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 fascinating profession that is misunderstood by the large majority of people. I also teach AP Research, so digging into topics and figuring out how we got where we are is basically a reflex at this point. So, this blog post is a reflection on my research of the history and evolution of college counseling at High Schools.
In my five years doing this work, I have already witnessed how much the college admissions landscape has changed. Inflated GPAs, fluctuating test-optional policies, hyper-selective schools, students applying to 20+ colleges—it’s a lot. From the beginning, I have been fortunate enough to work with experienced colleagues who talk to me about the “old days.” Even when I applied to college in 2001-2002, I didn’t feel the level of pressure expressed by students today and the paper application felt much simpler (though growing up in a small farming community and only applying to Purdue and Indiana probably played a role in my perception). So, I recently started looking into how college guidance got to where it is today, and I found some interesting things that helped me put it all into perspective. Maybe it will be of interest to some of you, too.
College guidance didn’t appear out of nowhere, and it hasn’t been around nearly as long as higher education itself. It has evolved with shifts in society, technology, and education. And like everything in counseling, it has gotten more complicated and intense over time.
I know many counselors are balancing college guidance with lots of other responsibilities—mental health support, scheduling, crisis management, test coordination, the list goes on. My big picture goal with this blog is to share ideas that might make the college guidance aspect of the job a little easier; maybe this post will at least provide some perspective on why things are the way they are. I always feel a less overwhelmed or stress by things when I feel like I understand them – maybe some of you will have a same experience.
In my research of the history of college counseling, I came across quite a few interesting sources, but most focused on the counseling at the college level rather than high school students preparing for college. The most useful source I found—and the one that essentially all of my historical information comes from—is from Chapter 1 of the 2020 book titled College Counseling and Student Development: Theory, Practice, and Campus Collaboration. This chapter titled “History and Evolution of College Counseling” was authored by Derrick Paladino, Kathryn Alessandria, and David Denino. If you’re interested in a deeper dive, I highly recommend checking out their work (and because I’m a brainwashed capstone teacher, I included the citation at the end). Here is a link to the book.
How College Counseling Got Here (Thanks, Paladino et al!)
College counseling started as career guidance in the early 1900s, when schools were more focused on preparing students for jobs than on helping them get into college. Early counseling tasks centered on students’ physical health and discipline rather than academic or career planning. Schools weren’t thinking about SAT prep, trying to curate the “perfect” passion projects, or drafting personal statements—they were helping students enter the workforce. It wasn’t until much later that supporting students’ postsecondary educational aspirations became a core part of the role (4). This makes sense when we remember how uncommon it was to attend a college or university back then.
After World War II, the GI Bill made college accessible to a much broader group of students. High schools had to adjust their guidance services to support students who, for the first time, saw college as a realistic path. This shift marked the beginning of what we now think of as college counseling (5). As more students considered college, high schools had to create systems to help them navigate applications, financial aid, and the admissions process.
By the 1960s and 1970s, standardized testing started shaping how students approached admissions. High school counselors were expected to guide students through these new processes, but their responsibilities still extended far beyond college advising. By the 1960s, nearly all schools offered counseling services to their students, but high caseloads and limited resources made individualized guidance difficult (6). This meant that, even back then, college advising was often squeezed in around everything else counselors had to manage without taking anything off their plate.
The 1980s and 1990s saw another shift: college admissions became even more competitive and more problematic with the appearance and growing popularity of college rankings; families with financial resources started seeking private college consultants. This led to a growing divide—some students had access to one-on-one college advising, while others relied on overburdened school counselors juggling multiple roles (9). The demand for specialized guidance was growing, but the structure of counseling in most schools hadn’t changed much nor was more funding available to add more counselors.
Fast forward to today, and we’re seeing even more shifts—test-optional policies, holistic admissions, and an increasing reliance on digital tools. But while admissions has changed, the biggest challenges remain the same at most schools: counselors are expected to provide college guidance while managing everything else on their plate. The responsibilities have piled up, but the time and resources haven’t been adjusted to account for this (12). After reading and summarizing this article that can feel discouraging, I want to try to focus on the positive. Hopefully, knowing how we got here can at least help counselors understand the many roles they take on and I will do my best to help come up with ways to make the college counseling side of things just a little clearer and easier.
What This Means for Counselors in 2025
If you ever feel overwhelmed by how much you’re expected to do, you are in the majority. College guidance has been added to counselors’ responsibilities over the years, but nothing else was taken off their plates to make room for it.
Looking at this history doesn’t fix the problem, but it does help us understand the complicated trajectory of the “school counselor.” This understanding gives us perspective and reminds us that our profession has always adapted to change to best serve our students. More importantly, it can help us advocate for ourselves and our students.
This counselor workload is one of the main reasons I started this blog. If I can share ideas that make your job easier or just help you feel less alone in the chaos—that would make it all worth it. I recognize how lucky I am to get to focus solely on college counseling and I am hoping to share some things that might make this part of your busy job a bit easier. Whether it’s strategies to simplify the college process, insights on shifts in admissions, or some strategies that I’ve found helpful, my hope is that you will take something from this and feel appreciated for all you do for the college applicants at your school.
Work Cited
Paladino, Derrick, Kathryn Alessandria, and David Denino. “History and Evolution of College Counseling.” College Counseling and Student Development: Theory, Practice, and Campus Collaboration, edited by Derrick A. Paladino, Lisa M. Gonzalez, and John C. Watson, American Counseling Association, 2020, pp. 3-22.