Approaching the College Search: Guidance and College Counselors

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A Word About Guidance and College Counselors

Unless you attend a well-heeled prep school (where there will be plenty of individualized attention, though the application rules may be more restrictive), you will likely find your high school's guidance office to be overwhelmed. The combination of too many students and insufficient manpower can lead even the most well-meaning counselors to give you short shrift or to suggest schools to you based on an incomplete understanding of your needs and interests.

This situation can be immensely frustrating, and, if you don't take control of the process, can end up pigeonholing you into a category you might not want to be in. Fortunately, there are ways to ensure that you get the attention you need from your overburdened guidance office or college counselor.

First of all, always be polite and respectful to these people. For one thing, they are ridiculously overworked and underappreciated. For another, in many cases they wield a lot of power. Many high school guidance counselors, particularly senior ones who have been around awhile and have come to know many college admissions officers personally, can significantly affect your chances of admission positively or negatively with a well-placed word or two about you when these admissions officers come to your school, or with a good suggestion about what to em­phasize on your application to a particular school. These people decide how to prioritize the dozens and dozens of recommendation letters they have to write each season. They hold a wealth of historical knowledge about which candidates from your high school were successful in gaining admission to a particular school, what their credentials were, and what, if anything, might be transferable to your application. Finally, they also know a lot about trends in the admissions game and how your high school is presently viewed by different colleges and universities.

It is important to get on the "good side" of the high school guidance counselor assigned to you—and there are very specific and effective ways to do this. First, if you haven't done so already, stop by during a free period or before or after school and introduce yourself. Shake hands and make eye contact. In the spring of your junior year, before SAT season but after the crush of the college admissions process has subsided, schedule an appointment with your counselor and bring along a copy of your updated résumé to help the counselor quickly get better acquainted with who you are and what you are all about. If you are reading this at the beginning of your senior year, do this right away. Have a frank conversation about your grades and where you hope to attend college. Seek the counselor's advice, but don't be afraid to push back if he or she suggests schools that you don't like or that you feel are not good fits for you. If you know what your top-choice school or two is already, make that known. Finally, as the meeting ends, thank the person for his or her time, promise to keep him or her up-to-date about your scores and accomplishments, and pledge to show up for your next meeting with a well-researched list of schools to discuss.

There is nothing a high school guidance counselor appreciates more than a polite, respectful, and well-prepared student. Guidance counselors are in place to help you—but you first need to be able to help yourself.

Additional Resources

The Insider's Guide to Colleges

Barron's Profiles of American Colleges

The Princeton Review's Complete Book of Colleges

U.S. News and World Report Ultimate College Guide

www.collegeboard.com (database on colleges, scholarships, financial aid, and majors; online registration for SATs; downloadable applications)

www.usnews.com/usnews/edu (college profiles)

www.collegebound.net (advice and resources for college search)

www.nytimes.com/college (searchable directory of articles on majors or fields of study)

www.collegenews.com (college newspapers)

www.campustours.com (links to virtual campus tours, maps, and pictures)

www.collegiatechoice.com (handheld college walking tour videos"for sale)