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.