College Counseling: Going Beyond the College Tour

This may be obvious-but-TECHNOLOGY IS AMAZING.  Here is the story:

The second week at my internship, when I was still developing my sea legs, I joined my supervisor as we explained PSAT  results and SAT study options to an SAT Prep class of about ten sophomores and juniors. They logged onto College Board's website to explore their personalized study profiles, again-technology is really cool.  The students were receptive during our classroom counseling lesson and asked many questions about topics other than standardized tests.  Given some classroom time with two trained counselors (well, one trained and one in training), the students asked about college admissions, how to research schools, financial aid, and housing.  We did our best to quickly answer their questions, while re-focusing them to the tasks at hand. 

At the end of the class period, I approached the teacher and asked if I could continue coming in once a week to do college-oriented lessons.  Since she has a pretty loosey-goosey SAT Prep curriculum, and welcomed my suggestion.  Now I teach one fully class period every Wednesday.  I have lead lessons on financial aid, Naviance college searches, career interest inventories, and goal setting.  A couple of weeks ago, I asked the students to complete a survey that would help me orient the next couple of lessons.  From that survey, I found that only one of our students had ever toured a college and only one ever talked to an academic or admissions counselor.

Lightbulb moment.

One of the great things about being a school counselor these days is that we are taught to embrace collaboration, reaching across disciplines to advocate for our kids.  Our school has a frozen budget so a bus to a college tour was out of the question...and the teachers are very busy preparing our students for the HSA, a state mandated test, which students are required to pass to graduate-so getting time for a tour is not likely. Then it dawned on me: I have a good friend who is finishing her graduate studies in Higher Education/Student Affairs at a university in Ohio.  Though she couldn't be in our classroom in the flesh, a host of web-based video chats exist to facilitate an open exchange.  The teacher was into it, the students were into it, and my friend, Ms. Amanda, was into it.  This got me excited, people!

Cruddy quality photo-but you get the picture...get it?

A few weeks prior to our virtual college advising session, the students and I sat down to generate a list of questions to guide the discussion.  Here is a list of what we came up with as a group:

Questions:

"Other"

• Is it hard for people to live off campus and succeed academically?
• What can I do now, as a high school student, to prepare for college?

Freshman Transition

• Do freshman struggle with classes as they transition?
• Which classes usually cause the most problems?
• If I am struggling with a class, what do I do?  Who can help me and how do I find them?

College Seeking

• How do you find a college that is right for you?  What should we be considering when looking at different options?
• What is the average cost for college and how can I pay for it?
• What options are there if my grades are average and I want to go to a 4-year school?

Admissions

• What do colleges look for most when looking at applications?
• What kind of students are colleges looking for?

Academic/Career Advising

• Is there someone to help me decide on a major?
• Is there someone to help me find a job after I graduate?
• Do we get to choose our classes, if yes, how?
• Do juniors and seniors choose classes first--> younger students take whatever is left?

I know that I could have answered most of the questions on my own, but I wanted to give the students the chance to talk directly with an "expert" like Amanda.  After the session, I asked the students to complete some simple surveys.  The students responded positively in all categories.  Using technology and measuring its effectiveness via simple surveys helps me not only advocate for my students, it helps me advocate for the role of the school counselor.

Stepping across academic and professional disciplines, as well as employing technology in the classroom helped me bring college to the kids.  I would love to hear from other counselors about how they step outside the box to advocate for their kids in innovative ways.