School Counselors, as seen by a College Admission Officer

By: Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

College admission officers work hard, long days.  Fall brings many days far from home, visiting five or six high schools a day, and meeting students and parents at college fairs at night.  Winter finds them reading student applications, a labor of love to be sure-- but a challenge when you have to work through up to 30 files a day.  By the time spring comes around, and you've finished your last phone call with a student who didn't get in, it's time for a well-deserved rest.

Unless you're Jessica Fowle.  An associate director of admission at Kalamazoo College, Jess launched a private practice in college counseling this spring, guiding students and families through the college selection process, and helping them find colleges that meet their individual needs.  Jess is doing this work in addition to the many hours she volunteers doing work for the Michigan Association for College Admission Counseling, and her work at Kalamazoo. While she's just getting started, Jess has an impressive number of clients, and can work with students from around the world, thanks to the power of technology.

What would inspire someone to take on this demanding work on top of a busy professional life, and what does that say about our work as school counselors?  Jess explains.

It is spring, and commencement is in the air--the season of new beginnings, of change, of emerging from a chrysalis and spreading one's wings to embark on new adventures. This year, in the midst of my fifteenth year as a college admission professional, I find myself stretching and embarking on a new role as an independent college counselor.

This evolution comes from a personal desire to work with students and families in a more meaningful way than I can as an admission representative for a single school, but also from a recognition of the dire need for great college counseling. As this column has addressed many times before, the nationwide student:counselor ratio is 471:1; in my home state of Michigan the ratio is even higher at 706:1.  These numbers mean that however well-prepared and passionate, counselors only have a few minutes per year to meet with each student. Even when (and I say when with eternal optimism) our education system is able to move the high school counselor caseload down to the recommended 250 students and ensure that these counselors are adequately trained in college and career counseling, there will be students and families who want or need more focused, individualized, personal attention.

My new role provides an eye-opening new view into the world of college admission. From the outside it is an overwhelming web of nearly 4,000 institutions from which to choose, and a population of high school students who have no frame of reference for what being a college student is actually like (romantic comedies about fraternity parties and cheering at Big 10 football games notwithstanding).

In a flood of emails and brochures from colleges, overdramatic media articles instilling terror about being admitted to and then paying for college, and intense questions from Uncle Billy at the Thanksgiving table, it's no wonder that an inherently anxiety-ridden process becomes completely overwhelming.

From my perspective as an admission counselor, it both frustrates and amazes me that students and parents don't read official communication from our institution about important things like scholarship and financial aid deadlines. "How can they ignore opportunities for more money? They tell me this is their top choice, but don't respond to my outreach to meet with them!" My internal and water cooler dialogue is frustrated and impatient with "kids these days."

As a college counselor, I get a whole new perspective of how little preparation students and families have for this onslaught of information and pressure, and how little time they have in their busy lives to assimilate, absorb, and triage this information into a coherent plan for the college search. The language in which I am fluent--that of rolling and precipice deadlines, superscoring, and loan default rates--is nearly incomprehensible and definitely overwhelming even to the savviest high school student.

The college counselor serves as a port in the storm, translating this new language, helping students tune out the external noise to focus on their strengths, personality, learning style and preparation. To help weed through those 4,000 colleges to find a manageable number for consideration, and then walk them through whittling that number to the one that they choose to attend. As an independent counselor with many years of admission experience under my belt, I have the luxury of really focusing on each student's individual situation, laying out a plan for both the nuts and bolts of the college visit and application process as well as the deeper moments of self-reflection. It is a joy to help these students navigate this path, which is much more varied and personal than the path I traveled with them as an admission counselor.

Jess invites you to send your thoughts and comments to jessica.fowle@cactoday.com

The “Other Duty” That Tests a Counselor’s Nerves

By: Patrick O'Connor  Ph.D

High school counselors across America are breathing a sigh of relief, as they say goodbye to the May chore they like the least—supervising Advanced Placement testing. Brand new counselors know this is the biggest job that falls under the contractual obligation of “other duties as assigned”, but they can’t really understand the demands of alternate testing, pencil sharpening, DVD tracking, and test administration reports, until they live through at least one May, where they commit the College Board phone number to memory.

Counselors understand the importance of relevant testing and assessment, especially since it plays a vital role in career and college counseling, as well as course placement.  But knowing what the results mean and organizing the logistics of testing are two different things, and only one is an appropriate use of counselors’ time.  If you’re trying to figure out how to replace your one-on-one testing manual time with more time for students, consider one of these strategies when talking about this important issue with your supervisor:

Agree on the duties you do and don’t have.  Counselors often swear their job description is being made up as the school year goes along, and depends on which teachers are absent that day, or how bad the weather is.  Every educator needs to be flexible, but if math teachers can be confident they’ll be teaching math every day, aren’t counselors entitled to the same assurance?

That’s where the Annual Agreement comes in.  Designed by the American School Counselor Association, the Annual Agreement is a document completed by a school counselor and their principal that outlines the counselor’s duties every year.  From outlining the hours the counseling office will be open to allocating percentages of time to various duties, the Annual Agreement gives principals and counselors a chance to create an overview of the counselor’s role in the school that’s based on planning, and not reaction. Type in Annual Agreement - ASCA National Model in your search engine, and it will pop up.

Explore the administrative support you need.  It helps if administrators see the big picture of what counselors do; it helps even more when administrators offer support that advances the work counselors do.  I did some research in 2000 that discovered five key areas where counselors want administrative support for their work—and a tool exists to measure just how much support you’re getting.  29 questions will help you get a better understanding of the support your administrator is getting, and how you can begin to get more support in the areas where it’s needed.  A self-scoring copy of the questionnaire is available at no charge; e-mail me atcollegeisyours@comcast.net and ask for a copy of the administrative support questionnaire.

Ask about your administrator’s counseling goals.   Many counselors would rather talk directly about their concerns, and there’s an easy way to do that with your other duties.  By asking the principal to outline their goals for the school counseling program, the counselor understands what parts of the program are valued, and which may be misunderstood.

Once you know what your principal is looking for, you can gather data to show them how well those counseling components are or aren’t working—and then have a discussion how those results could be even better, if only you had more time to focus on them.  This can get your administrator’s attention and support in ways surveys often can’t—and it makes your counseling challenges more real to them.

These approaches have led to great growth for counseling programs.  Consider the one that would best work with your administrator, and give it a try. 

First Ever Standards Created for College Counselor Training

By: Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

It may not seem like summer is just around the corner, but the month that comes after a May of awards assemblies, testing, and graduation audits will bring graduation, longer days, and weather warm enough for ice cream.  Evidence of June’s anticipated arrival is starting to show up in your e-mail, where announcements are cropping up for summer professional development opportunities in everything from bullying prevention to making the most of a new scholarship tracker.

The good news is that more and more of these training opportunities relate to college counseling—and not a moment too soon.  College Board surveys show about half of all school counselors felt their graduate school training in college counseling was insufficient; more important, polls of recent high school graduates felt show they felt their high school counselor was of little or no help in the college selection process.  It’s certainly true that high caseloads and other duties (like testing and awards assemblies) make it more challenging to talk about college with students—but, as one counselor told me, even if your caseload is 25, you still need to know what you’re talking about.

Summer training in college advising can fill the void, but only if the content meets your needs.  If your graduate school training is like that of most counselors, you may not know what you don’t know—and that can make choosing the right college training hard to discover.

That’s where the Michigan Association for College Admission Counseling steps in.  Realizing counselors will have many choices in professional development, MACAC has adopted a list of content standards for professional development course in college counseling.  Based on the work of  counselor trainers Bob Bardwell, Trish Hatch, and your truly, this is the first set of competencies believed to be passed by any counseling organization that helps counselors evaluate the quality of training in college counseling by listing the competencies the course should address.  There may be a number of ways to teach college counseling, but at the end of any of the approaches, counselors need specific skills.  MACAC’s list attempts to help counselors evaluate their professional development opportunities by focusing on outcomes that will help them be more effective college counselors next fall—that’s the best way to make the most of your training time next summer.

The document is by no means complete,  but it’s a start, and complete enough to let counselors know that if the college counseling training you’re considering doesn’t address these crucial outcomes, it’s time to keep looking.  Here’s the list:

Michigan Association for College Admission Counseling
Content Standards for Courses in Counseling in the College Selection Process

General competencies

·         Understanding and application of various college admission choice theory

·         Knowledge of psychological and family issues that may be present in the college admissions process

·         Understanding the relationship between models of comprehensive school counseling programs (i.e.: ASCA National Model) and the delivery of college admission counseling

·         Understanding of the importance of creating partnerships with faculty, school administrators, community leaders, and community-based organizations in delivering quality advice in college admission counseling

·         Awareness of the wide array of different kinds of colleges, including community colleges, research colleges, and liberal arts colleges

·         Admissions requirements for community colleges and public and private colleges/universities

·         Understanding of alternatives to college, including gap years, postgraduate years, and deferrals

·         Ability to discern when to discuss postsecondary options other than college with a student

·         Knowledge of college application timelines and deadlines

·         Knowledge of the unique needs of special populations going through the college search and application process(i.e., multicultural populations, international students, students with disabilities, gifted students and student athletes)

·         Ability to find resources available to counselors in the college admissions process (i.e., print materials, software, web sites and organizations)

·         Awareness of college admission testing options and the use (and misuse) of standardized testing

·         Ability to write effective letters of recommendation for multiple purposes – two year, four year, vocational training program or employment

·         Ability to support teachers in the writing of effective letters of recommendation for these same purposes

·         Getting the most out of the visiting a college campus

·         Establishing strong relationships with colleges and college admissions officers

·         Hosting a successful high school visit by a college admission officer

·         Awareness of legal and ethical issues confronting the college counselor

·         Knowledge of financial aid applications and process, including the role of the FAFSA

·         Ability to collect, analyze and synthesize college admission counseling data on the individual, school, state and national levels

·         Being able to identify, close and eliminate the opportunity and achievement gaps for all students in regard to higher education

·         Understanding the professional organizations and resources available for school counselors

·         Being aware of and to discuss current trends, issues and controversies in college admissions

·         The ability to develop, implement, manage, and evaluate a college admission counseling curriculum that meets the needs of the students and families served by the school

·         Knowledge of how to evaluate the efforts of a college admission counseling program, and how to share those results with a wide variety of audiences

Specific competencies:

·         Assist a high school student through the college search and application process, including the online application process

·         Assist a student and family to complete the FAFSA, other required financial aid forms, and searches for funds for college.

·         Work with a student who has applied via various types of admission decision programs, minimally early decision, early action and restricted early action

·         Coordinate and organize a college tour, college fair or educational program for students and families

·         Work with a student from an underrepresented population (i.e.: student of color, low income, special needs, LGBT, homeless or undocumented)

·         Use college or high school specific data to inform decision making

·         Apply the ethical guidelines of the Statement of Principles of Good Practice of the National Association for College Admission Counseling

This list was originally developed by Bob Bardwell of Monson High School (MA), and enhanced with suggestions by members of the MACAC Executive Board.

Approved by the MACAC Executive Board, December 11, 2014.

Three Keys to a Successful National College Signing Day

By: Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

High schools are making a pretty big deal out of National College Signing Day, which comes up this Friday.  Long established as the official end of the college search process, May 1 is the day most college-bound students must send a deposit to the college they will attend in the fall. 

In the last few years, high schools are using National College Signing Day as an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of their seniors. This is often done with a senior breakfast, a school assembly, or simply encouraging seniors to wear college gear on Friday, but the idea is the same—honor the hard work of the students who will soon leave high school, and show the community everything young people are capable of achieving.

These celebrations usually go off without a hitch, but not always, or not for everyone.  As you blow up your balloons for this coming Friday, keep an eye out for students who may be seeing National College Signing Day  a little differently—especially those who:

Decide that National College Signing Day is plural There is a sense among counselors that more and more students are deciding to keep their college options open after May 1 by putting enrollment deposits in at more than one school.  This may seem like a great choice for the student, but colleges see it as a nightmare. Colleges A, B, and C all think Susie will be on campus in the fall, and when she calls Colleges B and C in mid-August to say she won’t be there, they can’t fill that seat.

If that happens 20 times at even a large college, that can lead to cancelled classes, fewer student services, and a less enjoyable college experience for all—and it can easily happen at College A, where 20 other students have done unto Susie what Susie did to Colleges B and C.

It’s time to end this collegiate version of mutually assured destruction.  Tell your students to make only one deposit, and to make that deposit on May1.

Had no choice with the decision they made  This is a very exciting time for students who have finally sorted through the multiple college offers they received—but less so for some of the students where their several college applications returned only one offer, or none.  For many of these students, it was hard enough watching everyone else’s joy when admission offers were received. National College Signing Day could be an occasion for them to relive that disappointment all over again—and that’s no way to head into graduation.

This doesn’t mean a school should cancel their plans, but it is a reason to stay alert.  Ask your teachers to keep an eye out for seniors who are unusually quiet on Friday.  They may be struggling with something other than their college choice, but no matter what it is, you need to know.

Have a future that doesn’t include postsecondary planning Most high schools have expanded this Friday’s celebration to include more than students who are going to a four-year college, adding students going into skilled trades training, community college, and more.  That’s a good start, but it can leave out those who are heading into the military, those apprenticing, and those going directly into the world of work.

Statistics may show that college training leads to better salaries, but you aren’t celebrating statistics this Friday; you’re celebrating students, and they all need the loudest cheer you can offer as they enter a world that’s tricky at best. Make sure everyone feels entitled to a piece of cake.

Picking a College? Don't Do This

By: Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

It's getting down to the wire for members of the Class of 2015, who have until May 1 to put down a deposit at the one (and only one) college they'll be attending. I tell my students there's only so much data they can use in this decision, and they should turn off the data sources around April 20 and follow their well-informed hearts. To support that point, here are a few final ideas on what not to consider in a college decision.

A major you made up in the first place. Now that it's over, you can tell the truth -- you really don't know what you want to study in college. You said it was going to be Archaeology because that's the first thing that came to mind at your college interview, or when Uncle Jim asked you in front of everyone at Thanksgiving, and, well, you couldn't really say "I don't know," right?

If you've somehow ended up with three colleges that offer little else besides classes like From Darth Vader to Indiana Jones: A Family Tree That Needs Pruning, it may be time to re-evaluate your list, since archaeology isn't your true calling after all. Yes, this may raise the ire of your parents, but better to tell them now than after you've earned a year's worth of credits that won't transfer.

Undecided is the most popular major for college freshmen, and with good reason. If you need time to sort out your future, pick a college that gives you that time. Uncle Jim will be pleased in the long run -- more important, so will you.

Where your high school sweetheart goes. I know exactly how you feel. You can easily see the two of you together when you announce your run for the White House as the high school sweethearts whose love lasted forever. That would be great.

Here's the thing -- not all high school sweethearts go to the same college. They go to different schools, find a way to share those experiences with each other, graduate from college, and start their life together. Two different lives that are one.

It can work that way for you, too. If nursing school is their thing, you can support them -- but you don't have to go there, too. I mean, they were in marching band while you ran cross country, and that worked out, right? They follow their passions, you follow yours, and you have a rich life together through the trust you have in one another. That's the basis of a good life, a good relationship, and a good college choice.

Money only. College A and College B both have great majors, and each campus gives you the right blend of comfort and challenge. College A is $20,000 less than College B, so you pick College A. Great.

College C is offering your buddy a full ride, but doesn't offer either of the majors your friend wants, is in a part of the country they don't like, and has a campus that gave them a bad feel. College D isn't perfect and involves some debt, but your pal loves it -- it's just that College C is such a bargain.

Except in this case, it isn't. It costs a lot of money to go to college, but it costs a lot of everything else to go to a college that gives you neither a promising future nor an exciting present. Think carefully about the money, but make a choice that wisely balances long-term financial debt with short-term personal sacrifices. Too much of either is a bad deal.

April Showers Bring—Data?

By:  Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

There’s something about mid-April that inspires school counselors as nothing else can. For many, it may be that students have an extra spring in their step, now that they have shed their winter coats.  For others, the growth they’ve seen in their students is starting to come forth, and it’s clear they’re ready for the next grade, college, or the next phase of their lives.

Many counselors are also inspired by flipping their calendar two pages and realizing it will soon be June—and that “inspires” them to think about everything they need to get done in the next eight weeks.  Now more than ever, that will include some kind of data-driven assessment of the counselor’s year—how did things go, how could they be better, and how does this year shape what next year needs to look like?

The issue of data-based counseling has been covered completely by the work of Trish Hatch, and if you don’t have her book The Use of Data in School Counseling, use the last of your holiday gift cards to buy it for a fascinating summer read. Until you get to this detailed analysis, let these three questions guide you in your quest to generate thoughtful data over the next eight weeks of your wrapping up the school year:

What do you want to know about your program?  Data is only valuable if it answers a key question, and in this case, that question is “What does a successful counseling program look like?”  This could be the number of students you worked with, and it could be the number of students who are heading to college—but it could be something far more than head count, like change in school climate, a shift in attitudes about bullying behavior, or a change in the way teachers see the counseling office.  Ask yourself what you want to know—chances are, they’ll be a way to generate data to help you get the answer.

What do others need to know about your program?  It’s good to have data help you learn about your program, but it’s just as important to have data help others learn about your program—especially if those “others” are decision makers.  Take a moment to consider what your administrators, parents, and public want to know, and should know, about your program, and consider the role data can play in telling your story.  As you consider these audiences, remember to include any reporting you are required to make, to either your administrators or your state.  Some of this mandatory data may not mean much to you, but delivering it in a thoughtful, timely fashion is a statement of support of your administration, and that can be a powerful message all by itself.

What would you like to know at the start of next year?  More than one counselor gets to the end of the first marking period in the fall and says, “If only I had known more about this year’s incoming students/seniors/new students.”  If that was you, now is the time to think about the data reports that can give you the information you need in the fall to make your program run more smoothly.  From test scores to family income, baseline data can come in handy--  especially if you break it down to specific cohorts.

There’s still a lot to do to help students make the most out of this year, but thinking ahead to your end-of-the-year data needs can help shape your remaining school time in thoughtful, productive ways. 

SAT or ACT: Which Should Juniors Take?

By:  Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

The debate over the new SAT rages on, as both counselors—and, interestingly enough, colleges—debate the merits of what test to take. For the counselors, it’s a question of which test their students should take; for the colleges, it’s a question of which test they’ll accept.

The question of “which test to take” has been with counselors and students for a long time—and the only reason it’s ever discussed is because most students don’t seem to like the answer:

If the goal is for the student to demonstrate their best ability on a standardized test, the best thing to do is to take each test once; evaluate the results on each, and take the one most comfortable to the student a second time.

It turns out that standardized tests are pretty different from each other. They may measure the same body of knowledge, but they go at it in different ways, much like two English teachers have different approaches to teaching the same book.  Since different students respond to different approaches—both in teaching and in testing-- with different degrees of success, it’s important to know which testing approach makes more sense to the student. The best way to do that is to take each test once.

Students don’t like this answer because it costs time and money; not only do they have to pay for two tests, but they have to spend time preparing for two tests, and have to give up an extra Saturday to take the same test. Other students will insist they already know which test they’ll do better on, since their PSAT scores were so good—or, in more cases, so bad.

There’s no question the SAT is designed like the PSAT, but there’s no telling how much students have learned in the six months since they took the PSAT- or how much better they will perform on the SAT, now that they know what the test looks like.  It’s certainly true that taking more than one test will cost more money, but fee waivers are available to students who can demonstrate need—and the chance of scoring higher on one test is well worth an extra few hours of sleep on oneSaturday.

Some critics still feel next year is an exception—since the SAT is new, they argue, it’s better to see how the first few test administrations go, and have juniors just take the ACT.  That approach would make sense, if we knew the updated SAT was going to be harder, or in Swahili—but there’s just as good a chance it will be easier than harder.  If that’s the case, students don’t want to miss that chance, so they should still take both—and if they’re looking for some kind of safety zone, take the old SAT in the start of junior year, before it disappears next winter.

There’s also a question of whether colleges will accept the new SAT, since it’s new and, well, untested.  This uncertainty is exactly the reason why students should take both tests.  If colleges find the new SAT is a little rough around the edges, they’ll review a student’s application based on their ACT scores.  If the new SAT turns out to be great, and it puts the student in a positive light, they will likely evaluate the application using the new SAT scores. 

Students don’t have to wait for colleges to decide; plan to take both tests, and know that’s the best way of making sure you put your best foot forward to colleges.