What Students Need Most from College Counselors

This article was written by Phillip Hounshell, a college counselor at Rochester Prep.

When I was in high school, there were over 200 seniors and only one person to help us navigate the college application process, which meant I basically had to figure it out on my own. There was a lot of guessing and talking to classmates and relying on my older sister’s experience.

This is not a great way to set high school students up for success in college. Students across the country are struggling to graduate from college. Even for students from the highest income households, only 62% are graduating within 6 years, and for the lowest income quartile it’s only 13% graduating in 6 years.

Today, I’m a college counselor and I’m providing students and their families the tools they need to ensure a smooth transition into college and beyond.

What I’ve learned is that there are three key areas that are critical to their success, and a school counselor has the opportunity to make all the difference.

First, students need help articulating their goals. Some kids have always known what they want to be when they grow up and have an unwavering focus on that one thing. That’s great. But for most kids, the world is still a big open canvas, and that can be overwhelming.

My role is to ask the questions to get to where their passions may be. These are teenagers, so giving them the space and time to think about these life questions means being there for them when they are ready—not at whatever time I want them to be ready.

This means the door to our college office is always open and they can drop in any time. It’s a comfortable, informal setting, with comfy seats, warm lighting, and walls filled with an array of possible paths—from colleges to career-readiness programs. We provide online resources for them to explore different careers, to ponder what they already love to do and have natural skills in, and how they can convert that into a dream career.

Telling a student that they should go to college “just because” isn’t going to do much for them when they arrive at college and it turns out different than what they expected or hoped for. But having a dream or goal in mind is often the key to staying in college when times get tough.

Second, we work on ensuring families are involved and engaged, because let’s face it, at the end of the day, college is a family decision. While we are sending 18 year olds to college and they are legally adults, their families will still play a major role in a variety of ways—both financially and as emotional support.

For many families, this is the first time they are going through this process themselves, so this is truly a group effort. I start pulling in families during junior year. We host events to engage with families so that they can learn about what can be an incredibly complex and confusing process. Knowing that they, too, have someone to turn to with their questions lowers the stress for everyone. All of the students and families I work with have my personal cell phone and know they can reach me virtually any time.

The third key is making sure that a student has a range of college choices that include universities where they are most likely to thrive because it’s the best academic fit. And by that, I mean schools that are most likely to be academically challenging. Studies have shown that when a student attends a college that is academically less rigorous than they can handle, they are more likely to quit.

This may sound counter-intuitive, and some students may want to try to attend “easy” colleges, but time and again we’ve seen that when our students “match” and “overmatch,” they significantly increase their chances of graduating from college. Sometimes, the first time a student or family ever considers this is from their college counselor, if he or she is knowledgeable about this important factor.

The college application process shouldn’t be so hard. However, the good news is that caring adults can make all the difference for students and families going through this process.