It’s the question every prospective family asks, and it deserves a straight answer. Since our first high school graduating class in 2012, WSSD alumni have gone on to a wide range of colleges, universities, and careers — proof that an education built on curiosity and capability prepares students for whatever they choose next.
Where does a Waldorf education lead?
The numbers tell part of it: every WSSD graduate who applies is accepted to college, 98% to one of their top two choices, and 88% earn their degree — well above the national average. But the fuller answer is the range: graduates head into the arts and the sciences, small colleges and research universities, trades and start-ups alike.
94
%
of our graduates go on to college.
A Waldorf education prepares students to think, not just to test — and the results show it. Our graduates leave WSSD with the independence, curiosity, and confidence to succeed in higher education and beyond, whichever path they choose.
Where our graduates go
WSSD graduates choose a wide variety of college majors — from STEM to the creative and practical arts to multi-disciplinary fields that cross traditional lines. Some head straight to four-year universities; others pursue structured gap-year programs in the performing arts, foreign languages, community service, or outdoor leadership. Our alumni include a trained EMT, a firefighter in training, and an apprentice electrician alongside university students. Waldorf education prepares graduates for any and all pathways they choose.
In their own words
The best account of a Waldorf education comes from the people who lived it. Here’s what our graduates say about their years at WSSD — and how the education shaped where they went next.
“In Waldorf education, you’re encouraged to observe things and to figure out why you’re doing what you’re doing and to really ask a lot of questions, which in other schools it seems…that there’s a lot of being told to memorize things.”
Jasper Giglio
Alumnus
“Instead of thinking very narrowly and focused…[I’m] able to relate different aspects of whatever I’m doing, whether that’s a physics project or even a paper that I’m writing, I can always tie it into all of these different experiences that I had at Waldorf.”
Quinten Giglio
Alumnus
“It’s that familiarity that makes us feel like Waldorf students, and when you’re…five years out of the school and you don’t feel that anymore, and you meet someone who has been a Waldorf student, you immediately get rushed back into your memories, your childhood and those experiences that shaped us to be who we are.”
Hunter Ottman
Alumnus
“This is a school that sees the children as individual beings, as spiritual beings, and so the teachers take great care and spend much of their energy on meeting each student where they’re at.”
Amelia Vance
Alumnus
The best way to understand a Waldorf education is to see it.
Tours run regularly throughout the school year — about 60 to 90 minutes, with time to ask the questions a website can’t answer.