Behind the Curtain: April

This post is part of a series of monthly posts intended to assist a number of categories of educators with interest in college counseling. These monthly posts will provide a summary of the typical or recommended work of a college counselor, including providing a link to our monthly Cheatsheet, a daily task of 30-minutes or so for college counselors. In addition to these ideas and suggestions for those in the college counseling realm, they will also include some suggestions for those ancillary to this world, such as administrators, board members, etc.

April: The Downhill Sprint Begins

As the end of the academic year nears, there is a common sense of things as begin frenetic in college counseling offices. While I cannot cite my source, the time between spring break and graduation was once explained to me as being a “downhill sprint” for college counselors. There is so much going on that requires our attention, presence, and focus along with an increasing number of events and celebrations, not to mention a typically lengthy span of time with no vacations. The end of the year can be very intense, and April seems to be the start of it. Back to the downhill sprint metaphor, the point is that we will all get to the bottom of the hill (graduation/summer vacation) one way or the other. We can only hope to keep our feet beneath us. 

What follows are some of the topics and concepts that are (or ought to be) on the to-do list of college counselors this month:

• Setting the Seniors Loose. During this span of time, most seniors applying to North American and European destinations will have learned of their results, and so, the role of the college counselor tends to be in assisting with making the final decision. At the same time, college counselors are obligated to assist these students as well with finding their way to a successful conclusion to high school and a successful start to college. Transition programming often begins as the end of the school year comes within sight.

• Getting the Juniors Started. While many college counseling offices will have begun working with the juniors previously, it tends to be in April that the work starts to mount. Often teacher letters of recommendation, drafts of essays, initial college lists, parent meetings, etc all come due this month.

• Perspective. April often also sees a number of other responsibilities in regards to younger classes – such as those dealing with course selection processes – and broader administrative tasks – such as board reports, etc. There is much to keep busy with here.

• College Counseling Cheatsheet. The Cheatsheet provides roughly 30-minute or less tasks that appear on your calendar each weekday and that are designed to improve your counseling practice. From tips to strategies to reminders, this can help you stay organized.

• Seek help. Consider the ways that we here at Lamplighter might be able to assist. Take a look at what we might be able to offer. 

Suggestions for Admin:

• Support Down Time. As the downhill spring begins, it is enormously helpful for administration to do what it can to protect college counselors from being overwhelmed and overburdened. This really comes to light if an administrator were to ask college counselors how much work they are doing away from school, in the evenings and on the weekends. It is helpful to understand this and to do whatever you might to curb it for the sake of college counselors’ wellness.

• Support the Wind Down. There is much that must be done as graduation nears and students ready to disappear from campus. The more administration can step in to assist, whether by tracking down students or collecting information, the more smoothly this process can unfold.

• Understand the Results. It is enormously important for administrators to understand not only the results that the current senior class is yielding but also why, in the perspective of the college counseling office, these results came about. Ask questions! 

Be sure to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. We are always happy to incorporate and share others’ feedback.

Behind the Curtain: March

This post is part of a series of monthly posts intended to assist a number of categories of educators with interest in college counseling. These monthly posts will provide a summary of the typical or recommended work of a college counselor, including providing a link to our monthly Cheatsheet, a daily task of 30-minutes or so for college counselors. In addition to these ideas and suggestions for those in the college counseling realm, they will also include some suggestions for those ancillary to this world, such as administrators, board members, etc.

March: The Results Are In! 

While March continues to see college counselors straddle the two worlds of grade 11 and grade 12, pushing the former toward the application process and pulling the latter toward the finish line, it is during this month that most university results will come back. This is particularly at schools with a majority of students focusing their college aspirations on institutions in North America. Like so many other junctures throughout the annual cycle, college counselors are now divided between the logistics and granular details of educating juniors and the emotional and psychological support of the seniors. It is a crazy time! 

What follows are some of the topics and concepts that are (or ought to be) on the to-do list of college counselors this month:

• Pushing the Juniors. This time of year – typically second semester – is often when the workload starts to increase significantly for grade 11 students. As such, the work of college counseling is to push these students, typically just beginning their college process, to prioritize academic achievement while also putting in the time into the college process. It all comes to a head this time of year!

• Pulling the Seniors. At the other end of the spectrum and timeline, seniors are often into a waiting period for the college results (or they already have made their decision), and so their motivation can wane. The work of college counseling therefore needs to be to pull those seniors through the final lap to graduation.

• College Counseling Cheatsheet. The Cheatsheet provides roughly 30-minute or less tasks that appear on your calendar each weekday and that are designed to improve your counseling practice. From tips to strategies to reminders, this can help you stay organized.

• Seek help. Consider the ways that we here at Lamplighter might be able to assist. Take a look at what we might be able to offer. 

Suggestions for Admin:

• Jump into the Work. This is a great time to lend support to college counseling by getting involved with student conversations. It is often a difficult balance to strike for a college counselor to step in as the “heavy” in conversations about maintaining academic performance for seniors or to keep on track with the juniors when their relationship with students has not been similar in the past. It is enormously helpful when admin step into this work alongside college counselors in partnership.

• Support the Complete Student. Sometimes the work this time of year becomes entirely results-focused and often loses the process-focus of the rest of our educational philosophy and journey. The focus becomes on names of institutions and college acceptances among other such trophies. As such, it is helpful when administrators step back to remind everyone to focus on each individual student. 

• Understand the Complexity. Around this time of the year, there often come pressures from elsewhere on administration – whether from boards or parents or elsewhere – and this can often translate into a failure to understand the complexity of college counseling work. It is not always or ever merely a matter of where a student deposits. There is much more to the process for each and every student. It is wonderful when admin appreciates this!

• Express Appreciation. Let your counselors know how much you appreciate their work!

Be sure to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. We are always happy to incorporate and share others’ feedback. 

Behind the Curtain: February

This post is part of a series of monthly posts intended to assist a number of categories of educators with interest in college counseling. These monthly posts will provide a summary of the typical or recommended work of a college counselor, including providing a link to our monthly Cheatsheet, a daily task of 30-minutes or so for college counselors. In addition to these ideas and suggestions for those in the college counseling realm, they will also include some suggestions for those ancillary to this world, such as administrators, board members, etc.

February: Wrapping Up & Kicking Off

The month of February is an extension of January during which college counselors are typically straddling the worlds of their seniors and their juniors. On the one hand, the seniors are wrapping up applications and mostly waiting for results, while, on the other, the juniors are typically kicking off the most intense phase of their college counseling programming. And the college counselor is there for both constituencies. Add to the mix that February is often a time of increased parental involvement for both groups — the seniors as results begin to trickle in, and juniors as the process really kicks in — the life of the college counselor can be chaotic. Finally, while so much of the process for the seniors thus far has included outreach by the college counselor to universities, the roles reverse somewhat as universities reach out to solicit counselors for missing documents, additional explanations, and the like.

What follows are some of the topics and concepts that are (or ought to be) on the to-do list of college counselors this month:

• Finalize Senior Plans. With the exception of places like Australia, Singapore, and a handful of other destinations around the world, most current, final-year students will be wrapping up their application submissions while simultaneously receiving the first large wave of admissions decisions. College Counselors, as such, are busy at work guiding these students through all of this.

• Combat Inertia. We included this last month, but the battle wages on. At many schools, the time after the holiday break (often second semester for northern hemisphere academic calendars) begins a steady decline in motivation for seniors. Whether they have been admitted to university or not, students often suffer with maintaining their momentum, and, consequently, college counselors are called upon to assist teachers, advisors, admin, parents, and others in keeping seniors working hard so as to finish the year strong. 

• Junior Attention. The grade 11 students are likely beginning more regular, formal programming — often the form of college counseling classes — during this period of time. With the additional attention comes additional questions, concerns, and anxieties by students and parents alike. College counselors are focused on initiating this stage of the college process with firm footing. 

• College Counseling Cheatsheet. The Cheatsheet provides roughly 30-minute or less tasks that appear on your calendar each weekday and that are designed to improve your counseling practice. From tips to strategies to reminders, this can help you stay organized.

• Seek help. Consider the ways that we here at Lamplighter might be able to assist. Take a look at what we might be able to offer. 

Suggestions for Admin:

• Understand Student Perspectives. Between the differentiated situations of the seniors and the juniors — not to mention the sophomores and freshmen — February is a great time for administrators to connect with college counselors to understand the specific pressures and challenges and advantages encountered by each class of students. Possessing a firm understanding of all that is going on in the lives of these students during this time of the year typically leads to a more engaged understanding later on.

• Anticipate the Road Ahead. While understanding the current status of each grade is a great opportunity for February, this is also an important time for administrators to get a sense of what might be coming down the pike in terms of admissions results and establishing proactively plans to support students and parents. With some results coming in and some sense of the admissions landscape, college counselors can often be frighteningly accurate in predicting potential outcomes. Preparing to circle the wagons during February is time well-spent.

• Feedback and Planning. In this interstitial time in programming — as college counselors move between finishing up a process and beginning it over again — there is an opportunity for administration to provide feedback and suggestions for programming moving forward into the new cycle. Personally, I have always appreciated the perspective of administrators who have access to some anecdotal feedback — often in the form of related conversations — despite not necessarily being experts in the content. I remember hearing once from an administrator that he felt a particular office I worked in needed to do more parent programming just to increase familiarity. We did, and it worked like a charm, although it was a solution we had not considered. Regardless, February is a great time for this sort of conversation and feedback.

• Express Appreciation. Let your counselors know how much you appreciate their work!

Be sure to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. We are always happy to incorporate and share others’ feedback. 

Behind the Curtain: January

This post is part of a series of monthly posts intended to assist a number of categories of educators with interest in college counseling. These monthly posts will provide a summary of the typical or recommended work of a college counselor, including providing a link to our monthly Cheatsheet, a daily task of 30-minutes or so for college counselors. In addition to these ideas and suggestions for those in the college counseling realm, they will also include some suggestions for those ancillary to this world, such as administrators, board members, etc.

January: Regrouping & Moving On. 

College Counseling is a strange beast in the world of education. On one hand, like teachers reteaching the same course annually, we college counselors are constantly engaged in some part of the same cycle; however, on the other, college counselors must begin the cycle anew before having finished the previous one, resulting, as some colleagues explain it, in our own, unique brand of schizophrenia! In this way, arguably no month is more fraught with the pull between the present and the future than January as we seek to wrap up the stressful and complicated submission process with the current seniors while beginning the process in earnest with the juniors. 

What follows are some of the topics and concepts that are (or ought to be) on the to-do list of college counselors this month:

• Wrap-up Applications. If they are mostly focused on the more selective institutions within the USA, seniors should mostly be done with submitting applications; however, especially if they are exploring other locations around the globe or are continuing to develop the balance of their list, many are potentially still applying. As such, this month often includes a hefty dose of final application submissions for counselors. 

• Track Down Results. While seniors can often seem entirely dependent upon college counselors through the stages leading up to the submissions of applications, once the applications are off, tracking down results can be a burden for counselors! Many results may have come in over the break – and January has its own fair share of new results being released – and so counselors often need to carve time out to track down how their beloved seniors have fared!

• Combat Inertia. At many schools, the time after the holiday break begins a steady decline in motivation for seniors. Whether they have been admitted to university or not, students often suffer with maintaining their momentum, and, consequently, college counselors are called upon to assist teachers, advisors, admin, parents, and others in keeping seniors working hard so as to finish the year strong. 

• Begin Again. Although the seniors are not yet finished with their process, generally January affords somewhat of a reprieve from the demands of the application season for the seniors to allow counselors to focus on starting up with the juniors. While formal meetings may begin in January, the month is a great time for counselors to revisit their plans for the process as they see it unfolding before them with the next batch of students. 

• College Counseling Cheatsheet. The Cheatsheet provides roughly 30-minute or less tasks that appear on your calendar each weekday and that are designed to improve your counseling practice. From tips to strategies to reminders, this can help you stay organized.

• Seek help. Consider the ways that we here at Lamplighter might be able to assist. Take a look at what we might be able to offer. 

Suggestions for Admin:

• Engage in Discussion of Change. January is an ideal time for administrators, who do not spend their days in the throes of the college counseling world, to engage in discussion with the college counseling team about what has changed, what is in flux, and what is staying the same in the process. Possessing an understanding of the changing and dynamic nature of the college counseling process is an important component of supporting college counseling offices and students alike. It is especially helpful for college counselors when administrators understand the changing demands on the office and are therefore able to support and adjust supports accordingly. 

• Troubleshoot & Anticipate Challenges. Each class of students possesses its own unique personality and history, and January is often a great time for administrators to lay out the particular defining qualities of the junior class with the college counseling office, particularly if their model is one where they do not begin working with the students in earnest until now. Particularly helpful is understanding high flyers, challenging parents, difficult situations (including disciplinary scenarios, especially if they must be reported), and the like. 

• Goal Reflection. While I have seldom encountered cyclical goal-setting processes that align with the advent of the college counselors’ work with the juniors, it is not a bad idea to engage in some reflecting on goals for the new cohort. That said, if this does not align with the goal-setting model, January is a great time to revisit more traditional, annual goals aligning with the academic calendar. 

• Express Appreciation. Let your counselors know how much you appreciate their work!

Be sure to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. We are always happy to incorporate and share others’ feedback. 

Behind the Curtain: December

This post is part of a series of monthly posts intended to assist a number of categories of educators with interest in college counseling. These monthly posts will provide a summary of the typical or recommended work of a college counselor, including providing a link to our monthly Cheatsheet, a daily task of 30-minutes or so for college counselors. In addition to these ideas and suggestions for those in the college counseling realm, they will also include some suggestions for those ancillary to this world, such as administrators, board members, etc.

December: The Highs & The Lows. 

In the realm of college counseling, the month of December, despite being truncated for most due to the holidays at the end of the month, can be one of the most precarious to navigate. With some major scholarship and US state school application deadlines to begin the month, things are closely followed by the release of many early action and early decision application results mid-month before -- again, for many -- sending students off on holiday ostensibly with plans for them to submit applications. This month combines a need for human management with a lot of the rote work of the job in a way that can be exhausting. At least one colleague refers to the week leading into the holiday break as the worst week of the year between helping students navigate acceptances, denies, and deferrals while also trying to get as much of the paperwork done so as to be able to enjoy some of the vacation. It’s a lot! 

What follows are some of the topics and concepts that are (or ought to be) on the to-do list of college counselors this month:

• Communicate Availability. As college counselors, be sure to set a concrete plan for communicating your availability over your vacation. I have worked at schools with varying degrees of expectations, so it also makes sense to solicit approval from supervisors. A best practice is to use email away messages to indicate how an individual -- student, parent, alum, or university -- can proceed with contacting you and how long they may need to wait to receive a response. Then it is essential to communicate this proactively to your community. 

• Contact Colleges. December is an important time to make sure that college counselors are connecting with college representatives. While many schools no longer do formal, traditional “counselors calls,” many will share lots of helpful information if you take the time to reach out and set up a call or a Zoom.

• Tie Up Loose Ends. Track down those seniors and get them to report results and update those final college lists before the break. It is generally a good idea to submit regular decision materials within a time frame when you can ask the seniors to check. Be sure to track down results that you know have been released but perhaps not yet shared with you. 

• Finish Starting Plans for After Break. While so much of our attention can be spent trying to get things situated to be able to leave for the vacation, it makes good sense to focus time on making sure that you are able to to return from break successfully as well. What plans can you put in place now for your return that will save you time over break or when you return?

• College Counseling Cheatsheet. The Cheatsheet provides roughly 30-minute or less tasks that appear on your calendar each weekday and that are designed to improve your counseling practice. From tips to strategies to reminders, this can help you stay organized.

• Seek help. Consider the ways that we here at Lamplighter might be able to assist. Take a look at what we might be able to offer. 

Suggestions for Admin:

• Protect Counselors’ Time Off. This is a tricky topics for many schools as they seek to categorize counselors. Do they work over breaks? Is that an expectation? If so, do they get compensated for their reduced vacation time and expanded work year? (This is true for holidays as well as the June-August time period. Regardless of the policy, it is essential to communicate expectations clearly and then to stand by the expectations. 

• Express Appreciation. It’s been a long semester! Let your counselors know how much you appreciate their work!

Be sure to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. We are always happy to incorporate and share others’ feedback. 

Behind the Curtain: November

This post is part of a series of monthly posts intended to assist a number of categories of educators with interest in college counseling. These monthly posts will provide a summary of the typical or recommended work of a college counselor, including providing a link to our monthly Cheatsheet, a daily task of 30-minutes or so for college counselors. In addition to these ideas and suggestions for those in the college counseling realm, they will also include some suggestions for those ancillary to this world, such as administrators, board members, etc.

November: A Deceptive Dichotomy. 

For a college counselor, November generally signals a certain return to calm after the chaos and turmoil of all that leads into the large November 1 submission deadlines for US schools offering Early Decision and Early Action. This time can be deceptively disarming, though, as there is plenty of work still to do. We like to think about it as a dichotomy in terms of work output. When a student has submitted his or her first application, the college counselor has completed 90-95% of the work that needs to be completed for any subsequent application; for counselors, the remaining work of submission, depending upon your software, platform, or process, is a matter of mere minutes usually. However, depending upon the remaining universities and their various and varying application requirements, the student may have only completed 50% of each remaining application! Complicating this is the challenge of getting high school students, with their still-developing prefrontal cortexes, to think and plan ahead about those remaining applications, especially those with deadlines far off in the distance. For college counselors, this tends to be the challenges of this time of year. 

In light of this, here are some of the topics and concepts that should be occupying the to-do list of college counselors this month:

• Remaining Deadlines. Students tend to be motivated by deadlines, and there are still many coming up this month, with the University of California apps due in November, with schools like USC and Boston University with scholarship deadlines at the end of the month, and with all evidence suggesting international applicants to Canada and the UK needing to apply by the end of November. These applications still need counselor support.  

• Motivating Student Applications. Despite the previous item, when students who have submitted applications for early November deadlines, it is often hard for them to think about putting time and attention into applications due later on in January (especially if an acceptance to one of those schools would obviate regular decision applications). Nevertheless, November is a month of working to get students to work on those applications. I have never heard a student admitted to an EA/ED school say, “I am really upset that I put time into those applications for schools I am no longer applying to,” and I have never heard a student say, “I am glad that I didn’t put time in earlier so I wouldn’t be in this jam now.” Conversely, mid-December is season for the student lament about not having put time in, and November is the time to combat that. 

• Motivating Student Academics. After working hard to get grades to wherever they are and putting time into the application process, some students lapse in terms of their academic commitment in November. Of course, the students need our support and to be reminded that -- at most schools -- midyear reports will reveal any lapses. 

• Plan B Considerations. At this point in the year -- whether a student has submitted applications already or not -- it is an essential time for counselors to revisit considerations of likelihood of admissibility and the back-up plan (Plan B). Especially if the student has submitted applications, it is important to recenter the conversation about expectations of outcomes; I have found many students overly focus on the perception of the advantage gained from early applications without fully acknowledging that they are not guaranteed admissions. As a result, students need to revisit all contingencies in regards to admissions results, seeking to augment or otherwise modify regular decision lists to support positive outcomes. While all college counselors embrace some variation of a list that supports such ends, few lists ever guarantee admission to a student, and so this is an important time of year to gently get students to think about what their back-up plan might be, whether a gap year or alternative pathways. Planting the seed now, in my experience, can help later on.

• Finalizing School Documents. Because of the release due to the completion of the work leading to November 1, it can be easy to forget that there is still plenty of work to be done, especially for those students who have not yet applied. Counselor recs, transcripts, teacher recs and the like all still need to be completed, and carving time out this month helps. I have heard of many offices around the world that use the beginning of the US Thanksgiving holiday as the deadline for all internal work so that counselors might use that holiday break for some relaxation before the final push in December.

• Preparing for December. The week leading up to November 1 deadlines is considered by many to be one of the most stressful weeks of the year for counselors; the week (sometimes weeks) heading into the December holidays is considered by others to be one of the worst weeks. That time is coming. While the challenges of those weeks are dependent in large part upon school culture, there is much counselors can do to prepare for these weeks and, in particular, be ready to provide as much student support as possible. 

Suggestions for Counselors:

• Engage Parents. November is a great time to tap into the parent community, especially in preparing for December but also in seeking support for students in regards to maintaining motivation with applications and academics. 

• Seek Student Reflection. While November provides its own set of obstacles and challenges and work, it is a great time to get seniors to take some time to reflect on their own plans and purposes. This is a great time to crack out your Maslow and get students thinking about why they are making the choices they are. Simple written reflection makes a difference. 

• Framing Conversations. While many counselors are anxious about contributing to the stress or panic of already stressed seniors by making them consider what might happen if they do not gain admission to a university, this conversation can productively be framed as an opportunity. Instead of “what will you do if you don’t get into college?” sounds and feels very different from, “how would you choose to spend the next year of your life if you had no expectations placed upon you?” Of course, this latter question might not be effective for every student, but the reframing is the important part. I’ve been successful as well with asking students what they might do if their dream school (favorite school, etc) told them that they must take a year off. 

• Continue Thinking About Juniors. While the dichotomy of work as mentioned above in the introduction occupies so much of our mental process, this pertains only to the current batch of seniors in their final year. We often begin to work in earnest with the juniors after the holiday break, and now is a great time to begin putting plans in place (and avoiding trying to do so in December). 

• College Counseling Cheatsheet. The Cheatsheet provides roughly 30-minute or less tasks that appear on your calendar each weekday and that are designed to improve your counseling practice. From tips to strategies to reminders, this can help you stay organized.

• Seek help. Consider the ways that we here at Lamplighter might be able to assist. Take a look at what we might be able to offer. 

Suggestions for Admin:

• Express Appreciation. Find ways to let your counseling team know it is appreciated! Counselors certainly do not do the work we do for recognition, but feeling seen, especially if your school has a large November 1 contingent, goes a long way. However your school allows you to do so, tokens of appreciation are well-received now. 

• Clarify Holiday Expectations. Looking ahead to the holiday break, it is important for leadership to protect counselors. Each school is different, and the expectations vary; however, this is important. Leadership often wants to let counselors determine what their work commitments will look like over holidays, but, in my experience, this does not help and shifts the burden on counselors (and our bleeding hearts) to establish practices that are not necessarily healthy. Conversely, it is not helpful for leadership to dictate rigid practices that cannot be met; I worked at one school where the head indicated that counselors were not to be working when classes were not in session, end of story. While, depending on your school culture (especially vis-a-vis parent expectations), it can be very helpful for leadership to be the voice explaining counselor availability over holidays, I have seen this work best when there is a mutually agreed upon policy. One way to approach this conversation, particularly if there has never been a policy or if the counseling team is new, is to have a pre-mortem: what are the worst things that could happen over this break, and how would everyone around the table want them to be handled? Now is the perfect time to work through this conversation so as to be able to communicate it ahead of time.  

• Encourage Reflection. The life of the counselor throughout the month of October is often chaotic (remember “Suck-tober” or “Rec-tober” as some call it). When we are existing in such a moment-to-moment frenzy, we can often lose perspective. November is a great time to refocus and to look backward to learn. Getting counselors to reflect on their experiences is often a great way to learn how they might do things differently (better) in the future. This is a supportive and encouraging conversation to have with leadership. 

Be sure to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. We are always happy to incorporate and share others’ feedback. 

Behind the Curtain: October

This post is part of a series of monthly posts intended to assist a number of categories of educators with interest in college counseling. These monthly posts will provide a summary of the typical or recommended work of a college counselor, including providing a link to our monthly Cheatsheet, a daily task of 30-minutes or so for college counselors. In addition to these ideas and suggestions for those in the college counseling realm, they will also include some suggestions for those ancillary to this world, such as administrators, board members, etc.

October: Suck-tober. 

This month is generally the most demanding on the calendar of the college counselor. It is during this month when early applications must be completed and submitted. On the one hand, this requires the corralling of the seniors to provide them with the support they require to complete their applications. On the other hand, counselors must pour their attention into supporting documents, trying to be present for the students at the same time. And, of course, there are a number of other duties to consider, making this month a challenge.

Here are the topics that should be occupying the to-do list of college counselors this month:

• Finalizing College Lists. According to many counselors, one of the largest obstacles of October is getting students to finalize their college lists and then to decide what round (early, regular, etc) they will pursue. Given that student decisions in this regard dictates counselor workload, this can be a challenge, especially as students make last-minute decisions and choices. 

• Early Application Support. During this month, students -- especially those applying to meet those “early” deadlines in the US and the UK -- are scrambling to complete their applications, and counselors work to provide the support that they can to achieve these ambitions. It is always a challenge to get students to complete this work on a timeline to afford the counselor the opportunity to provide feedback. This includes reviewing the main essays, the actual application, any supplemental essays, etc. 

• Counselor Recommendations. October is also the time when counselors need to finish their letters of recommendation for their students. This is a time consuming process, and the time commitment often feels to come at the expense of individual support of students. 

• Transcripts & School Forms. While counselors are trying to find balance between supporting students and getting their own letters written, there is also the need for college counselors carve out time to review and update the various school-based documents, including transcripts -- particularly including first quarter grades -- and the School Profile (if not already completed) and a handful of student-specific documents, such as the Common App forms for US applications. Again, all time-consuming… 

• Teacher Recs. At this point, counselors are often working in partnership with teachers to get the letters needed for early applications completed, all while teachers, often, are engrossed in their teaching and grading work in pursuit of first marking period (quarter 1) marks. 

• Early Decision. Most binding early decision applications -- exclusive to the US presently -- are due November 1, and so counselors must communicate expectations and processes with students and families. Counselors, parents, and students sign the agreement, and so it is essential for students wishing to pursue ED applications and their parents are understanding of the parameters. 

• Counseling & Support. Throughout the month of October, as deadlines loom, counselor stress grows; however, for the same reasons, student stress grows. Consequently, counselors are consistently called upon to provide social-emotional support of students (and parents) who are facing unprecedented stress. 

Suggestions for Counselors:

• College Counseling Cheatsheet. The Cheatsheet provides roughly 30-minute or less tasks that appear on your calendar each weekday and that are designed to improve your counseling practice. From tips to strategies to reminders, this can help you stay organized.

• Calendar Management. When time is currency, managing your budget is essential.  Here are some tips to assist in keeping your priorities front and center. 

• Organized Narrative Letters. We have been writing letters in this way for over 20 years, and the trend has spread. While putting time into considering a new format of a letter might feel counterproductive, it will save you time in the long run! See these resources produced by our friends and colleagues and shared by NACAC. 

• Seek help. Consider the ways that we here at Lamplighter might be able to assist. Take a look at what we might be able to offer. 

Suggestions for Admin:

• Support Priorities. While this month is chaotic, affording counselors the opportunity to focus on supporting seniors is support that is tremendously appreciated. This might include relieving counselors of additional duties, excusing them from non-essential meetings, eliminating programming for other grades, and avoiding making additional requests of the counseling office. 

• Elevate Additional Support of Seniors. While others are not able to provide college-related guidance, there are others who can support the seniors in other ways, especially in regards to social-emotional care. It can help college counselors -- not to mention the students! -- if schools increase their support of students in this busy time. 

• Help Find Time. Given the demands of the month, it is helpful to consider how you might help to find more time. Some schools add “application days,” where classes are canceled to allow the counselors to work with students. Others add additional class time exclusively dedicated to applications. Sometimes teachers writing a certain number of letters of recommendation are afforded substitutes to facilitate their writing. Every little bit helps!

• Express appreciation. Find ways to let your counselors know they are appreciated!

Be sure to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. We are always happy to incorporate and share others’ feedback. 

Behind the Curtain: September

This is the first in a series of monthly posts intended to assist a number of categories of educators with interest in college counseling. These monthly posts will provide a summary of the typical or recommended work of a college counselor, including providing a link to our monthly Cheatsheet, a daily task of 30-minutes or so for college counselors. In addition to these ideas and suggestions for those in the college counseling realm, they will also include some suggestions for those ancillary to this world, such as administrators, board members, etc.

September: Drinking from the firehose. 

Whether the school year begins at your school this month or not, September is a busy time in college counseling offices. While catching up with the seniors and laying plans for how best to support them, college counseling offices are trying to provide information and support to a wide array of different constituencies: faculty writing recs, anxious parents, worried new students, eager younger students, etc. And there is plenty of work to do, which makes September feel like drinking from a firehose. 

Here is a swath of the items that might be on the docket:

• Set the programming for the year. College counseling offices need to set and communicate deadlines, policies, and expectations for the entire year. Everything from when and how teachers must submit their letters of recommendation to how students request transcripts. Much will be the same as previous years, if you are lucky, but each needs time and attention. 

• Transcripts. The official record of academic achievement — the transcript — needs to be revisited for the seniors. Different schools have different practices about transcripts and sharing, but it is generally a good idea to allow seniors to see — and to double-check! — their transcripts. Also included here is what can be the cumbersome practice of tracking down transcripts for students who were not enrolled at your school for all four years of high school. 

• Senior focus. The seniors (and their parents) require a lot of attention in the early going. With all that is going on this month, it is important to prioritize seniors.

• Junior courses. While it is wise to do as much with the juniors before the start of the school year, it is common for college counselors to be pulled into conversations about course selections with juniors. What works? What is not working? What fits? What might they require given their university aspirations? How do their choices impact options later?

• Parent meetings. Parents often want to meet with a college counselor early in the academic year to seek counsel on how best to support and direct their students in the name of university applications. Sometimes these are individual meetings, but often these manifest as evening presentations. 

• Early applications. Some seniors are already gearing up to submit applications. Perhaps most notably, UK medical and veterinarian applicants as well as applicants to Cambridge or Oxford will have October 15 deadlines. (And in other years, sometimes the deadline to submit to be eligible for international interviews is even earlier!) 

• Broader Communications. College counseling offices also want to provide information to all of their constituencies as they might need it. These constituencies include each grade level, parents, faculty, administration, boards, etc. Providing information is a recurring theme throughout the beginning of the academic year. September tends to be a time for a reflection on the previous year while also providing updates to the administration and school leadership. Additionally, this is when the college counseling office needs to update the School Profile and reach out to university representatives to schedule visits (on-campus and/or virtual). 

• Teacher Recs & Trainings. Particularly for the current seniors, the month of September is time to set deadlines for teachers to submit their letters of recommendation in a time and manner so that the college counselors have the opportunity to review them and provide feedback.

• Counselor Letters of Recommendation. While things are certainly busy in September, a top goal for college counselors is always to get started on their own letters of recommendation. Given the whirlwind of other duties and responsibilities, their recs can often find themselves taking a backseat and then later relegated to evenings and weekends. Still, we all always try to get them done ahead of time!

• Essay Review. September is also a time for beginning essay review with students, particularly those with application deadlines in the first semester. It is time-consuming work but better done now than later, and so much effort is often expended in motivating students to find the time to get this work done. 

This being the first monthly “Behind the Curtain” post, I wanted to introduce the closing sections here. After providing an outline of the duties, tasks, and responsibilities within the college counseling world in a bite-sized approach so anyone can follow, I provide some suggestions for counselors and for admin who support the counselors. Here goes!

Suggestions for Counselors:

• College Counseling Cheatsheet. Over the past several years, we have been developing the Cheatsheet, which are typically 30-minute or less tasks that appear on your calendar each weekday and that are designed to improve your counseling practice. These include everything from reminders to more advanced guidance to some unique tips. 

• Time Management. During this time of year for the college counselor, time management is essential. I’ve recently shared some of my own practices in a blog post here. Manage your time to conserve your energy and to preserve your sanity!

• Take care of yourself. Suffice it to say that when work is chaotic and bordering on overwhelming, it is essential to take care of yourself! Carve out time from each day to do things that you enjoy and that bring you peace and calm. 

• Seek help. Whether you are a seasoned veteran, a mid-career counselor, or a rookie, remember that you do not have all the answers and seek assistance. One of many possible suggestions is to consider working with us here at Lamplighter. Take a look at what we might be able to offer.

Suggestions for Admin:

• Provide focus. It tends to benefit college counselors when leadership is narrow in its provision of direction. For example, I have always found it helpful when my supervisors have championed a fundamental focus on the grade 12 students at the beginning of the school year, reminding me and my team not to worry about the other grades or constituencies until the seniors are well-situated with their college applications. This sort of support is invaluable.

• Alleviate distractions. Similarly, affording the college counseling office the time to get their letters written (on top of everything else) can provide terrific assistance. Excusing the college counselors from additional responsibilities or meetings can often be enough. 

• Express appreciation. No counselors I know do the work we do for recognition, but when leadership is aware of the chaos and turmoil of our work during this time of year, simple expressions of appreciation go a long way!

Be sure to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. We are always happy to incorporate and share others’ feedback.