Create a College Prep Power Team:
Use the services of both a College Consultant AND your HS counselor
Use the services of both a College Consultant AND your HS counselor
How the work of a college consultant complements that of the high school counselor
Freshman
Year
Some school counselors give a HS success 101 presentation to teach freshman the basics about time management, good study skills, social
interactions, and teacher expectations.
It’s given as a presentation to a group of students. I provide the
same information to each of my clients, then walk them step by step through implementation of the various
strategies, helping each of them develop his or her skills, providing one on one
coaching and personal encouragement along the way.
Most of the time, high school counselors
explain how to create a 4-year high school course plan during their presentation to the
freshman class. The focus is on ensuring that the students are on track to complete all the high school's graduation requirements in four years. I create a course plan
with each individual student. We review and adjust it regularly as the student
progresses through HS to incorporate the requirements for the level (top tier, state school, etc.) and type of college (liberal arts, engineering, art, etc.) the student is likely to attend..
Sadly, it is not uncommon for HS counselors to have
out of date and/or incomplete information. They simply
have too much to keep up with. I have
seen counseling department brochures from expensive private high schools stating that they administer the ACT’s PLAN
& EXPLORE tests despite the fact that those tests
were discontinued four years ago and have been replaced by the Pre-ACT[1][2][3]. I wonder, if the school counselors haven’t
had time to update their brochure, what else are they not up to date on or able
to keep up with? I have also found high school counselors completely unfamiliar with the admissions requirements for schools many of their students apply to year after year.
While it is extremely helpful to students to start exploring their interests and correlate them to potential careers, high school counselors don't provide support for this process. For my part, to help students explore possible careers that correlate to their interests and personalities , I use a
prestigious online tool, which gives specific career options and provides links to majors
that prepare students for those careers, and colleges that offer those
majors. Using the tool’s results and resources, I begin a series of conversations to facilitate the students' deeper exploration of potential
career fields. I guide each student, showing each one how to explore careers and, ultimately,
job shadow and/or intern with professionals in the field(s) the student is
seriously considering. We explore as many fields as the student would
like. We do this during freshman,
sophomore, and, if needed, junior years. As we progress, we use this information to determine and refine the student's college goals.
Depending on the student’s expressed
interests, I guide my clients to prepare for and start to take AP and/or SAT subject
tests as early as freshman year, if they are considering applying to selective
colleges. My clients are often accumulating
robust credentials and building impressive resumes from the beginning of high school. This, of course, depends on the skills, interests, and goals of each student.
I guide my clients as they select extracurricular
activities from sports, to clubs, and from mere membership to leadership, from
casually exploring their interests beyond the confines of the classroom to engaging in significant research,
internships, and other possibilities.
These extra curricular activities form an important component of student development and the
development of their academic and career interests.
Sophomore Year
At
some point, many school counselors offer much needed depression and suicide
prevention information in addition to assistance with staying on track to
graduate.
High
school counselors do not mentor students to become leaders, improve their
social skills (like conflict resolution, agenda preparation, project planning, etc.) I do those things, along with continuing the
career exploration and college search. My students
will have a preliminary list of schools by the end of sophomore year. Again, I guide students to appropriate
testing and other activities that will both develop them and provide a robust
list of achievements which will be appreciated by admissions at their target schools. My primary focus is on the development of
each student however, I keep the admissions requirements of the student’s
target schools in mind. The vast majority of high school counselors haven't brought up the subject of college preparations yet - and won't until the middle of the junior year.
Junior Year
A few schools offer a practice ACT or SAT on
campus, which is a boon to their students. Additionally, some of them will give classroom talks to introduce the
college search and application process.
By this time, however, my clients have already created an initial
college list of about 25 schools.
My students have been visiting campuses for a couple of years. By having
the rough school list, we have already identified which tests and high school classes should be taken at
what times. Testing for college can
begin as early as freshman year. By
junior year, my clients have a pretty solid idea of what they are looking for
in a college and what it will take for them to get accepted into schools that
provide the opportunities they are looking for.
Some
schools or school districts host a career fair but typically only recommend that
upperclassmen attend. In fact, it would
be better to attend during freshman and sophomore years. For my clients, attending
this during the junior year will be an opportunity to secure internships, not to
start exploring careers.
Some
counselors and schools (or school districts) also host a college fair. For students not working with me or one of my colleagues, this will be the first exposure for their students to the various college options which exist. My clients, on the other hand, are
already focused on schools that meet their requirements. They will be asking refined questions if they even take the time to attend it. College fairs are
not opportunities to meet with professors and students, but opportunities to
gather marketing materials and speak to the various schools’ alumni representatives
or admissions reps(salesmen), which is valuable at the outset of the college
search, but not adequate later on.
By the end of the junior year, my clients will have their school list finalized and will be pre-writing their application essays. Over the summer, the bulk of the application preparation tasks will be completed.
Senior Year
Most
schools hold a college planning night and encourage their seniors to attend. Occasionally, they will offer these in the Spring and invite the juniors to attend. Nonetheless, late junior year or the
fall of senior year is quite late in the process; applications open July 1 and August
1 and financial aid applications open October 1. Again, it is not at all uncommon for the
presentations to include outdated or inaccurate information.
School counselors mention almost about financial aid or college funding
and, if they do, it will be very basic information. It will include no strategies, even general
ones, beyond the counsel to be sure to file the forms. As a college consultant, I integrate each client’s financial
considerations and funding strategies into my work from freshman year on, and
complete and file the financial aid application forms on behalf of my client families
during the senior year.
Some
high school counselors have 1:1 meetings with each senior to explore and
explain the application process. For
many, this will be the first one on one meeting with their counselor that is
not about class selection and graduation requirements. Having this meeting is good, but again comes too
late in the process. Early application deadlines
are October 15 or November 1 for most schools and December 1 for a few. Therefore, having an introduction to the
application meeting in September is really late in the cycle. Early in the summer, I sit with each client and prepare and application strategy and determine which application(s) to use in order to best showcase their accomplishments. My clients have their essays and resumes
finished in the summer and start the application completion process as soon as
the applications open. They will have
already taken care of getting teacher counselor recommendations and transcripts. I give them guidelines to share with their
teachers so excellent recommendations are written, particularly for students
targeting highly selective colleges.
High School counselors don’t guide students
step by step through the application process, determining which applications to
use when there are options, staying on top of the various deadlines, which
application strategy to use at each school, and they don’t work with each
student over several months to craft application essays. In contrast, I do these things one on one with each of my clients.
Another way which I supplement the work of the high school counselor is my perspective. Every
high school offers some sort of advanced courses. For
many, that includes Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Depending on what is
available, students targeting more selective schools may need to augment those
offerings. High school counselors usually
think only in terms of what their high school offers. A few will incorporate commonly used supplemental course offering. In comparison,
I have at least three approaches to this situation for an academically
gifted student.
I always try to work collaboratively with each student’s
high school counselor(s). I urge my
clients to meet with their school counselors often throughout their high school
years. This enables their high school counselors will
be able to write meaningful recommendations for them.
When should we start with a college consultant?
Most
people wait until junior year to start.
As you can see from the description above, students will benefit in proportion to the length of time we work together. Waiting until junior year to start significantly limits what I or any college consultant can do because the
student’s courses have been selected, there are limited opportunities for
testing left, the time for the college evaluation process is very truncated, and the college
list determines the testing, courses, and extracurricular achievements required
to be a successful applicant. The
student’s results are negatively impacted. Additionally the personal encouragement and mentoring given as the student develops is also limited.
The
difference in the process can be succinctly stated: the later you start, the
fewer options you have and the poorer your results will be. Students who are even considering applying to
highly selective or selective schools need the time and guidance to develop
themselves and accumulate the accomplishments, etc. needed to have a reasonable
chance of acceptance. If there are
financial considerations, starting early will also afford the opportunity to
address them as well, utilizing several strategies that can significantly lower
the net cost of college.
Students
who need more time to ponder their options will also need more time working one
on one will a college consultant.
I
meet with parents separately to evaluate the financial side of things. I provide guidance on both the need based and
merit based aid sides, as well as private scholarships, if desired.
I provide
my clients with a number of proprietary materials including an achievements
resume guide, a campus visit guide, a financial aid primer, sample admissions
interview questions, and other resources.
I make them available to students as they are needed. I also have resources such as the 100 Most
Generous American Colleges & Universities, which I utilize and provide to
clients.
A Word about High School Counselors
Most high schools in the US, whether public or
private, have 1 counselor for every 400-900 students. These hard working school counselors handle class
schedules, behavioral issues, transfers, testing (AP, PSAT, etc.), emotional
issues, administrative issues, college visits, parent questions, IEPs, 504s, etc. While the
American School Counselor Association recommends 250 students per
counselor, their online records from 2013/2014 reveal that only three states
have a student/counselor ratio less than that; the other 47 all have
significantly higher ratios. Nine states have average ratios of over
600 students/counselor! Even at the ideal 250 students/counselor, if the
counselor has students from all four grades, s/he will have 63 seniors,
which is still FAR too many to thoroughly prepare for college and other
post high school situations, even if that was the only task those counselors had to accomplish.
High school counselors usually also offer college prep resources to their students but have only a very
limited amount of time to give individual guidance. While it is wonderful that they do provide some
tools and resources to the students, we all know that tools in the hands of the
ignorant are rarely used very effectively.
Tools in the hands of seasoned experts, however, typically yield significantly better
results. I am a trained expert and I have been guiding students through the
entire college preparation, selection, and application processes since 2004.
HS counselors provide most of their college prep guidance via
small group counseling and classroom guidance lessons. Individual counseling is available as needed,
of course, for the distressed, those needing to change their schedules,
etc. Periodic
check ins vary from
school to school but tend to be short meetings that happen very
infrequently
and are primarily focused on ensuring that the student will meet all of
the
graduation requirements or on gathering information about where students
will be going to college so the high school can keep records. Sadly,
it often not until senior year that counselors meet with students one
on one to discuss their post high school plans. This limits the scope
of these meetings; it is simply too late for a number of options - if
the student hasn't already begun on his or her own, it's too late to
start and be successful.
For more information:
Katherine O'Brien is the Founder of Celtic College Consultants. Information regarding their college consulting services, as well as an option to request a meeting to discuss your family's situation, are on her website: CelticCollegeConsultants.com
For more information:
Katherine O'Brien is the Founder of Celtic College Consultants. Information regarding their college consulting services, as well as an option to request a meeting to discuss your family's situation, are on her website: CelticCollegeConsultants.com
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