I am known for supporting students and families through the college admissions process. But this year, I am doing more consulting work with high schools across the country.
Fortunately, the high schools I work with have superintendents, principals, school counselors, and families who want to support their students in any way they can. When the high school community is so committed, the college acceptances speak for themselves.
Here are the top five priorities I target first when working with a high school or school district:
1. Ensure the school profile is updated, accurate, easy to find on the high school website, and beneficial for ALL students.
The school profile is a document that the high school is supposed to update every single year (usually by the start of every school year). It should tell colleges all about the high school, the community where it's located, curriculum offerings, advanced coursework, how grades are calculated, and anything specific or unusual about the school or its students. Policies evolve, courses change, and demographic and academic data fluctuate every single year at a high school. If the profile doesn't reflect these changes, students could be disadvantaged. The school profile is the most underrated document, but it is so essential to colleges in evaluating students fairly and accurately.2. Remove the unmentionables and add clarity to transcripts.
I see a lot of unnecessary things on transcripts like test scores, absences/tardies, and even race. There are also plenty of transcripts that are long or confusing. Streamlining a transcript and having a key for abbreviations can be tremendously helpful to colleges.3. Get everyone on the same page when it comes to course selection.
One of the biggest mistakes I see on a student's application is not prioritizing the five core academic classes each year. Many students just focus on the minimum requirements for high school graduation rather than what colleges expect. Having all the school counselors at a school provide consistent messaging on course selection ensures that all college-bound students are taking what they need in terms of coursework.
RELATED READING: 5 High School Classes Highly Selective Colleges Expect You to Take
4. Celebrate students in letters of recommendation.
One of the most time-consuming aspects of a school counselor's or teacher's job is writing recommendation letters. Knowing the student is helpful in the writing process. Knowing what information to include about a student in the letter is transformative.5. Encourage topic over grammar when it comes to writing essays.
What a student writes about is more important than how perfectly executed each sentence and paragraph is, especially in this era of AI. Encouraging students to write about topics that are truly unique to them can instantly make an essay more powerful. Topics about activities (including sports) are common and overdone. When a student is self-reflective and picks a topic no one else could write about, they immediately stand out in a very positive way.Interested in learning more about my high school consulting services? Fill out our form!
Working with high schools is a full circle moment for me. The reason I chose to go into this industry was because I attended a high school that lacked a college counseling program. I wanted to make this process more accessible. The best place to start is with the high schools. If every student had reliable, consistent, and effective college counseling at their high school, applying to college would be fair for all.
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