Communicating with Your Counselor
Your high school counselor is by far your most valuable resource when it comes to the college application process. Here's a list of tips I have for having a great relationship with your high school counselor and to make sure he/she will have your back during the college app process!
1. Start meeting with him/her early.
I'm talking about (at latest) first month of freshman year. If you're a sophomore, don't panic if you haven't talk to him or her just yet. It is bad if you still don't know who your high school counselor is or have never exchanged more than a few words with him or her by your senior year. And no, meetings with your counselor for course selection does not count. Really make an effort to meet up with your counselor! I promise you it is not that awkward.
2. Have an agenda for the meeting.
Scheduling the appointment is one thing, but this isn't a type of to-do list with only one item. It's important that your counselor is on the same page as you are. That includes your career plans (or lack thereof), your college plans, and your game plan for your remaining years of high school. I'm sure you have plenty of questions about what I listed in the previous sentence, so it should be no problem having a productive conversation. You'll be surprised by how much information your counselor knows. Fortunately, my high school counselor was in charge of the counseling department, so she was incredibly knowledgeable and really open to helping even though she was pretty busy.
3. Continue meeting with him/her throughout your high school career.
As a bare minimum, you should be meeting up with your counselor once near the beginning of the school year of every year. You'll meet up with him or her again sometime during the course selection time. And of course, you should be meeting with him or her whenever you have questions. In your junior year, I would suggest meeting with him or her as I prescribed above, as well as meeting with him or her sometime before the school year ends just to let him or her know what your summer plans are, and maybe ask for advice about what he or she thinks about them. For example, I met up with my counselor in late April to discuss which teachers I should ask for recommendation letters. Depending on how your college apps are going, you should be meeting with your counselor quite frequently in the beginning of your senior year, before it's up to you to send in applications and make a decision about where to go. On the other hand, if you're good to go and have a pretty hammered-out game plan, one meeting in the beginning of the year should suffice before you're left to do the dirty work.
Communicating via email should be enough for quick questions, but if you have a lot of them, a meeting should be your course of action.
4. Express your gratitude.
My parents like to emphasize gift-giving, but you really don't need to give them physical gifts to express your gratitude. Counselors are really busy, and just letting him or her know that you appreciate what he or she is doing for you goes a long way. Write a thoughtful thank-you note. Be friendly to him or her when you run into them in the hallways. And not to sound too cynical, but being a familiar face to your counselor ensures that he or she will remember you and recall you better. I have such a great relationship with my counselor that she would email things to me specifically because she would say that the thing she saw reminded her of something I told her. Counselors are grateful and actually want to get to know you, so you should have no problem getting along with your counselor.
Have a safe and happy holiday season!
1. Start meeting with him/her early.
I'm talking about (at latest) first month of freshman year. If you're a sophomore, don't panic if you haven't talk to him or her just yet. It is bad if you still don't know who your high school counselor is or have never exchanged more than a few words with him or her by your senior year. And no, meetings with your counselor for course selection does not count. Really make an effort to meet up with your counselor! I promise you it is not that awkward.
2. Have an agenda for the meeting.
Scheduling the appointment is one thing, but this isn't a type of to-do list with only one item. It's important that your counselor is on the same page as you are. That includes your career plans (or lack thereof), your college plans, and your game plan for your remaining years of high school. I'm sure you have plenty of questions about what I listed in the previous sentence, so it should be no problem having a productive conversation. You'll be surprised by how much information your counselor knows. Fortunately, my high school counselor was in charge of the counseling department, so she was incredibly knowledgeable and really open to helping even though she was pretty busy.
3. Continue meeting with him/her throughout your high school career.
As a bare minimum, you should be meeting up with your counselor once near the beginning of the school year of every year. You'll meet up with him or her again sometime during the course selection time. And of course, you should be meeting with him or her whenever you have questions. In your junior year, I would suggest meeting with him or her as I prescribed above, as well as meeting with him or her sometime before the school year ends just to let him or her know what your summer plans are, and maybe ask for advice about what he or she thinks about them. For example, I met up with my counselor in late April to discuss which teachers I should ask for recommendation letters. Depending on how your college apps are going, you should be meeting with your counselor quite frequently in the beginning of your senior year, before it's up to you to send in applications and make a decision about where to go. On the other hand, if you're good to go and have a pretty hammered-out game plan, one meeting in the beginning of the year should suffice before you're left to do the dirty work.
Communicating via email should be enough for quick questions, but if you have a lot of them, a meeting should be your course of action.
4. Express your gratitude.
My parents like to emphasize gift-giving, but you really don't need to give them physical gifts to express your gratitude. Counselors are really busy, and just letting him or her know that you appreciate what he or she is doing for you goes a long way. Write a thoughtful thank-you note. Be friendly to him or her when you run into them in the hallways. And not to sound too cynical, but being a familiar face to your counselor ensures that he or she will remember you and recall you better. I have such a great relationship with my counselor that she would email things to me specifically because she would say that the thing she saw reminded her of something I told her. Counselors are grateful and actually want to get to know you, so you should have no problem getting along with your counselor.
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