Alan Carter manages a team of software designers whose business clients are found around the globe. But back in the early 90s, Carter was like many high school students, stressing out about the right college to attend.
While some friends focused only on grades, and others fretted about their ACT or SAT test scores, Carter tried to make sense of the big picture of high school academics and the college application drill. He learned that an admissions officer looks at a variety of academic work, personal qualities, and extracurricular activities to weave a tapestry of indicators to predict a student's chances of flourishing in that particular college.
Weekly school counseling sessions in Fayette County (Ky.) Public Schools made all the difference in the world for Carter. "The counseling process really helped me find my potential and seek out a ‘stretch’ college," says Carter. "Without that, I would have set my sights a lot lower."
Carter graduated from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va., with a bachelor's degree in politics, religion, and philosophy. He gives a "you never know" chuckle as he considers his migration into business software design, but Carter is serious as he recalls the value of starting the college search as he did in 10th grade. Then, Carter and other students met with a school counselor one class period a week to help determine high school course selection, the benefits of Advanced Placement courses, and the mechanics of college entrance tests.
Exploring Options
A typical problem for schools is that too few counselors chase after too many students. The Atlantic Monthly's second annual College-Admissions Survey reports that counselors at public schools each advise about 500 students per year. According to school counselors, many students don't take the initiative to meet with them, attend college fairs, or talk with college representatives who visit high schools.
That's why Fayette County schools have each incoming student develop a comprehensive Individual Graduation Plan. Such plans require that students work with counselors during all four years to plan the required courses and electives with career and college goals in mind.
"Lots of students say, ‘I want to be an engineer,’ because they know that job pays well. I'll never tell a child that he can't be an engineer. But if he's making Ds and Fs in math, it may be hard for him to make it in calculus—which he needs for engineering," says Jacqueline Bowman, a counselor at Tates Creek Senior High School in Lexington, Ky.
While urging such students to pull up their grades, Bowman also advises them that engineering has many aspects, including hands-on work. She points students to the myriad options under the rubric of engineering in the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://bls.gov/oco). "I tell them, ‘Don't lose your dream of going into some type of engineering or building.’"
Knowing Students
Bowman, one of four full-time Tates Creek counselors who each work with about 425 students, keeps running notes on her students starting in 9th grade when she first meets with them. Students' career ideas change over time, especially as lower or higher grades in different subjects channel them in new directions, she says. During sophomore year, she stresses the importance of keeping up grades through senior year. She also encourages students to explore the Kentucky Education Service Plan, which allows them to earn tuition for the state's colleges and universities along a sliding scale tied to their grades. "Many of our top students stay in Kentucky because they can earn up to $2,000 for tuition," says Bowman.
As juniors, Tates Creek students receive a book called Planning for the Future, which lists preparation steps for entering a two- or four-year college, the workforce, or the military. The book offers tips on everything from questions to ask on a college visit to resume writing and interview skills.
The comprehensive counseling efforts pay off, says Bowman, who notes that most students follow through on setting up meetings. A personal approach is essential, so counselors let students know "that we care about them as much as their teachers do," she says. Between September and December, Bowman meets each senior and reviews his or her situation in depth—from class credits to career pathways—with a focus on the future. "I always ask, ‘Where do you want to be 10 years from now?’"
For students who are unsure about their options, Bowman helps them analyze their transcripts, looking for their strongest classes, and asks about their parents' occupations and their own part-time jobs or interests to help them better understand themselves. She recalls one bright student who was hesitant about attending college, partly because of finances. She helped him search for financial aid, and he graduated from Morehead State University. He is now in management training for a national restaurant chain.
"I don't say, ‘You need to do this.’ I just say, ‘Why don't you look into this,’" Bowman emphasizes.
Preparation Counts
In Massachusetts, many high school students and their families tend to be focused on planning ahead for college. The state as a whole received the highest marks for academically preparing its students to enroll in college, reports Measuring Up 2004: The National Report Card on Higher Education. According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education's report, more Massachusetts 9th graders are likely to enroll in college within four years now than in the past, in contrast with a nationwide decline.
Lexington (Mass.) High School hosts college guidance evenings for parents of juniors and seniors and in-school seminars for students. Such programs are typical of schools across the state, says school counselor Robert Quist, who is president of the Massachusetts School Counselors Association. Topics covered include the college application process, financial aid, and even the option of taking a year off between high school and college. Counselors encourage parents and students to make appointments to meet together with school counselors for individualized advice.
"This is a high-pressure community, and our students tend not to be too passive" when it comes to managing the college application process, Quist says.
Counselor Leslie Saunders at Middle-town (Conn.) High School says today's students have more know-how about college preparation and strategies for success than students did when he began teaching in the 1970s. To fuel that knowledge, Middletown counselors encourage all juniors to use the school career center's Choices program, which surveys their interests in various job fields. With black students accounting for 26 percent of the school's total enrollment of 1330 students, Middle-town joins other area high schools to sponsor a weeklong bus tour of as many as a dozen historically black colleges. During spring break, students on the tour visit schools stretching from Maryland to Alabama.
Although counselor sessions, parents nights, financial aid seminars, and binders chock-full of college admissions materials are essential, Saunders admits this information only "creates a more knowledgeable consumer." In the future, with tuition hikes and stiffer academic competition among high school graduates, Saunders predicts parents will need "to get more involved" in helping their children sort through the college applications and admissions process.
Susan Chenard, whose daughter, Reem Telmesani, attends Middletown, would agree. Mother and daughter have supplemented Saunders's work with helpful tips gathered from a PTA college night and from friends and neighbors who have already negotiated the college admissions process. Reem, who is captain of the school volleyball team, first explored colleges via the Web in search of big-city universities with a solid prepharmacy program as well as a Division I women's sports program. Then she and her mother visited 10 of them.
But a student with such a focused goal may not be the norm that counselors work with, suggests Chenard. "I think the [typical] college counseling process works with kids who have the initiative to follow up. But for the shy kids, or those unsure they want to go to college—those kids lose out if the parents are not there to follow up" on the college guidance information that may or may not make it home.
Nonetheless, with 13 years of hind-sight, software solutions manager Alan Carter says it's exactly "that middle tier" of students that counselors should be ramping up to reach. Carter has heard local high school sophomores say they lack the skills, grades, or finances to tackle college. He advises these students not to worry about finances because schools have money to help. "But counselors have to help students who don't know they're college material realize that they are. Let's make sure there are not students left out who could be going to college."
