As competition for college admission continues to grow, more students seek additional guidance. This assistance can range from consulting public high school counselors to hiring private counseling for tens of thousands of dollars. Recently, such private counseling has reached international news as allegations of immoral misconduct have brought these businesses under scrutiny.
The growing prominence of college counseling brings forward several important issues. The pricing of such services can often be quite high, drawing both the fairness and value of the services offered into question. Additionally, the amount of help that students receive from college counselors on their essays can be questionable, as too much input has the potential to result in final essays that are no longer representative of the student’s experiences and writing ability.
As part of an ongoing examination of the college counseling process, The Outlook is presenting the following article as an introduction to the subject. Further entries in the series will examine in detail the more sensitive aspects of college counseling.
Aragon College Counseling
The Aragon college counseling process spans the four years that a student attends Aragon. Students can find easy access to assistance in their college application process. Most senior teachers volunteer their own time to look at students’ essays for free either during lunch or after school. Additionally, the counseling office ensures that students have support from the beginning of their freshman year, providing a series of workshops throughout junior and senior year for both students and parents. They are also often available at lunch and beyond school hours to help seniors complete and review their college applications. Furthermore, Aragon’s office staff writes letters of reccomendation for seniors applying to private colleges.
The Senior Guidance Team, composed of College and Career Advisor Laurie Tezak, Senior Guidance Counselor Trisha Liskay, Senior Academic Advisor Norma Lopez, and Financial Aid and Scholarship Advisor Rena Jan, is available to answer any questions about the application process, look over seniors’ completed applications, review personal statements and essays, and provide other counseling support.
Private College Counseling
Because of stress, desire to have more individualized help, parental request, and perhaps a misperception of the availability of Aragon counselors, some students seek additional assistance throughout their college application process. Private college counseling services range from established businesses like ThinkTank and Buckley to private college counselors who operate independently.
Senior Ashley Koh explains her initial steps of college counseling, “I went to a lady called Lisa Buchanan. She showed me the U.C. prompts and she asked me to do some exercise to help me jog some memories about specific events that could be potential college essays. Then I wrote down a few ideas and she helped me pick which one was the best and those would become the actual essay.” As to why Koh began private college counseling, she says, “Well, my sisters used her last year, so my parents just let me use her again. The only reason I did go outside [of Aragon] was because my sisters did it and it worked for them.”
Some students seek college counseling because of parental request. Senior Katie Barnes says, “My mom thought [college counseling] would be a good idea because she didn’t know how to help me. It was kind of almost more for her than it was for me, because she wanted to be able to make sure that I found a good college.”
Much like Aragon counselors, private college counselors can help students develop a list of safety, target, and reach schools based on a student’s personal profile. Senior Dana Pierce says of her college counselor Elizabeth Stone, “She tells you how likely it is that you’re going to get into a school. Like I know that I shouldn’t apply to Stanford because based on my [profile] I don’t have a good chance. She kind of just lays down the reality of that for you.”
Without a doubt, one of the key aspects of college counseling involves counselors editing their client’s essays and personal statements. Barnes says of her counselor’s editing service, “She doesn’t help with the application—not really with the Common App or that stuff. I’ll write the essays and I’ll give them to her and she’ll edit for spelling and word choice and grammar and stuff like that.”
Buckley Education, a college and educational counseling service, is located in Burlingame and headed by Jean Marie Buckley. Senior Rory Beyer says of why he chose to seek outside help, “It’s not that [the Aragon counselors] are bad, it’s just that they’re so busy and they have so much to do. Like they’re not the type of people that you can e-mail your essay over to them on Monday and get feedback on Tuesday. They’re too busy for that and [Buckley counseling] is just an easier way to do it for me.”
The primary counselor at Buckley, Jean Marie Buckley, helps her senior clients through the entire application process. Senior Lauren Chan reflects on her experience with Buckley, saying, “[Jean Marie Buckley] helps you get your stuff in order. She has a deadline for her clients to finish by that’s way before the actual deadline so you can submit your application early.”
College Counseling for Underclassmen
Although seniors primarily seek out college counseling, underclassmen sometimes use college counselors as well. Sophomore Vivian Shen says of her reasons for going to Buckley, “Since the competition for colleges is so hard nowadays, you have to start early so you can say ‘I’ve been doing these things for so and so years…’ You want to start early and start designing your path early.”
Freshman Andrew Wang, who started college counseling the summer before high school, explains, “My mom chose it. It wasn’t me. She wanted a program that would direct me to a path—like a straight path—so that I would know how to learn and know how to choose wisely about what classes I wanted and keep my study habits and grades up.”
ThinkTank, an educational and college counseling business in the Bay Area, offers a large variety of college counseling programs. These packages include services that range from individual consultation with counselors to assisting students with planning extracurricular activities, as well aiding students throughout the college applications process.
Freshman Katherine Liu says, “The college counselor recommended that I join at least one academic club and one club for personal interest. She also said that it’s better to take a higher level class even if you don’t do as well because it shows that you’re being challenged.”
Wang, who also partakes in the All-in-One-Program at ThinkTank says, “There’s this thing ‘Homework Helper’ [at ThinkTank] and ‘Homework Helper’ basically is this really noisy place and you can’t even concentrate on doing your work there, so I prefer doing homework at home.”
One program that is unique to ThinkTank is the Guaranteed Premium College Admission Package. This package offers one hundred percent money back guarantee to seniors should they fail to be admitted into schools mutually agreed upon by the college counselor and student.
Efficacy of College Counseling
After spending extensive time, money, and energy on college counseling, students may wonder how helpful their investment has been. When asked whether his counseling experience at Buckley was helpful, Beyer says “Yeah— for sure. I mean, honestly, looking back I could have done it on my own; it probably would have turned out fine. But I’m glad that I used her because it actually helped a lot in the process.” Beyer adds “[College counseling] is a really good thing to do. I mean, obviously there’s cost and stuff, but I’m glad I did it and I think it’s a good idea if you get the opportunity.”
Chan states “[College counseling] really helps and they make you feel less stressed about the college admissions process.”
On the other hand, some students have expressed feelings of exasperation with their particular college counselor. Pierce says, “It is helpful, but there are just so many edits that when you’re on a time restraint it can be really frustrating. Like I’ve got things due in two days and I’m still editing one of my papers. And also, it’s really hard to meet with [Stone] sometimes. I don’t know when I’m going to meet with her and my things are due in two days so I’m kind of freaking out about that.”
Koh reflects on her experience with Buchanan stating, “I think it’s helpful to get you started and give you an idea of what you’re supposed to write about and how you’re supposed to write it. But then, I think you could probably do it on your own since I redid [one of my essays]. Now that I look back on it, I probably could have stayed at school [and asked for help] instead. After I rewrote my essay I actually got Mr. Daniel to help me edit it and that was helpful.”
Pierce says on whether she would recommend college counseling, “I think college counseling in general is a good idea; not specifically [my college counselor]— I’m actually getting really frustrated with mine. But then [there are] some other college counselors that seem kind of shady, I feel like they write their essays for their kids. I feel like you need to find the right one.”
