Posts Tagged Consultant
Parents, Read This if Your Child Is Applying to College
Posted by Jerry in Good Advice on December 24th, 2009
December 09, 2009 02:33 PM ET | Lynn F. Jacobs, Jeremy S. Hyman P
US News and World Report
Holiday time is family time. And family time, in many families, is apply-to-college time. Many parents, despite their best intentions, do more harm than good to their college bound children during this anxiety-ridden time. So we invited visiting blogger Marilee Jones, former dean of admissions at MIT and coauthor of the book, Less Stress, More Success: A New Approach to Guiding Your Teen Through College Admissions and Beyond, to offer some advice to parents of children caught up in the college application maze. Here are her eight “guiding principles”:
1. Understand the college admissions process for what it is. Many parents think of college admissions as a competitive battle to be won. But, in truth, it is a key developmental phase to be experienced. This is your child’s initiation into adulthood and, at the same time, an important moment in parenting. Your job now is to become your child’s “grounding cord”—the calm and confident adult who keeps things safe as your child is exposed to the judgment and serendipity of college admissions officers.
[For more on the process, see the Complete Guide to College Admissions.]
2. Realize it isn’t happening to you. We are so connected to our children that we sometimes lose the boundaries between our own issues and theirs. You are not applying to college; your child is. Being clear about this affords you the distance to help him or her calm down when he or she is most scared. When your own anxiety spikes, walk away and firmly remind yourself that the college admission process is not happening to you.
3. Watch those pronouns! Think carefully about the messages you are sending your child. You may think it’s OK to refer to your child’s application as “our application.” But chances are your child will hear something like, “You aren’t mature enough to get into college on your own, so I have to help you.” This is your child’s initiation into adulthood. Your job is to lift your child up, not bring him or her down.
4. Keep your anxiety to yourself. Parents of college applicants have much to worry about, such as, “How can we afford this?” “What if my son or daughter gets rejected?” “How can I be old enough to have a child going to college?” While your worries are real, it’s important that you do not share them with your child. Your fears will only amplify his or her own. Keeping a peaceful household is the goal now, so share your feelings with a trusted friend or peer. And if you’re really at your wits’ end and have no trusted friend, buy one: Now could be the perfect time to get professional short-term counseling.
5. Work with your team. Never act as your child’s one and only adviser. The most effective parents team up with their child’s guidance counselor and follow his or her lead. Even if that counselor is a 20- or 30-something, he or she still knows more about college admissions than you do.
6. Teach self-soothing. Sometimes we collect information because it helps us feel more in control. We ask our child such questions as “What did you get on that test last week?” or “How do your SAT scores compare with your classmates’?” These questions imply judgment to our child, something that teachers, school administrators, college admissions officers, and peers might already be offering in large amounts. When your child is expressing anxiety, offer reassuring responses—”Don’t worry, things always work out for you,” “Everything is going to be OK,” “It seems scary now, but better days are ahead.”
7. Look for the grief—yours. It may surprise you to know that some of the upset you feel about the college application experience may actually be grief over your child’s leaving home soon. Because grief is about loss, it’s more comfortable for many people to turn it into another emotion that’s easier to feel, such as anger. Rather than create more turmoil for you and your family, it is best to recognize the grief for what it is, feel it, and then move on.
8. Develop Plan B. It’s not surprising that the main source of anxiety in the college admissions process comes from being unable to control the result. So here’s a secret: In order to maintain an inner sense of calm, prepare yourself in advance for your worst case scenario—e.g., your child gets rejected or wait-listed everywhere—and work out a plan to deal with that. Then file the plan away somewhere and get back to focusing on success. Knowing that you have a backup plan in place will keep you more relaxed throughout the process so you can be that positive, steady influence for your child during the anxious moments ahead.
© Copyright 2009, Professors’ Guide LLC. All rights reserved
A Private School Counselor Offers His Take on Independent Counselors
Posted by Jerry in Good Advice on December 9th, 2009
By RAFAEL S. FIGUEROA November 9, 2009, 12:23 pm
Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times
Ralph Figueroa reviews applications at Wesleyan in 2000.
Today, for example, I wanted to draw your attention to a question about “college coaches” (the reader’s words) — and whether admissions officers can sniff out their handiwork in an application. The reader also asked if such coaches are “truly needed.” For an answer, I sought out Ralph Figueroa, a former admissions officer at Wesleyan and Occidental who now works as director of college guidance at Albuquerque Academy, a private school in New Mexico. (Ralph’s work at Wesleyan was featured in a Times series I wrote about Wesleyan, which evolved into a book.) — Jacques Steinberg
Q. With the growth of college coaches and other ancillary services that purported to provide students an edge in the admissions process, can admissions officers distinguish between the student who has truly put forth the effort themselves versus the one who has been coached? Are college coaches truly needed in today’s environment?
—Kevin Johnson
- Mr. Johnson asks two important and somewhat controversial questions. First, as to whether admissions officers can distinguish between the student who has truly put forth effort and one who may have been coached, the answer is usually, no, they can’t.
Sometimes it is possible to spot discrepancies between different pieces of writing submitted by an applicant. Some colleges require students to send in a graded paper from school in part to make those comparisons. Perhaps a warning bell may go off when a student with modest verbal or writing scores on standardized tests submits extremely sophisticated essays or writing samples. But none of those are conclusive.
Even if an admission officer suspects there may have been coaching, there is no real way to prove it. So for the most part, admission officers will take the writing submitted at face value. The exception to this, of course, is plagiarism. A student foolish enough to plagiarize an admission application, with or without coaching, is doomed.
Mr. Johnson’s second question is the real bombshell. Are college coaches truly needed? No, they aren’t. Can they be helpful? Absolutely, depending entirely on your individual circumstances.
It is perfectly reasonable for a student and his or her family to navigate the admission process entirely on their own. There are still many students who do just that every year. The resources available on the Internet can be extremely helpful as well. I would recommend looking at www.ctcl.org, www.fairtest.org, www.finaid.org, www.fastweb.com, www.number2.com and www.collegeboard.com to start, as well as the Web sites of individual colleges.
But here is where the trouble really begins:
I work for an independent school with a senior class of 157 students. I am one of three full-time college advisers, and our upper school principal is also a part-time college adviser. We have a full-time college guidance coordinator, as well. Students here at Albuquerque Academy have all the resources they need for assistance with the college search. There is absolutely no need for any student here to ever use an outside college coach. And for the most part, they don’t.
At one local public school, on the other hand, the senior class of 450 students is served by a single counselor, who also has other responsibilities. There is no way that counselor can spend the time on the college process that I have the luxury of providing. Clearly, students and families at that very strong school might be justified in seeking outside assistance.
Each student and family should take a hard look at the resources available for their college admission process and determine whether or not they need outside assistance. Maybe even ask your counselor directly about an outside consultant. Now be prepared for a strong negative reaction — there are many folks in the admission profession who think outside consultants are the worst thing imaginable. That is unfortunate, because like any profession, there are good college consultants and bad ones. And I have met and worked with far more good ones than bad.
How can you tell the good ones? First, ask about the consultant’s background and experience. Did they ever work in college admissions or as a high school counselor? Those aren’t mandatory, but they are helpful. Are they a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling? Are they a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association? Are they a Certified Educational Planner? Although not a guarantee of quality, membership in those associations is a good sign.
And beware of those charging exorbitant fees; that is almost always a bad sign.
There are many programs that help students with the college search process without charging any money at all. I am proud to be part of a program here in Albuquerque called The College Corner, that provides free college counseling lectures and workshops at public libraries.
I know the college admission process can seem overwhelming. But just remember that it is a totally manageable one that can be broken down into small, easy steps. If you feel you need to hire someone to help you manage the process, that is fine. Do that. But don’t lose sight of the fact that, in the end, the process is about you, the student, and not about the hired help.
Two other pieces of advice from your faithful blogger: have realistic expectations for what a counselor might contribute to the college search. And, at the least, parents should be wary of any counselor who gives an applicant a guarantee, or near-guarantee, of admission to one’s top college or colleges.
Study Finds Growing Work for School Counselors
Posted by Jerry in Public Education on December 6th, 2009
By JACQUES STEINBERG October 20, 2009
New York Times
The struggling economy has taken a toll on those directly responsible for advising students about the college admission process.
Nearly half of public schools have raised the caseloads of high school counselors this year, compared with last year, with the average increase exceeding 53 students, according to a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
At the same time, the report said, the pressures on applicants (and, by extension, their counselors) are growing, as the number of applications to four-year colleges continued to rise, along with the number of students applying to colleges under early-decision programs.
In many respects, the report, “2009 State of College Admission,” seeks to quantify the extent of the frenzy engulfing many of today’s college applicants.
For example, about 22 percent of students who enrolled in college in the fall of 2008 applied to at least seven colleges, up from about 19 percent from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the average acceptance rate at four-year colleges declined slightly, to 66.8 percent in 2007, the last year for which the report provided full data in that category, from 71.3 percent in 2001.
Those applicants who find themselves on a waiting list face tough odds of being accepted. Fewer than one in three on such lists in 2008 were ultimately accepted, according to the report, about the same as a year earlier.
And yet the report included some indications that the pressures on applicants could soon ease. The number of students graduating from high school annually is believed to have peaked this spring, at 3.33 million, according to the report, so competition for places in colleges should diminish over the next few years.
But families of children in elementary school take note: the nation’s collective high school graduating class “is projected to rebound to 3.31 million by 2017-18,” the report said.
Many applicants rely on their school counselors for advice on college admissions, and the report described the rising workloads of those counselors, particularly at public high schools. (While private school counselors are also working harder, in many instances, fewer than 20 percent reported that their caseloads had increased since the last school year, compared with 45 percent of their public school counterparts.)
Among the states with the highest student-to-counselor ratios are California (986 students for each counselor), Minnesota (799) and Utah (720), according to the report, which cited government data for the 2006-7 school year. While Illinois was listed as having the highest ratio (1,172), the report suggested that the figure was probably “the result of a reporting error,” and was most likely closer to about 700.
Sandie Gilbert, a counselor at Highland Park High School in Illinois said in an interview that she had a caseload of about 280 students this year — an increase of about 45, or 20 percent, since she first began working at the school 15 years ago.
“It’s been inching up every year,” Ms. Gilbert said.
About a quarter of her students are freshmen, who have been streaming into her office since school began in late August with any number of “acclimation” issues, she said. Another quarter are seniors, whom Ms. Gilbert must serve not only in one-on-one guidance sessions but by writing college recommendations for each.
“I wrote 43 recommendations before Oct. 15, and that’s at home, at night,” she said, citing the November deadlines for early-decision applications.
“I was really busy every single period, for the first six weeks of school,” she added. “I’m just now eating lunch. It’s been sitting there on my desk. It’s 2:30.”
Before College, Costly Advice Just on Getting In
Posted by Jerry in Good Advice on July 24th, 2009
The New York Times (Jacques Steinberg)
Any family considering the assistance of a private individual or company for college preparation should read this article. Two very important points are to spend no more than intend and no one can guarantee any outcome for their service. Those that claim otherwise should be avoided. The information in this article can help identify what is referred to as “the snake oil salesmen”. http://tinyurl.com/mty6et