College Information

Prep Community

St. Joseph's Preparatory School, one of forty-five (45) Jesuit secondary institutions in the United States, is located just north of center city Philadelphia. The present student body of 985 students includes residents of:

• The City of Philadelphia (20.67%)
• Pennsylvania Suburbs (58.35%)
• New Jersey (20.98%)
  

Accredited by: Middle States Association; Jesuit Secondary Education Association; State of Pennsylvania

 

Academic Program

General: The Prep offers a four year, eight semester, college preparatory program which is geared to academically talented students. The staff includes sixty-four teachers, almost 91% of whom possess a Master's Degree.

Content: Traditional, focusing on the academic disciplines associated with preparation for a liberal arts education.

Required are: 6 years total of a Modern Language and Latin, i.e. three years of each or four of one, two of another, English (4 years), Fine Arts (1 semester), or it may be fulfilled by the successful completion of a course in Art, Music or Drama, History (3 years including 1 year of Government), 4 years of Mathematics or 3 years of Mathematics and 1 year of Computer Science, Religious Studies (4 years) and Science (3 years).

To graduate from St. Joseph's Preparatory School, a student must:

• earn a minimum of 26 academic credits
• satisfy the state of Pennsylvania requirement for physical education
• fulfill community service requirements through our Ignatian Service Program

Special Features: Advanced Placement courses are offered in 17 areas of study including Computer Science, English, History, Latin, Mathematics, Psychology, and Science. Many of the Prep's AP students receive college credit as a result of their performance in the Advanced Placement Examinations. All students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses are required to take the Advanced Placement Examinations.

 

Marking System

Grade	Quality Point Equivalent	Numerical Equivalency
A B+ B C+ C D+ D F	4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.0	100 - 93 92 - 89 88 - 85 84 - 81 80 - 77 76 - 73 72 - 70 Below 70
I	The Student's work is incomplete

 

St. Joseph's Prep no longer ranks its students, a decision derived from the philosophy which encourages care for the individual, not necessarily in comparison to others, and also from a recognition that the Prep is a school with a selective student body and a rigorous college preparatory curriculum; therefore, class rank is not an accurate measure of individual achievement and could be misleading in determining a student's ability to successfully complete college work.

Disciplinary issues are private matters between a student, his family and the school. As long as a student remains a member of our school community, it can be assumed that he is in good standing and not subject to any extended interventions.

 

College Admission

In the fall of 2010, 94 colleges and universities sent representatives to meet with prospective Prep students. There are three college counselors who work directly with the students on school selection, application preparation and scholarship/financial aid awards. Students are given a personal account with the college planning Naviance Family Connections software at the start of their freshman year. Every year the College Counselors meet with students in all grades, whether in classroom sessions for the underclassmen or individual meetings for the upperclassmen.

CEEB Code Number: 393480

 

College Entrance Examination

Mean SAT Profile for the Class of 2011

Verbal: 617
Math: 633
Writing: 625
Composite: 1875

 

College Acceptances: 2011

1,056 acceptances were received by the 233 Prep seniors who filed 1,650 applications in 2010. Over 99% of the seniors class will be attending institution of higher learning.

The Class of 2011 were accepted by 197 colleges, universities, and post-grad prep schools and will matriculate at 88 different schools. These 88 schools include 39 private, non Catholic schools, 20 public colleges and universities, 26 Catholic institutions, 2 military academies and 1 international university. Of the Catholic colleges, 11 are Jesuit.