Junior counselor meetings have started, and despite the counselors’ best efforts, students leave the 11th grade woefully underprepared for the college application process.
A junior can expect to leave a counselor meeting with a completed schedule for their senior year, information about Naviance, advice for securing recommendation letters, and cover the entire college application process. The junior leaves being told nothing about early action, early decision, financial aid, college essays, likely letters, their reach schools, or appropriate safety schools. The list goes on and on.
What is wrong with our current system and how can IHS more effectively prepare juniors to take on the college application process? The two primary shortfalls with the current system are the lack of information and the lack of personal attention.
Firstly, a student ill-informed about the college application process will not know what to do when met with the plethora of circumstances that can arise from their ignorance. What should one do after being rejected? Waitlisted? Deferred or accepted? How and when should one search for colleges to apply to? How late can I stop searching? Which colleges are my “safety” and my “reach” schools? When is the best time to take the SATs and ACTs? Merely learning about the SATs, ACTs, recommendation letters, and Naviance as one does in a counselor meeting is not sufficient preparation for the college application process.
Secondly, a counselor who does not have a personal connection to his or her students cannot properly aid in their college application process. A personal relationship is needed to suggest colleges right for the student and to write recommendation letters rich in detail about the student’s attributes—two crucial parts of college applications. If a counselor does not know what his or her students are passionate about and how much work they can handle, how can they possibly assist the students in a meaningful way? Although brag sheets can provide personal information about the student to the counselors, by the time they are filled out, most decisions regarding the college applications have already been made rendering the information ineffectual. Although it is the student’s task to search and apply for colleges but the counselors must equip the student with the tools needed to carry out his or her task. Searching for colleges is especially challenging, because it is hard for anyone to assess themselves objectively.
These two issues arise from infrequent counselor meetings; they are too few and far between for the counselor to provide enough information for the student, let alone establish a personal connection. There is only time to briefly introduce Naviance and blaze through SAT, ACT, and recommendation letter information. This spartan approach to the college application preparatory process can have devastating consequences for the student.
A clear solution is to increase the number of mandatory counselor meetings. This would give more time for the counselors to provide students with college information and to develop a personal connection. Each student could meet with his or her counselor following every quarter to review performance, discuss what a student’s plans for the future, and prepare the student for the college application process.
Additionally, more seminars should be provided to students, particularly underclassmen, and their families that would explain the college application process. The current “Getting into School Night” is a fine way to get informed but does even not reach all juniors. To inform more students, more seminars like the current ones should be provided.
This plan, though, would require hiring more counselors. This would be an excellent use of district money. With the current number of counselors, they are unable to focus enough on the personal side of preparing for college applications. They must be able to devote more of their time to matching students to colleges, and to writing more personalized recommendation letters.
These policies would give students more time to think and plan, as well as more personalized guidance for their college applications. Whether by informational seminars or increased counselor meetings, students need to be more informed about the college application process; it is one of the best investments IHS can make in its students.