All of my career, I had a handful of students applying to college through Early Action or Early Decision programs, where students get a fall college decision, as long as they submitted a complete application by November 1 or thereabouts. Suddenly, it was like someone had either thrown a switch or posted a Free Beer sign on college admissions. One year, I had about five or six applicants needing a counselor letter for an early application. The next year, I had to write October letters for every student on my caseload except one.
Writing counselor letters became yet another part of the school counselor mystique, where you somehow do something that seems impossible to pull off in the abstract, yet, like schedule changes and junior interviews, time somehow stands still just long enough to nod and say “Get in here and hurry up”, and off we go.
With the blur of October in the rear-view mirror, all that time in November dedicated to writing letters and meeting with seniors suddenly seems unoccupied. A quick look at your schedule from past years will likely show all the things you’re doing in November (and dare I say December) were things you’ve always done then, on top of letter writing. You’re still busy, sure; you’re just not as crazy busy as you were a couple of years ago.
This means two things. First, it likely means you are going home in November with less work to do after dinner, and that’s really not a bad thing at all. A wise educator once said if the teachers were going home with more work to do than the students, there is something seriously wrong with our education system.
Second, it means that, with a few nips and tucks here and there, it’s likely you could find some time in November and December to do just a little more in the office. I’m not talking about some immense new initiative. But I’m not talking about simply filing that stack of papers that have been sitting on your desk since schedule change season either. Something big in stature, but small on time suck.
Like this:
- Think about the process you just led your early college applicants through. There is something at least one college does that either leads you to sigh and say sure, whatever…or leads you to sigh and say are you out of your mind?
- Chances are, you are not alone in your frustration with this idiosyncrasy, but everyone is so busy getting kids into colleges — or fearful the college may take retribution on your applicant if you complain — you let it go.
Don’t let it go. You’re in this business to help students, and if there’s a part of the college process that’s actually hurting kids, pointing this out is as much your job as are, well, schedule changes. Take five minutes and put together an email to the admissions rep of the college that says:
“Hey Jill, I just got through another round of applications, and I’ve always wondered if Northeastern Michigan has considered going self-reporting with high school grades. Despite our best efforts, our process for sending official transcripts is still a hurdle for our kids, and most of them already prepare self-reporting grades for other schools. Making this small change would likely grease the skids for all your applicants, and lead to even more.”
There are huge structural changes that need to be made in college admissions, to be sure. But the little ones matter just as much. You have the time. Champion one of those.
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