College Counseling at Milton
Milton prepares young people to seek meaningful lifetime success, and that principle drives our college counseling program. We believe that the college process can help our students grow, both emotionally and socially. Through this process, we can help our students develop the tools to take on the world with gusto, resourcefulness, and joy.
Milton’s powerful, experienced, and highly collaborative team of professionals develop relationships with students and help them manage the core work as thoroughly and as thoughtfully as possible.
- Our program involves a lot of one-on-one conversation, humor wherever possible, and timely reminders about what is really important in students’ lives.
- Through continuous and accurate communication, we help ground students so that they can be their best, most dynamic selves and do their best work.
- In that scenario, creativity has a chance to thrive.
- Students can develop applications that capture their own power.
Counseling Team
Laurén Carter, Dean of College Counseling
Laurén’s career spans more than three decades in the college admission and counseling profession—with more than 20 of those years spent directing independent schools’ college counseling programs. As college admissions become more and more competitive, Milton’s college counseling office plays an increasingly critical role in supporting students in choosing the best college or university for them. The school is excited to have Laurén lead those efforts during this 2023–2024 academic year.
read more
Matthew Cunningham, Associate Director
Matt is excited to join the Milton Academy community after three years as an associate director of college counseling at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. Prior to his time at Sidwell Friends, Matt worked in college admissions for over eight years, first at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA and then at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. At both Lehigh and Vassar, Matt was a key leader in their campus visit initiatives, including directing tour guide programs, as well as organizing open houses and admitted student programs.
read more
Sandi Dunnington, Assistant to the College Counseling Office
Sandi Dunnington has proven that you can go home again. Her first tenure in this office, after several years as an event planner for Sheraton, ended in 2003 when she took a hiatus for the births of her son and daughter. After that, Mrs. Dunnington worked for several years as assistant to the executive director and president for Exploration Summer Programs (EXPLO) in Norwood, Massachusetts. Then, when the administrative staff position opened up again in 2010, Mrs. Dunnington took pity on us and returned.
read more
Julia Esquivel, Associate Director
Julia Esquivel came to us with a rich history of working and living in a wide range of cultures and work environments. After graduating from Vassar with a degree in Women’s Studies, she worked for four years in the admission office of Haverford College, directing the college’s multicultural recruitment efforts and leading transition programming for first-generation students from under-represented backgrounds. Always interested in issues of health and social justice, Ms. Esquivel enrolled in the Master’s in Public Health program at Emory University, all the while still reading applications for both Emory and Haverford.read more
Amy Kirkcaldy, Associate Director
For a long time, we had heard from a respected colleague about this cracker-jack admission officer from Harvard, who read student applicants astutely and deeply, who could find the fairest course of action in even the most complicated financial aid cases, and who through it all maintained a refreshingly irreverent sense of humor and a balanced perspective. So, when Amy Kirkcaldy’s resume appeared in a job search, we jumped.read more
Terri James Solomon, Associate Director
Serendipity was its wisest, most benevolent self when it brought Terri James Solomon to our attention. For a number of years Ms. Solomon had worked in various capacities at her alma mater, Wellesley, coordinating multicultural recruitment efforts, running a dorm, and counseling students and alumnae regarding graduate school and career options. But, happily, at the very time we were looking to add an additional counselor to our team, she was looking for work closer to her home in Milton. Years later, we still feel we got the better end of the bargain.read more
Contact the College Counseling Office
Sandi Dunnington
Assistant to the College Counseling Office
Milton Academy
170 Centre Street, Milton, MA 02186
P: 617-898-2310 F: 617-898-1717
