I’m often asked questions by parents and students trying to find a general philosophy towards things like financial aid or admission for all colleges. There are some basic tenets that all colleges cling to, but there are many other pieces of philosophy that can vary dramatically from one school to the next. While I like to think of myself as a good and knowledgeable school counselor, I (or any other high school counselor) am really not the best person to answer many of the school-specific questions asked. That being said, It’s time to get to know your college admissions counselor.
I should that say that most high school counselors should be fairly knowledgeable about schools in their own state and geographically close by. Even then, the high school counselor is always still only a middleman, and it’s really not wise to expect them to know details about the admission processes at schools halfway across the country. That’s why those admissions counselors are on the colleges’ payroll.
One of the immediate differences you’ll find from one college to the next is what they call the admissions counselor. Some call them recruiters, admissions representatives, admissions specialists, or other similar names. The organizational structure within the admissions department can vary somewhat as well at each school, but all colleges have admissions counselors in some form.
Those individuals have two main functions. One of those is to answer questions about their school including financial aid, student life, academics, and admissions. They also read applications and have a very heavy hand in deciding who is accepted into their school. Thus, this is a person who is accessible to interested students’ families, whose job it is to communicate with you, and who is someone you want to have a relationship with. However, the vast the majority of families fail to make this connection.
My point to all this is as follows: when you want to know if “My Favorite State University” prefers an extra year of a foreign language or an extra science, when you want to know whether consideration will be given for a student who didn’t have a great sophomore year because they broke their back in a jet ski accident and missed a lot of school, when you want to know if taking the December SAT will allow scores to be back in time to be considered for admission, pick up the phone and call the admission counselors at the college.
That phone call does two things. One of those is giving you a straight answer from the horse’s mouth. The high school counselor can give you answers to questions like those above, but that answer is only a projection based on all the information they know about that college. Making that phone call also helps establish you with the admission counselor. That same counselor may well end up reading your application and if you are able to make a positive personal connection, that can only help you.
Generally, you can find the names and contact information for admission counselors on a college’s admissions website. Counselors are often assigned based on geography so a particular counselor might cover a given state or county. If you can’t identify your assigned counselor on a website, call the college and tell the person who answers the phone (often a student and not an admissions counselor) where you live and that you’d like to speak with your assigned counselor. Admissions counselors do spend a lot of time on the road recruiting, so if you can’t get through by phone, track down their email and contact them that way.
