Helping Students Decide

By:  Patrick O'Connor  Ph.D

Now that the madness of early April has calmed down, the time comes when students will be coming to school counselors, looking for advice on what college they should attend—or if they should go to college at all.  When students need help picking a college, the counselor must resist the temptation to solve “the problem” for the student.  Instead, the counselor must create a platform of decision making based on the student’s needs, interests and goals, and explore the components of that platform with the student. 

The best place to begin is to review the ideas the student has shared with you in the past. This provides everyone with a clear jumping off point by asking one simple question—“Is that still what you’re looking for now, or have things changed?”

This question may knock the student into a profound silence. In the flurry of completing college applications, there’s a good chance the student hasn’t bothered to think about this question until now.  September was eight months and a million adventures ago, so the student may want something different out of college, and not even know it. 

In response, the student may not want to talk about qualities; instead, they will try to talk about specific colleges. “Well, I’m really not that interested in State anymore, and East Coast U didn’t really offer me that much money, and…” 

Drawing on your listening and redirecting skills, bring the student back to the heart of the conversation.  “It sounds like affordability is a new quality you’re considering. Are there other qualities that are new?” The student may respond with an answer that once again mentions a school by name, but will finally provide the basis for a comparison of schools.

As the comparison reaches a conclusion, the counselor can summarize by saying “It sounds like your current list of qualities includes affordability, closeness to home, small class size, and opportunities for independent study. If that’s right (pause to let them correct you), let’s talk about each college that admitted you, and compare them on these same qualities.”

If a student decides their fall plan for college is no longer viable, it’s important to explore the effect this decision will have on those who have a strong interest in the student’s decision; the student’s parents; the coach, music teacher, or admissions officer at the school the student was 99% sure of; other members of the community, who can’t understand why the student would change their mind. Gaining support (or at least understanding) from others may be vital in order for the new plan to work.  Discussing strategies the student can take in approaching these supporters, and even role-modeling practice conversations, could go a long way to help the student.

Similarly, if the student’s ideas can change over time, so can the ideas of others—including parents. While Dad was in full support of an out-of-state college in September, he may find letting go of his son is just too hard to do come April; parental ability to pay for college may have dwindled in eight months. Any number of things can lead to a college decision being made for the student.

After helping the student work through any feelings they may have about these changes (or directing them to someone to help with that), a discussion of college qualities is the best way to help the student focus on the choices at hand, and make the best decision available.  It may take time for the student to fully accept the situation, but the counselor’s support can go a long way to advance this important goal…

…and remember, students wanting to start their search over again in spring of the senior year can do so, with help from the NACAC College Openings Update, which comes out in early May, and lists colleges actively looking for more students.  Take a look.

SAT/ACT Testing for Students Not Going to College

By:  Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

Spring testing is upon us, and this year’s round of tests brings new challenges, since many states are including the ACT or SAT in their battery of school-wide assessments for the first time.  While counselors are used to managing the energy and anxiety of test-taking students who are thinking about college, a large number of students will soon be taking a state-mandated ACT or SAT who haven’t really thought about college—and, in some cases, haven’t taken courses to go to college.

What’s the best way to guide these students through a test they feel they may not be ready for? Two words come to mind that are in the wheelhouse of every school counselors: Support, and the truth.

Give them a brief overview of the test—that’s brief.  Well-meaning counselors often tend to over-explain a concept to students, and that’s an easy way to lose kids of any age, but especially high school students.  Make sure you’re getting through; look at the SAT and ACT Websites, and put together a 25-word speech that explains what the SAT and ACT cover.  One other suggestion: no word can have more than three syllables. Your goal is to explain, not define.

Tell them how they are already prepared for the test.  The classes students are taking give them a chance to make sense out of new ideas and words every day, and that’s what three sections of the ACT (and half of the SAT) are all about.  Some Math questions may ask them about concepts they’ve never heard of; it’s best to let them know that ahead of time, and to let them know that if their best answer is “beats me”, they should try and see if there’s one answer they know is wrong, pick something else, and move on.

Show them the format of the test.  Athletes take extra time warming up on fields they’ve never played on; that should be the case here, too.  Khan Academy and other Websites offer brief introductory videos and sample problems for both tests. Showing the students the format of the test will allow them to get comfortable with how the questions are asked—and comfort and awareness are about 60 percent of the goal for test prep.

Tell them how the results are going to be used.  Students new to the SAT and ACT may fear their scores will be sent to colleges or employers without their permission, so make sure you talk with them about how much they control their own scores.  Other students will worry their scores will be shared with the local media, or their teachers.  If your school shares individual scores with teachers, explain how this will help students learn more, and that the scores are still confidential.  If individual scores are shared with the media without student consent, stop doing that; it’s against the law.

Remind them of the relevance of the test to their plans for life after high school.  The results of a bad test day rarely have to be shared with a college, and almost never have to be shared with an employer—and if the student is headed to a community college, they may never see the light of day.  Students who aren’t thinking about college don’t know the limits of test scores; our task is to make them less scary, and to make sure students know they’re in control. Does this mean they shouldn’t do their best?  Of course not.  Plans change, and unimportant things may suddenly matter.  Ask any college applicant who never cleared their Facebook page. 

Bill Helps Counselors Stay on Top of College, Career Change

By:  Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

Many college admissions decision come out this week, and most school counselors agree, the end can’t come soon enough.  We are certainly excited for the students who are receiving good news, and more than sympathetic to the students who receive other news. But this year, along with being there for our students, there is a feeling that something happened in the world of college admissions that can best be described as, as…

…weird.

It’s been a year where nothing stayed the same.  SAT test scores were sent, often missing crucial college deadlines for early applications.  A general response was “Boy, thank goodness everything is OK at ACT”, but they then experiences the same problem, and ran into some irregularities in the new rubric used to score the Writing test. 

Add in the occasional public college that admitted every student who applied (and some students who didn’t), and other colleges that decided to defer students simply because the college didn’t have enough time to read all the applications, and it’s clear the admissions world has changed dramatically.  And all of that happened even before the highly selective colleges reported another “record year” of applications, leading to an even smaller percentage of admitted students.

Education blogs are replete with calls for reforming college admissions to take the stress out of the process, all in the name of protecting students.  The intent is noble, but the proof is in the tweaking, and right now, there’s something else that can easily be tweaked first.

Part of the reason school counselors feel out of touch with the college selection process is the torrid pace of the changes, but another part is the lack of access to resources that help them understand the changes.  Professional development opportunities exist that try to keep counselors in the loop, like annual updates from College Board and ACT, but too many counselors are being told they can’t leave the building, and must suffer through full days of professional development focused on classroom teachers. 

That may help build camaraderie in the building, but when your best senior comes asking for information on the latest colleges that no longer require any testing at all, a counselor’s answer can’t afford to be a year old, since dozens of colleges have dropped the ACT and SAT this year alone.

Michigan is trying to meet counselors’ needs for updated college and career information with a bill that’s currently in front of the Michigan Senate Education Committee.  Right now, counselors must complete 150 hours in professional development work to keep their license or certificate—and those hours could be in anything.  House Bill 4552 would set aside a few of those hours, and make sure counselors have access to updated training in college and career advising.

This modest tweak turns an ineffective state mandate into one with more focus, and more purpose.  Best of all, it relies on local school districts, counselor organizations, and business and industry to develop professional development that meets the needs of counselors, tailoring the training to meet the college and career needs of the students they serve. College tours, financial aid updates, tours of skilled trades facilities, and more, would become a bigger part of a counselor’s ongoing learning, making their insights into postsecondary options more relevant to students, families, and the state’s economy.

There’s no question this year will be remembered as one of huge change, and more change is slated to come in the fall.  In Michigan, House Bill 4552 can help counselors not only embrace the change; it will help them shape it, all for the better.

College Decisions Over Spring Break

By:  Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

Let’s face it—even though there school counselors are highly trained professionals, there are times we blame things on the elements—especially the moon.  How many times have students been behaving like zombies, and we mumble to ourselves, “It must be a full moon”?

As it turns out the moon really is to blame for a major counseling issue this year, as Easter falls close to the time many highly selective colleges are sending their admissions decisions.  We’d all like to be there to offer words of support for our students as they hear their decisions, but if you can’t be there due to vacation, consider sending a pre-emptive note of support—like this:

Dear Seniors:

As is sometime the case, our Spring Break will coincide with the release of admissions decisions from many of the colleges and universities where you’ve applied.  This is an exciting time, and we look forward to hearing your results when school resumes.  Until then, please keep these three important points in mind:

Consider where you hear the news.  Many colleges will release their decisions by e-mail, which means you could be anywhere when the news is released.  At first, it might seem that it doesn’t matter where you are, or who you’re with, when you open your decisions—but students often feel differently once they’ve opened an e-mail and responded in ways they hadn’t expected.  You’ve worked hard on your college applications, and there will always be time to tell someone else, once you know the decision yourself.  Consider opening your decisions in a private space; it will give you time to plan how to share the news with others.

Read the decision letter carefully, two times.  An offer of acceptance usually requires you to submit a deposit, and can include other activities to complete, like signing up for orientation, and responding to financial aid offers.  You don’t want to overlook these important, and required, events, since they may impact your ability to attend the college of your dreams!

If you’ve been waitlisted, you want to read the letter carefully to make sure when, and how, to contact the college.  Some ask you to send in a postcard or e-mail to stay on the waitlist; some will allow you to submit additional materials for the admissions office to consider (and some won’t—so make sure you know which is which), and some will tell you to do nothing at all.  You’ll want to do the right thing, so make sure you understand how to proceed.

Share your results with your counselor when school reopens.  Most students think we know your college decisions before you do, when, in fact, we often never know your admissions results unless you tell us!   Keep your letters together (including the letters with scholarship information), and bring them in on the first day of school—remember, you have to do this in person.

It’s been an incredible honor to work with you this year.  Let’s bring this college search to a great close, as you head towards your last spring in high school—and beyond!

The Best Testing Advice to Give

By:  Patrick O'Conner Ph.D

There seems to be little slowing of the changes in standardized testing, and that makes it hard for counselors to offer advice to students about which tests to take, and when. No one wants to steer students in the wrong direction, but not saying anything can be grounds for students to lose their faith in you as a trusted adviser.  As we approach spring testing season, it may be best to pull out some reliable advice that has stood the test of time—so if a student asks about testing, tell them to:

Take both tests once, and their favorite one twice.  I’ve offered this advice in the past, and some counselors think this is too much testing, but this counsel has stood the test of time.  Just like two Social Studies teachers take different approaches when discussing the American Revolution, SAT and ACT are trying to measure the same thing, but in different ways.  The only way to decide which version is best for you is to try them both—and once you know, sign up for that test a second time, to make sure you have a solid score.

Complete this testing by the end of junior year.  A growing number of students are holding off on taking their college tests until fall of senior year, especially when it comes to the new SAT.  No one has said why this is occurring, but there’s a sense students feel College Board may “tweak” the SAT this summer if the first few rounds of the new version don’t go well.

A veteran college counselor says we shouldn’t hold our breath.  Unless the highest score on the March edition turns out to be 250, College Board has never changed a test midstream, so it’s unlikely to happen this time. In addition, holding off on taking the test means you have little room for a second try until November—and given how many colleges want early applications, this can lead to narrowing college options artificially.

Send your scores NOW.  I have never understood the strategy to testing where students receive their SAT or ACT scores first, then send them to the colleges.  To begin with, the testing fee includes the right to send your scores to four colleges, and if you don’t do that, you have to pay for Every. Single. Score Result.  Since no college is known to penalize students for a low score if a higher score exists, this causes nothing but anxiety, and higher profits for College Board.

If this isn’t enough motivation, know that two colleges are strongly urging students to send test scores in the spring,  since both SAT and ACT have had trouble delivering test scores to colleges on time this year.  No test scores means an incomplete application, and that means your application gets read later—never good news at a college that practices rolling admission.

Test optional college choices exist.  Sometimes the best advice to give a student who doesn’t want to take the ACT or SAT is “OK.  Don’t.”  This not only gets their attention; it opens their eyes to the hundreds of great colleges that don’t require test scores from most of their students  as part of the admission process-  and that list is growing daily.  Take a look at http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional , and double check a college’s Web site to make sure their policy is up to date. 

Activities That Build a Better College Plan

By: Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

Like roads after the spring thaw,  the road to college has never been.  Record  numbers of college applications lead the media to wonder, “Can anyone get into college?”,  while disappointing financial aid packages changed the question to, “Is college worth it?”

The arrival of spring gives everyone a chance to stand back and look at the big picture of life after high school.  If you have questions that just won’t wait, take these steps to build a solid foundation in post secondary planning:

Understand that more learning is a must.  In this economy, a chance at a reasonable living depends on more school after high school.  This doesn’t have to include a degree from a four-year college, but a Bachelor’s degree has the best record of financial security, since four-year college graduates have the lowest unemployment, and make upwards of $500,000 more in their lifetime than high school graduates.  Certificates and two-year degrees offer their own benefits, so the message is clear; twelfth grade is not the end of the road for formal learning.

Spend two hours building a career map. The best part about learning after high school is that you have more choices in what you can learn, where you can learn, and how you can learn. The best first step in understanding some of your options is to complete a career exploration search.  These computer-based searches give you a list of possible (that’s possible) careers based on your answers to questions about what you like to do.  Once you get your list, you can find out more about each career, including wages, job prospects, and required training, including classes you should take in high school.

Many high schools have a career search program you can use for free; so do most community colleges.  Do some looking around, and be sure to talk with a counselor about your results.

Visit tech centers and college campuses.  It’s one thing to learn about training options online, but nothing compares to seeing a school in action.  Visiting a local college campus or tech center gives you a feel for what’s possible for you.  It’s best to see these programs when they’re in full swing in the fall, but if summer is the only time you can go, call the institution, and make your plans.  Be sure to prepare a list of questions in advance—a good list of tips can be found at http://www.petersons.com/college-search/ask-experts-college-visit.aspx

Check your high school schedule.  How well you learn after high school depends on how well you learn in high school, and that means taking the most challenging classes you can handle.  Scheduling won’t start again until mid-August, but make a note to contact your high school, and make sure your classes will best prepare you for your goals.  Again, this is where your high school counselor can help.

Build your plan for paying now.  There are all kinds of ways to meet your post secondary learning goals, and most have a wide array of price tags, including public universities, community colleges with strong certificate and transfer programs, private colleges that offer significant merit scholarships.  Learn how to maximize your options by visitinghttps://studentaid.ed.gov/  and http://www.fastweb.com/financial-aid .

Check your high school counseling office’s Web site.  Your local school counselors have helped hundreds of students make strong choices about life after high school.  Most high schools have a Web site with resources they’ve discovered that help their students build strong plans.  Take a look at those options, and stay in touch with your counselor. They’re never too busy to help a student committed to building a better tomorrow.

Didn’t Get Into an Ivy? Consider This

By:  Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

We’re about two weeks away from the first Ivy League college announcing its admissions decisions   (OK,-- MIT isn’t technically an Ivy, but you know what I mean), so it’s time to brace ourselves with a few facts that might help cushion the blow for students who get any answer other than Yes.  Facts have their limits when it comes to matters of the heart, and college admissions is certainly one of those.  At the same time, sharing some of these facts now might create an opportunity for the head to drive the college admissions bus for just a little while.

Fact one—Colleges have more applicants than they can admit.  In a vast majority of cases, students not admitted to a competitive college actually qualify to go there—it’s just that the college runs out of room.  This has nothing to do with the font you used for your essay, the order in which you listed your extracurricular activities, or the teachers who wrote your letters of recommendation.  If Green Leaf U can only hold 500 freshmen before the fire marshal closes the place down, they can’t take 501.  It’s isn’t a question of qualification; it’s a question of physics.

Fact two—it’s harder to get in than you think.  The increase in applicants to highly selective colleges drives admit rates to record lows, and that’s expected to happen again this year.  What’s even more sobering is when you realize that record low—say, 8%-- is even lower for most students.  An alumni interviewer for one Ivy League college explained it this way:

• We receive about 10,000 applications for admission every year.
• We offer admission to about 800 students—however…
• About 300 of those offers go to athletes.  No, we don’t win national championships, but we love athletics.  If that bothers you, you may not be happy here.
• Another 300 offers go to children of alums, children of US Senators, and Tom Hanks’s son.  We do this because we can.
• That leaves about 200 offers for the students most people see as “smart, good kids.”
• The problem is, out of the 10,000 students who apply, only about 2,000 are athletes and children of alums. 
• That means the admit rate for “smart, good kids” isn’t 800 out of 10,000, or 8 percent.
• It’s 200 out of 8,000, or 2.5 percent.

To be sure, not every Ivy runs things this way, but this example goes a long way to explain why a prospective student visiting campus sees students who are “just like me”, but ends up not being offered a spot when they apply.  Yes, the college does take students just like you; it’s just that they don’t take very many of them.

Fact three—where you go to college does matter, but not the way you think it does.  Well-meaning adults (like me) talk to students and write articles (or books) that claim it really doesn’t matter where a good student goes to college; what matters is that the student makes the most of the experiences their college provides them.

Baloney.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not promoting the “If It’s Not an Ivy, I’ll Bust” mentality, which is also baloney.  But students don’t go to college by themselves, so there’s more to the experience than buildings, internships, and study abroad.  If the students you’re living with for four years don’t challenge, support, and befriend you, you’re wasting your time. 

You want this to be the best years of your life to date?  Learn about the souls of your fellow students when you visit a campus, and take it from there.