Get Counseled!

An important resource in the beginning to explore your college options is your guidance.  Some schools even have specific college counselors to assist students in the various elements of the college search and application process.   Their knowledge can point you in the right direction in the college process and address questions regarding your future career goals.

Many schools work under the model where students have the same counselor throughout high school.  While other schools may shift up counselors throughout a student’s high school career. Neither option is necessarily better than the other.  If you have the same counselor throughout high school, you may have to seal with high student ratios (in some schools the ratio of students to counselors is well over 500:1), so you may not get much face time with your counselor if you don’t make an effort to connect.  Conversely, if you are at a school where counselors rotate you could be at the winning or losing end of the rotation at any one time.  Still, if you don't know your counselor very well, now is the time to make an appointment.

But don't think that you can just drop in to your guidance office and leave with the perfect college match. Your counselor can help only if take the time to talk to him/her about your goals, priorities, transcripts, and so forth. If you already have a list of what you want in a school or a list of possible colleges, bring it. The more information you provide, the more your counselor can aid in your college search. If you have a list of “must haves” for potential schools, bring it to your appointment.  Also, if you have “deal breakers”, bring those too.  If you are so new to the whole process, you may want to spend your first meeting with your counselor as a brainstorming session to put together such a list for future investigations and appointments. 

When you meet with your counselor, don’t be shy about asking questions. Counselors are there to answer students' questions.  Even if you don’t know what questions to ask, tell your counselor that, and let them make suggestions.   Stay in contact with your counselor throughout your college search. Your counselor can help you see whether your grades and courses are good enough for the colleges you're considering, and help you the rest of the journey from high school to college.

Janelle Jalbert

March, 2009