College Counseling

College counseling is about helping your son understand and determine his strengths, goals, and aspirations in order to pursue admission to a college or university where he can achieve success and satisfaction.
While college preparation is emphasized throughout the Upper School program, the professionals in the College Counseling office begin meeting with boys and parents in the junior year. Working closely with the College Counseling office, and his advisors and teachers, each student is guided through a thorough, informative college admissions process. Since St. Mark’s has a very strong reputation among colleges throughout the United States, representatives from nearly 200 colleges and universities visit the campus to meet with our boys and provide information about their schools each year.

Our primary goal in the college admissions process is to assist your son in finding the right match for him. To this end, the process is highly personalized and focuses clearly on his desires and the criteria he has established for choosing the right school. We are proud of our college placement record primarily because our graduates report to us that they achieve success at institutions that are right for them.
"Our primary goal in the college admissions process is to assist your son in finding the right match for him.  We are proud of our college placement record primarily because our graduates report to us that they achieve success at institutions that are right for them."
Veronica Pulido-Guzman
Al G. Hill, Jr. ’63 Director of College Counseling

Counseling Services

List of 3 items.

  • Counseling

    • Counseling for students and families requesting assistance in each Division
    • Screening for emotional or behavioral concerns
    • Consultation with parents regarding their son’s academic, behavioral, or emotional needs
    • Referrals to mental health providers in the community
    • Coordination of care within the school for students working with a mental health provider outside of the school

    Individual counseling offered through the school is primarily a short-term, temporary service aimed at providing immediate relief of acute distress, and facilitating more effective education and socialization of the student within the school community. While our counselors provide crisis intervention and regular consultation during normal school hours, these services cannot take the place of long-term, comprehensive psychological counseling. We maintain a list of excellent community mental health providers and regularly arrange for referrals for students and families in need.
  • Academic Support

    • Screening for academic difficulties
    • Referrals for and coordination of psychoeducational assessment
    • Review and evaluation of psychoeducational assessments to determine eligibility for classroom accommodations and supportive intervention
    • Development of individual Learning Plans for eligible students
    • Coordination with College Board and ACT to establish eligibility for accommodations for students with disabilities
    • Support services for students who have accumulated absences due to longterm illness or injury.
  • Health & Wellness Initiatives

    Our psychologists are often in the classroom with students to provide Social Emotional Learning opportunities in service of our mission to produce well-rounded boys who know themselves physically, emotionally, academically, and spiritually.

    • Social Emotional Learning lessons in Lower School classrooms are focused on helping students understand and label their feelings and the feelings of others, and then regulate their feelings to help students achieve emotional well-being and success in interpersonal relationships
    • In Middle School, 5th and-6th-grade students receive 16 45-minute Life Skills classes on topics including growth mindset, decision-making, addiction, building positive relationships, conflict resolution, anger management, and mental health
    • The Upper School counselor coordinates and delivers grade-level learning on topics including relational health, study skills, organization, mental health, and substance abuse prevention.

Meet the Team

Dr. Gabby Reed

Veronica Pulido
Al G. Hill, Jr. ’63 Director of College Counseling
214-346-8361
PulidoV@smtexas.org

Dr. Mary Bonsu

Phoebe Butler
Associate Director of College Counseling
214-346-8429
ButlerP@smtexas.org

Bridget Redondo-Doan, LMFT-S, LPC

Josh Shandera
Associate Director of College Counseling
214-346-8430
ShanderaJ@smtexas.org

Julie Pechersky

Vanessa Leyva
College Counseling Coordinator
214-346-8360
LeyvaV@smtexas.org

Class of 2023 Matriculation by Attendance

Matriculation – The Class of 2023

The University of Texas at Austin (12)
Southern Methodist University (7)
Texas A & M University-College Station (5)
Rice University (4)
United States Air Force Academy (3)
Arizona State University (2)
Brown University (2)
Dartmouth College (2)
Northwestern University (2)
Purdue University-Main Campus (2)
Rhodes College (2)
Stanford University (2)
University of Bristol (2)
University of Notre Dame (2)
University of Pennsylvania (2)
University of Southern California (2)
Vanderbilt University (2)
Washington University in St Louis (2)
Washington and Lee University (2)
Austin College (1)
Austin Community College District (1)
Bates College (1)
Baylor University (1)
Brigham Young University (1)
Bucknell University (1)
Columbia University in the City of New York (1)
Cornell University (1)
Duke University (1)
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach (1)
Emerson College (1)
Florida State University (1)
George Washington University (1)
Georgetown University (1)
Harvard University (1)
Indiana University-Bloomington (1)
Johns Hopkins University (1)
Lehigh University (1)
London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London (1)
New York University (1)
Princeton University (1)
Santa Clara University (1)
Southwestern University (1)
Texas Tech University (1)
The University of Alabama (1)
The University of the South (1)
United States Merchant Marine Academy (1)
United States Military Academy (1)
University of Chicago (1)
University of Colorado - Colorado Springs (1)
University of Georgia (1)
University of Miami (1)
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (1)
University of North Georgia (1)
University of Oxford (1)
University of Tulsa (1)
University of Virginia-Main Campus (1)
Villanova University (1)
Yale University (1)

Map designed by the staff of The ReMarker student newspaper, April 2023 edition.

St. Mark’s School of Texas

10600 Preston Road
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000

About Us

St. Mark’s School of Texas is a private, nonsectarian college-preparatory boys’ day school for students in grades 1 through 12, located in Dallas, Texas. St. Mark’s aims to prepare young men to assume leadership and responsibility in a competitive and changing world.

St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.