Mount St. Dominic Earns “Gold with Access” on 2024 AP Honor Roll

Mount St. Dominic Academy is proud to announce that it has been recognized as a "Gold with Access" school on the 2024 AP School Honor Roll by the College Board. This distinguished honor highlights the Mount’s commitment to providing rigorous AP courses while ensuring equitable access for all students.

The Mount prides itself on its innovative approach to education that’s tailored specifically to how girls learn best. The small class sizes and personalized instruction are hallmarks of the school's success, contributing to a college acceptance rate of 100 percent.

“We are incredibly proud to be recognized as a 'Gold with Access' school on the 2024 AP School Honor Roll. This honor reflects our commitment to academic excellence and providing equitable opportunities for all of our students to thrive in challenging, college-level coursework. Our students’ achievements are a testament to their hard work and dedication, and we are deeply grateful for the unwavering support of our faculty and community," said Dr. Karen D’Avino, Principal of Mount St. Dominic Academy.

To achieve this recognition, Mount St. Dominic Academy ensured that 40% or more of its graduating cohort took at least one AP exam, 25% or more scored a 3 or higher, and 2% or more took five or more AP exams, including at least one in the 9th or 10th grade.

Trevor Packer, Head of AP and Instruction at the College Board, emphasized the value of AP programs: “Research shows students who take AP courses and exams are more likely to attend college and graduate on time. Even for those who don’t earn college credit, AP coursework provides early exposure to college-level work and contributes to a college-going culture.”

The "Access" distinction underscores the Academy’s effective commitment to equitable access for all students, ensuring that the percentage of AP exam takers who are from underrepresented and/or socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds mirrors the overall student demographics.

This recognition places Mount St. Dominic Academy among a select group of schools across the U.S. and Canada and reflects the school’s dedication to fostering a college-going culture and maximizing college readiness.

"A Mount education helps our students get to where they want to go—from some of the best colleges to the courtroom, operating room, director's chair, C-suite, and everywhere in between," added Principal D’Avino. “After MSDA, our alumnae are not only prepared to embark on the journey to adulthood, college, and careers, but are empowered to be the positive change they hope to see in society.”

About Mount St. Dominic Academy: MSDA, established by the Sisters of St. Dominic, is an independent, Catholic college preparatory school dedicated to the education of young women from a variety of ethnic, religious, and economic backgrounds. Located in the heart of bucolic Caldwell, New Jersey, the Mount has been empowering young women in the Dominican tradition since 1892. Mount St. Dominic Academy is a proud member of the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the International Coalition of Girls' Schools, the Dominican Association of Secondary Schools, the National Catholic Educational Association, and the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. The Mount is also a recipient of the 2024 College Board AP® Computer Science Female Diversity Award for its outstanding achievement in fostering high female representation in both AP Computer Science A (CSA) and AP Computer Science Principles (CSP), and earned “Gold with Access” on the 2024 College Board AP School Honor Roll, the 2023 Best of Essex Gold Medal in the "Best in Private School” category, and has been named a Niche A+ 2024 Best School, a distinction achieved by only 2.5% of schools in the country. Visit the Mount for more information.