College Essay Brainstorming… Tips on Guiding Students
College Essay Brainstorming – College Counselor Guidance and Resources This is a bit of a deep-dive on a previous post I wrote about college application materials. However, here I will focus specifically on college essay brainstorming for the “main essay,” “CommonApp” essay, or “personal statement” – although much of this could apply to other essays. […]
Building a College List That Works
There’s the occasional moment in a junior meeting where I can see the pressure mounting — students staring at a blank college list, parents eager to suggest the alma mater or the “top” school they read about in U.S. News, and me trying to bring the focus back to fit. Because the truth is: A […]
When the Decisions Come In: Helping Students Understand the Four Types of College Admissions Outcomes (and Themselves)
One of the most important parts of my job—especially this time of year—is helping students make sense of the decisions they’re getting from colleges. But I’ve found that the real work often starts long before those emails hit their inboxes. Over the years, I’ve realized how crucial it is to guide students toward healthy expectations. […]
What Really Matters in a College Application?
One of the most common questions I get from students (and sometimes parents) is: “What do colleges actually care about?” or “What do I need to do to get into a ‘good’ college?” In a previous post, I discussed the problem with talking about “good” colleges as if it were a universal measurement. The truth […]
Helping Students Define Their Own College Fit
In my last post, I talked about how prestige is often just an illusion—especially when it comes to college choice. We know the highest-ranked school on a list isn’t necessarily the best fit for every student. But if students are going to take ownership of their college process, they need tools and frameworks to actually […]
“Prestige” is an Illusion… Literally: Helping Students Understand College Fit
Fun fact: The word prestige actually comes from the Latin praestigium, meaning illusion. So when students say they’re only interested in “prestigious” schools, it’s worth remembering that what they’re often chasing is the appearance of excellence—not necessarily what’s best for them or where they’ll be successful and happy. Over the past few years in college […]
Junior Year College Planning: A Guide for Counselors and Students
Maybe the biggest surprise to me when I started this job was how crucial junior year is in college planning. When I did this decades ago, I don’t think I even started thinking about college until my senior year started. Not sure how much of that was due to changing times and how much was […]
Helping Students Take Ownership of the College Process
In my 20 years in education, it seems like students have needed more and more hand holding. A lot of teenagers are hesitant to take initiative, frequently look for reassurance, and often get overwhelmed by the idea of making decisions for themselves. At the same time, I get paranoid that I’ve become the old man […]
The Evolution of College Counseling
I’ve always been fascinated by how things evolve – how things got from point A to point B. My dissertation on the Spanish Civil War explored how understanding history helps us work through the past and make sense of the present. When I started college counseling, I felt that same curiosity about this strange and […]
Welcome!
Welcome to the Blog: Practical College Support for High School Counselors Why This Blog? I’ll be honest—starting a blog wasn’t on my to-do list. Like many of you, I’m a full-time high school counselor helping students with college admissions and constantly learning as the field evolves. I definitely don’t have all the answers, but I’ve […]