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Wstrdg
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Posted: Wed Feb 13th, 2008 02:43 pm |
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http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/02/13/admit
So which category of counseling does your high school offer?
The study divides counseling center philosophies into three categories, based on their activities: “traditional” (which doesn’t involve doing that much at all), “clearinghouse” (in which the office focuses on providing a wide range of materials on colleges, financial aid, etc.) and “brokering,” in which a much more active approach is taken.
Is yours Traditional, Clearinghouse, or Brokering? Ours is definitely "traditional," especially the part of not doing "that much at all!" But that's a large Calif ps for you, with a huge student to counselor ratio.
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Fireflyscout
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Posted: Wed Feb 13th, 2008 07:07 pm |
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Probably a clearinghouse here. There is a separate college and career center with a college counselor who receives and disseminates college and scholarship info, but it is the regular counselors who meet with the students to go over plans (we're talking about a 10 minute meeting here) and college possibilities (which are heavily biased to instate publics - their knowledge of out-of-state colleges tends to be quite limited) and who will ultimately write the counselor recommendation.
I think the counselors do the best job they can within their limits - they know enough to satisfy at least 95% of the students and parents.
ETA: The student to counselor ratio around here is about 400:1.
Last edited on Wed Feb 13th, 2008 07:08 pm by Fireflyscout
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WestrnMom
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Posted: Wed Feb 13th, 2008 10:33 pm |
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A cross between Clearinghouse and Brokering. Definitely more hands on than most schools.
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ellenrch
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Posted: Thu Feb 14th, 2008 05:43 pm |
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Mostly traditional, maybe clearinghouse. I wouldn't even call it "counseling." We didn't expect much more, but it's a bit depressing to think that my S's college admissions process has been "guided" by his mother. I think I've done an okay job, but now that we're nearing decision time, I am second guessing like crazy. What about the students who don't have parents like me? And who don't have a Carolyn? 
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Thu Feb 14th, 2008 06:32 pm |
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Thanks for posting the link, Wstrdg. I found it it interesting that the study itself specifically mentions that Catholic schools tend to use more of the "traditional" approach than other private schools. That has certainly been the experience of my two children at their Catholic high school. I also know that our local high school very much uses the clearinghouse approach, which, as the study points out is OK for kids who are already set on attending college, but doesn't get the kids who aren't sure yet of their plans on the path to college.
I also found this very interesting because I just had a meeting with our principal yesterday where I was discussing the need to have a consistent and pro-active outreach approach with our college relationships. I wish to heck I had had the term "brokering" to use. But, I will be passing this along to our principal as a follow up to our discussion -- so thank you!
Carolyn
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Lupine
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Posted: Thu Feb 14th, 2008 07:29 pm |
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Our (large, suburban, very competitive) HS has kind of a mixed approach. There's a counselor (who happens to be D's counselor) who is also responsible for the Post Grad Center, and she's amazing. I feel like we get a lot of attention, support and advice from her, and so far it has been very much on target. She's also very talented at recruiting and utilizing volunteers, so the materials are always up-to-date and the center is open most of the time.
But, you have to take the initiative to contact her, and set an appointment, because she's really busy. (I'm also sure she takes a full case home every night in the fall given all the letters she has to write.) I think that it is amazing what she manages to get done.
If you're a freshman, soph, or even first semester junior you probably don't get much time with the counselor unless there is a problem or a special situation. We ended up working with her pretty closely last year and this year (junior year) because D is now on an exchange program and that required a lot of planning. But, they do hold group sessions with kids beginning in spring semester of freshman year, and evening sessions for parents. They also have a fair amount of information up on the web, and Naviance for historical and school-specific admissions data.
I think that the counselor:student ratio is 1:375, so I don't think that there is a lot more that they could do with the resources available. (Our school also has an interventionist who deals with students who are having drug, alcohol, pregnancy, family or judicial problems, though the counselors might also have some involvement in that.)
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Northeastmom
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Posted: Thu Feb 14th, 2008 10:23 pm |
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| Our public hs, I feel is mostly traditional, with some clearinghouse touches. I guess there is a touch of brokering too. I say that because they have a college trip once a year to a cluster of schools (usually a large school, a small school, an Ivy, and 2nd or 3rd tier) for juniors. The trips are within a 4 hour radius of home, and the schools are within a 2 hour drive of each other. The trip is voluntary and there is a fee for it. Last edited on Thu Feb 14th, 2008 10:28 pm by Northeastmom
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ellenrch
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Posted: Fri Feb 15th, 2008 06:51 pm |
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| Slightly off-topic, but I guess we have a "traditional" counseling office. This week we found out they never sent my S's first-quarter grades to one of his RD schools. So he went in today after being out sick for a few days and found out that the two counselors and the assistant were both gone for the day/at a meeting/somewhere that was not their office. Meanwhile, the decision countdown is moving right along.
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