A Fond Farewell

Dean of College Advising Tim Pratt P’15,’18 moves on after 25 years at the School

BY JODY RECORD

Tim Pratt has spent much of his life in boarding schools. His father taught English at Phillips Exeter Academy and Pratt graduated from Exeter before earning a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in English from Middlebury College. When he departs St. Paul’s School at the end of June, he leaves behind a career that spans 35 years at boarding schools, 25 of them at SPS — years of teaching and advising college-bound students that he hopes have made a difference.

The dean of college advising since 2009, Pratt found his way to Millville a decade earlier, hired first as a humanities teacher and boys varsity head hockey coach. In 2004, he became an associate director of college advising; five years later, he became the department’s dean. Prior to SPS, Pratt taught history and English for a combined 10 years at Hebron Academy and Tabor Academy.

“After 15 years in the classroom, I was excited to move into administration,” Pratt says of the change in direction that has defined his past two decades at SPS. “I wanted to maintain positive relationships with students, and when the college advising opportunity presented itself, it felt like a perfect fit. From my perspective, it has certainly proved to be just that.”

Noting that one constant of college admissions is change, Pratt says that one of the biggest shifts he has witnessed in his 20 years of college advising has come about as a result of COVID-19: a recent growth in application numbers that he describes as massive.

“Since the pandemic and the subsequent decision by many schools to drop their standardized testing requirements, the most selective colleges across the United States have seen applications increase dramatically,” Pratt notes. “Some pools have grown by 30% to 40%. Others have doubled. As a result, acceptance rates have dropped precipitously — some are now below 5% — and students have had to adjust their expectations around the process. Our job has always been to help students find an array of colleges that match their interests and academic profiles and to encourage them to widen their lens. That aspect of the work has become both more challenging and more vital in the past few years.”

To that end, Pratt is quick to highlight the work of his team of “wonderful and committed colleagues” in the College Advising office, describing himself as “proud of the strides we’ve made in shifting the focus away from a handful of colleges and universities so that students and families appreciate the range of outstanding opportunities there are in higher ed.”

Unsurprisingly, those colleagues are equally quick to turn the praise back to Pratt. Associate Director of College Advising Erin Ainor, who has worked with Pratt for the past 13 years, describes him as an “incredible mentor” who has set the tone for collaboration not only within the office but with students and their parents. “He’s led the way for broader thinking for all of us about what makes for a happy and successful college fit,” Ainor says.

That particular exercise is one Pratt describes as an extension of what students learn throughout their time at SPS. “We ask them to think critically, to ask essential questions, to research meaningfully, to express themselves authentically and articulately, and to remain open-minded,” he says. “These are all skills they’ve developed by the time they get to us, thanks to the good work done by our faculty.”

Pratt has firsthand knowledge of just how much work the faculty do, and their impact on students. He also knows what it’s like to be an SPS parent — two of his three adult sons are SPS graduates. “The experience of being an SPS parent provided me with a rich and different perspective,” he says. “I feel that it helped me develop empathy for our parents and what the experience is like for them, especially with their kids far away. I’d like to think it has made me a better college adviser.”

In addition to coaching both hockey and squash, Pratt has served as head of house and director of strategic initiatives. He also has been involved in School Year Abroad, including teaching in France for a year at the same school where his father taught decades earlier. He leaves St. Paul’s School for a new position with the Spring Education Group, a California-based pre-K-12 private school network where he will be the director of college advisory, working with college counselors while helping to build the college programs at several high schools the Group plans to launch.

“Whether teaching, coaching or advising, I have always tried to be a positive support for students and to meet them where they are,” Pratt says. “It has been a true privilege to work with so many amazing students and colleagues over the years.”