College & Career Guidance  

Move forward into your future with excitement, purpose and resilience.

After graduating from Portland Waldorf High School you will step confidently into the world trusting that you will make decisions and choose paths most aligned with your values and perspectives. This is because our faculty, alongside the curriculum, meet you where you’re at, ask you to grow, and offer you support every step of the way.

College & Career Guidance is seamlessly integrated into your time at PWHS. Beginning in 9th grade and building toward more targeted preparedness for life after high school, students receive regular support with transcripts, essays, admissions and financial aid support, standardized testing, early adult life-skills, and much more.

Read our blog post The Waldorf High School Advantage to learn more about our approach and the current climate of college admissions.

Our career and college guidance team commonly turns “Where will I get in?” into “Where do I want to go?”

Given that 95% of our students are regularly accepted to the colleges of their choice, we encourage them to dig a little deeper into what next step is most aligned with who they are and what they value. From there, we guide them towards the university, art or trade school, career path or gap year that makes the most sense for their next stage of life.

Class of 2024: College Acceptance

How our students get into college is as impressive as where they decide to go. Our non-traditional approach can sometimes be not as easy to glean from paper, so many of our students have to use their self-directedness, confidence, and perseverance to take AP exams on their own, write additional essays about course equivalencies, and most importantly, contact admissions and financial aid offices to speak directly with counselors about how to move forward with applications. Admissions offices repeatedly take notice of the maturity and tenacity they show in this process.

  • University of Denver

  • University of Oregon***

  • Loyola Marymount University**

  • Seattle University*

  • Gonzaga University

  • Scripps College

  • Evergreen State University*

  • Reed College**

  • Savannah College of Art and Design*

  • Bard College

  • Whitman College

  • Sarah Lawrence College*

  • Seton Hall University

  • Portland State University

  • Oregon State University

  • Boise State University

  • Washington State University

  • Willamette University

  • Whitman College

  • University of Puget Sound

  • Western Washington University

  • Pacific University*

  • Oberlin College

(asterisks indicate where they chose to attend)

  • Saint Mary’s College of California

  • Mount Holyoke College

  • Macalaster College

  • University of San Diego

  • University of South Carolina

  • University of Colorado

  • University of Santa Clara

  • Chapman University*

  • Arizona State University

  • Central Michigan University

  • Iowa State University

  • Lawrence Technological University

  • New Jersey Institute of Technology

  • North Carolina State University

  • Rochester Institute of Technology

  • Syracuse University

  • Thomas Jefferson University

  • University of Cincinnati

  • University of Houston*

  • University of Kansas

  • University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

  • Virginia Tech

See the complete list of college acceptances over the years.

Alternative Paths

Because our approach gives students a deep confidence in who they are, by the end of 12th grade we trust that they know what the right next step is for them.  For some that means a trade school, for others, that might be heading straight into a job or embarking on a gap year.

After four years in our applied arts program, students have the foundational skills needed for entering trade schools, beginning a business based in arts and crafts, or setting out on a globe-trekking adventure.

In Their Own Words

Hear what alumni have to say about their time at PWHS and how it has prepared them for life beyond high school.