Building a List: The Real Story

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

The shortest counseling session I ever had lasted four seconds. The student came into my office, and I handed him the (then) paper application for his first-choice school. He said thanks and left, catching the door before it fully closed from his entering the office.

 

Part of me wishes that would be the case for all of my students—finding a place that they love that, from every indicator available, would welcome the chance to admit them. But the bigger part of me knows better, and understands that if we’re really doing our job, we find each student where they are and walk the walk forward with them, whether that’s one visit or many.

 

In order to make sure students have the same kind of firm understanding about their menu of options my four-second student did, we often work with them to build a list of possibilities. Ostensibly, that list is about where the student wants to apply, but lists are more versatile than that. Consider these uses:

 

A chance to confirm that the walk matches the talk. How many times do students answer our question “What are you looking for in a college?” with lofty, detailed descriptors, then respond to “That’s great. Do you have some schools in mind?” with a list of schools that has absolutely nothing to do with the qualities they just listed? There are many reasons why this happens, and it’s important to understand which of those reasons are at play for each student. It’s time for more discussion.

 

A chance to confirm that the fall list matches the spring list. Those counselors fortunate enough to have the time to do junior interview in the spring will want to revisit the list in the fall. A summer experience, family circumstances, or simply being seventeen for another two months could lead the student to a different set of goals come the fall. Don’t guess, and don’t be surprised if it does—it likely means the student is engaging in thoughtful reflection about college, and that’s the goal.

 

A chance for balance. Mike came into my office in the fall with the same list we had discussed in the spring—all the Ivies, plus Stanford. We continued our discussion about balance. “There’s no doubt you’d do great work at any of these schools, Mike, and they’d be lucky to have you. But the admit rates at all these schools are pretty small, and we need to make sure there’s at least a school or two on your list where the admit rates are a little more generous.” This gives you a chance to offer some additions, and even if they reject them, they’ll likely provide some of their own, which is great—unless it’s Northwestern and Johns Hopkins. Then it’s time for more talking.

 

A chance for representing affordability. I still believe no school should be ruled out because it costs too much, but when the entire list consists of $50,000 schools, it’s time for a little more conversation. For students who will need help no matter what college they apply to, this is a time to discuss schools with more generous aid programs, and the role loans should play, given this student’s interests and vocational goals.

 

My four-second student was admitted to his only college, and I hear he now owns half of Manhattan. That’s rare, but if you make the most of the list as a counselor, your students will have the same kind of success in finding the next right home.

 

I’m possible

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

Christine Ha had a problem. She was in the middle of a very competitive cooking event, where the task was to make an apple pie. Simple enough, except that, for reasons unknown, she took a little too much time preparing the pie, leaving only 18 minutes for the pie to cook. (In case making apple pie is new to you, most take about 40 minutes.)

 

When it came time for judging, the time element was clearly on her mind. Through tears, she apologized for the quality of the pie, and promptly received support and encouragement from judge Gordon Ramsay, the chef best known for yelling and swearing at chefs.

 

It turns out the pie was, in a word, perfect—not easy to do when juicy apples make most pies soggy. Christine was greatly relieved to hear this, in part because she couldn’t see what the pie looked like.

 

That’s because Christine Ha is blind, the first blind contestant on Master Chef, and therefore the first blind contestant to win the competition, including a prize of $250,000.

 

Mandy Harvey started her music audition in a rather unusual way. She took center stage in front of hundreds and promptly made herself at home by taking her shoes off. Counselors don’t typically encourage this behavior for job interviews, but Mandy explained her shoeless feet could feel the rhythm of the music better, leading to a better performance.

 

The approach paid off. The judges were impressed with her singing, her ukulele playing, and the composition of the original song she performed. Combined with her sunny disposition, Mandy passed the audition, and went on to the final round of the auditions with ease, even though she couldn’t hear the roaring approval of the audience.

 

That’s because Mandy Harvey is deaf, having lost her hearing in her late teens. Despite this, a lifelong love of music eventually helped her build a different approach to her passion, an approach that made all the difference in the world. “After I lost my hearing, I gave up” she said, “but I wanted to do more with my life than just give up.”

 

Paul Potts was also a musician, but he had a different challenge. A cell phone salesman, Paul has the look of someone who spends the better part of his weekend watching football, an appearance that often hid a dream he’d long harbored that had little to do with football. He wanted to sing opera.

 

Paul took lessons, and largely kept his dream to himself, until he finally decided to go to an audition. The big day came, and Paul’s demon appeared—self-doubt. What if he wasn’t good enough? What if he got too nervous? He went to a local bar before the audition, and concluded the best way to decide whether or not to audition was to flip a coin. And off he went.

 

Over 2 million record sales later, Paul Potts is living the dream he almost denied himself, still rather reserved. I don’t know if he watches much football.

 

Fall of senior year is a pretty busy time, and everyone has their challenges, many of which would want to rob us of our hopes, our dreams, and our ability to move forward. Overcoming those obstacles involves two things—knowing you can, and knowing others have come before you and overcome their challenges.

 

All that’s between you and the college dream is a form that takes 25 minutes to complete—85 if there’s an essay. Christine, Mandy, and Paul are living testimonies to the possible. It’s time you joined their company.

Afraid of Applying to College?

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

I've never understood why students get so nervous about applying to college. I'm not talking about searching for a college- I'm talking about filling out the actual form. Students learn about all kinds of colleges, work hard to get good grades, do great things outside the classroom, take the right tests-everything your counselor has talked to you about. Then, it's show time, time to fill out the application and have all that work pay off.

And they freeze. They just can't fill out the form.

I know there's a lot riding on a college application, so students worry that one small mistake on the application could be seen as a deal breaker. But that's pretty hard to do with most college applications, and when it does occur, those mistakes can be pretty easy to fix.

Don't believe me? OK—try this. Pull up the online application for your local community college. If you don't have one, try looking up Montcalm Community College's online application-it's pretty easy to find.

Got an application on your computer now? Great. Fill it out, then come back here. I'll wait. 

Seriously. Go.

It's likely been about 20 minutes, and you've applied to college. Congratulations! Chances are, you didn't have to look anything up, you knew all the answers right away, and you didn't need to contact anyone for help. Not such a mystery after all, is it?

I know, I know. You're pretty sure not all college applications are this easy to complete-in fact, you know the application for the school you love wants essays, maybe even letters of recommendation from a teacher or two. Much more complicated.

Really? Tell me-have you ever written an essay before? A little bit of work, sure, but once you know the topic, is it really hard to do?

And teacher letters? You know teachers, right? And some of them know you? Well, they know how to write, too, so it's really just a question of asking them on time.

This is sounding a little more doable, isn't it?

It turns out that applying to college is kind of like getting ready for prom, or some other school dance. There are a few things you have to do to get ready, and some take more time than others. But once you know what needs to be done, it's more about making the time to do them than anything else.

Still doubt me? Go back to the application you just submitted. What was the first question?

Right. "Name".

Trust me, you can do this. In fact, you just did.

Rigor of Coursework

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

The world of college counseling has changed a great deal in the last couple of years, so it’s oddly reassuring when some of the questions counselors have to address are chestnuts that come along every year, just as sure as there will be a new edition of the Fiske Guide.  Many of these questions come up this time of year, as students consider modifying their schedules through the drop and add period.

“Is it better to take the AP class and get a B, or take the regular course and get an A?”

“Would colleges rather see students take AP classes at the high school, or take entry level college courses at the local university?”

“If a student is going to be a business major, are they better off taking Statistics as a senior, or staying in the Calculus track?”

Like most questions about rigor and curriculum, the answers are sometimes not that easy to parse—but as a rule, the answer to those questions depends on the answers to other questions:

What’s the student like?  Questions about course selection and rigor too often assume the student will earn the same grade in a more challenging class as they would in a regular track class, and that simply isn’t always the case.  A quick email to the student’s last English teacher could be quite revealing when a discussion comes up about Honors English.  If the A that was earned in English 11 was a generous one, the course to take in Grade 12 is an easier choice.  It’s likely the student knows this already.  Start by asking them about their classroom experience.

What’s the rest of the schedule look like?  Another assumption behind questions about rigor too often assume the student has an unlimited capacity for tough courses.  Many students eating off the top of the rigor menu in three subjects may find a fourth top course too much to handle, or they may devote so much energy keeping that grade afloat, their remaining classes pay the price, and grades begin to dwindle.  Review the schedule as a whole, and make sure this review includes a look at time devoted to work, extracurriculars, and family commitments.  Homework won’t get done if there isn’t time to do it.

What is the college looking for?  Susie was ready to take on the challenges of Calculus, even though her Precalculus experience was anything but smooth, and her interest was far away from high level math.  Four quick calls to the admissions officers of her college choices—calls she made, not the counselor—showed that three of them weighed the courses identically in the admissions process for her particular major, and one gave Statistics an extra plus—so, as the British say, Bob’s your uncle, and Susie was a happy stats student.

On the other hand…  More than a few colleges, including the ones that garner most of the headlines, are likely to tell students and counselors they have no required level of math (or English or…), and simply want the student’s course selections to represent the highest level of challenge the student can reasonably manage.  Understanding the reason why college provide that answer, it doesn’t help much.  If the student feels they have the ability to do well in either, say, Stats or Calculus, the issue isn’t the student’s capability or stress level—it’s what the college prefers to see.  If a college doesn’t really answer the question, a quick peek at the transcripts of past admitted students could guide the counselor’s advice.  Thank goodness for SCOIR and Naviance!

New Mental Health Resources? Make the Most of Them

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

Thanks to COVID, heading back to school has been a different experience each fall, and this year is no exception. With test scores down, and students spending much of the last two years learning online, many students are returning to school with social-emotional issues about learning, working with others, and facing life in general.

 

With many states offering record funding for mental health services in school, counselors need to make sure they make the most out of these opportunities. Here’s how:

 

Appropriate staffing Michigan holds one of the highest student-counselor ratios in the nation, with a whopping 638 students per counselor, and nearly every state has a ratio well above the recommended level of 250 students per counselor. Common sense suggests this is just way too many students for counselors to conduct an effective mental health program. Hiring additional school counselors has been a task that’s long overdue in our state. Now that we have the money to do so, it’s time to make the most of those dollars.

 

Best use of time Too many adults remember their school counselor as the person who changed their schedule, or did lunch duty. Important as those tasks might be, they have little to do with mental health, and nothing to do with the vital skills where counselors have received training. School officials need to work with counselors to review their duties, and maximize counselor time with students on growth in mental health.

 

Tailored curriculum With a number of new, pre-packaged mental health programs available to schools, it may be tempting to pick one and see it as an easy add-on to the current counseling curriculum. School leaders would do well to work closely with the current counseling team to make sure any new mental health elements complement the existing offerings, and blend with the school’s larger academic and personal goals.

 

Team-based support School counselors are rightly viewed as the leaders of a school’s mental health curriculum, but this doesn’t mean they should be the sole implementors of the curriculum. A team-based approach to mental health, including teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, coaches, and parents, will surround the student with support and opportunity, two attributes students desperately need after two very challenging years. Adequate time for training, practice, and feedback need to be provided so counselors can nurture these partners forward.

 

Community support This same kind of comprehensive support can be achieved when school mental health officials partner with community leaders to extend an atmosphere of support to students outside school. Local social workers, social agencies, therapeutic centers, youth programs, and religious leaders should be engaged to create an atmosphere of support that makes it easy for students to seek any help they might need. This should also include the business community; anywhere students spend time after school is a place where mental health healing can begin, and the more partners a community has, the better.

 

Plans for the future Development of a strong sense of self often includes the development of plans for the future, and that includes the counselor’s role as a college and career counselor. Too much counseling literature in the last two years has emphasized the need for better mental health programming in schools, without specifying just what that programming should include. Self-esteem, self-awareness, and effective interpersonal skills certainly play a key role this programming, but it’s just as important for students to develop an understanding of what they could become.

 

Goal setting can create a sense of purpose in a student who would otherwise look at their current situation and lose hope. It’s the fresh start students often yearn for, a chance to escape the limitations their peers, community, circumstances, and family have placed upon them. At a time when too many students have felt boxed in by the few choices COVID has left them, what better time to expose them to vistas of new opportunity and hope, the outcomes of a successful college and career awareness curriculum?

 

It’s comforting to know we can reasonably expect a school year that feels a little more like business as usual. Creating a student-centered school where mental health comes first can go a long way to making the most of that opportunity.

The Two Challenges of This School Year

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

News from Washington solidifies what most educators already knew—this is going to be the year of returning schools to business as usual. With healthcare leaders announcing plans to treat COVID with an annual booster—much like people get a regular flu shot—the days of mask alerts and online school days largely seem behind us, and educators will get the chance to focus on what they were trained to do—help young people move on with their lives.

That isn’t to suggest the impact of the COVID pandemic is behind us. Reports suggest that four million- four million—children are leaving the pandemic with the loss of a parent or primary caregiver. That worldwide figure translates to 285,000 children in the US, many of them our students. Combined with students facing the challenges of trying to learn and socialize without a full array of in-person experiences in the last two years, it’s safe to say we’ll be working with students whose school experiences have been less than comprehensive.

It's clear counselors are going to play a major role in meeting the needs of students to process these effects and find a way to move forward, and that includes the counselor’s role as a college counselor. Too much counseling literature in the last two years has emphasized the need for better mental health programming in schools, without specifying just what that programming should include. Self-esteem, self-awareness, and effective interpersonal skills certainly play a key role this programming, but it’s just as important for students to develop an understanding of what they could become.

 

Goal setting can create a sense of purpose in a student who would otherwise look at their current situation and lose hope. It’s the fresh start students often yearn for, a chance to escape the limitations their peers, community, circumstances, and family have placed upon them. At a time when too many students have felt boxed in by the few choices COVID has left them, what better time to expose them to vistas of new opportunity and hope, the outcomes of a successful college and career awareness curriculum?

It won’t be easy getting students to think outside the limitations of COVID, and that leads to a second challenge. With the exception of a handful of name four-year colleges, most postsecondary institutions are facing declines in enrollment—some losses as great as 40 percent. This is just as true for community colleges, where enrollment was expected to increase during COVID, assuming students would learn from home. In most cases, community colleges are realizing double-digit enrollment losses.

This loss of interest is going to call on the higher education community—counselors, admissions officers, and especially financial aid officials—to adjust their advising and recruiting strategies. Too many of these strategies have been aimed at the student who saw college as a given, and rightfully so. It’s much easier to sell the students on the quality of a particular brand (or college) if they’re already convinced college is worthwhile.

That’s not the case now. High college costs have combined with a tight job market, leading families to wonder if college is really worth the investment, especially with the relatively lower cost of technical training, training which leads to good paying jobs in considerably less time.

Health officials may be declaring an end to the damage done by COVID, but counselors and higher education officials start this school year desperately needing to clean up the debris created by its wake. Making college part of the mental health equation, and marketing college towards those not already convinced of its value, are at the top of the to-do list.

What’s New in College Admissions?

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

If it seems like back-to-school time came around a little too soon, you can thank the Target in my neighborhood. Most of June was devoted to taking this dimly lit cavern into a place where people would really like to, you know, shop—and since they finished early, they figured they’d stack the store with school promotions just a little earlier than usual.

Bullseye and friends aren’t the only changes we’ve seen this summer. While many of these changes are at the serious rumor stages, it would be wise to keep your eye out for college admission changes relating to:

Letters of Recommendation Counselor chat rooms have been full of speculation that some colleges plan on asking for letters from two adults in the student’s life, a requirement vastly different from the traditionally mandated one or two teacher letters and the required counselor letters. Just what colleges are opening things up—and which adults should write for a student—will vary widely, but if this becomes a trend, it could provide counselors with huge caseloads the writing relief they’ve been looking for.

Application Deadlines Some colleges have changed their application deadlines, while others are just taking more students than ever through well-established early programs—so much so that students who don’t apply early are, in effect, limiting their chances of admission. If your high school has a popular college (or two or three), a quick call and email to your rep will help you build a strategy for timely application admissions.

Call and email the Rep Just in case you missed that, it is getting to be standard practice to both call and email reps with crucial questions. Application numbers are getting so high in many colleges that the time to call just doesn’t exist. Doing both is the best way to serve your students—and once you write the email, you now have a script for the voice mail you’ll leave.

Test optional Most reports suggest the overall number of test-optional colleges hasn’t changed all that much, but that average is meaningless if you live in a state where testing requirements were reinstated by a public body. Now is the time to double check the test optional choices at the schools you often do business with—and if something has changed, be sure to tell the students, early and often.

FAFSA changes The new and shorter FAFSA is still a year away, thanks to COVID and some logistical issues. That isn’t great news, other than it means something stays the same for this year.

Back to classrooms Perhaps the biggest change counselors will address this year is the return of many or most schools to full-time in-person teaching. Given all the stress online learning brought with it, you’d think everyone would be celebrating the return of old school school. But in-person school brings its own challenges, from getting out of bed in the morning to peer issues to trying to listen to what’s being taught while Susie sits next to us, texting like mad to everyone about everything except learning.

The US government has been very generous in awarding states money for mental health programs to help students adjust to life after COVID, but those funds have largely gone to states, not directly to high schools. If you haven’t heard about your school getting any mental health money, now is the time to ask. Counselors are notoriously good at spending money on short notice, but there’s no point in building a program you can’t afford. Ask about the cash—and welcome back!