requirements ("proficiencies") are calibrated to college level entry skills, meaning that students who graduate from Urban are already doing college-level work.
Beyond the academic preparation, we have designed a college-going curriculum that makes college seem familiar and possible for all. Our curriculum includes:
- Trips to local colleges (and sometimes overnight trips a little further away) every semester;
- Personal essay writing workshops in which students create and revise their application essays;
- College counseling with the college advisors, beginning the second semester of junior year and continuing through the senior year;
- Financial aid counseling with our trained financial aid specialist.
Our college counselors each handle fewer than 20 students, which makes it possible to provide a great deal of one-on-one attention to each senior.
All the hard work paid off! Check out this year's list of college acceptances.