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College Admissions Deans Rank Private Counselors Better than High School Guidance Counselors

Posted on Jan 06, 2012 - 06:00 AM | Guidance Counselors | Comments (0)

Students line up to see their high-school guidance counselor in the hopes that he or she will give them good advice when it comes to selecting a college, picking a major, figuring out a career, or getting great financial aid.

In a report released by Inside Higher Ed, they might be disappointed by the results. College admissions officers pick public guidance counselors as they 5^th best resource for getting information about higher education.

And admissions deans at private colleges – typically those with the best financial aid and toughest entrance standards – were a lot less likely to rank them highly than state schools and public universities.

They finished below private guidance counselors like RSC Your College Prep Expert.

Other College Resources From Inside Higher Ed:

Private school guidance counselors. College admissions deans ranked guidance counselors at private high schools the best. Of course, very few students attend these schools as they are financially out of reach for many families.
Social media sites. Deans picked their own sites to learn about their colleges. This will tell you about one college, not many.
Financial aid websites. These handle one aspect of college prep, but what about college and career research, SAT/Act prep, college applications, and all the rest?
Government website. The Department of Education has the most extensive website on educational materials and financial aid. It’s also almost impossible to navigate. It can take hours to find the right information and doesn’t include information on how to research colleges, choose a career, fill out a college application, and it certainly doesn’t do any work for you, like completing your financial aid forms.

Guidance Counselor Facts:

It’s easy to see why admissions officers rated public high-school guidance counselors so poorly when you consider these facts:

The average guidance counselor sees 450 students, twice the recommended limit.
The average guidance counselor spends 38 minutes per year per student on college prep.
Only 24 colleges in the country offer guidance counselors even one class in college prep.
70% of guidance counselors feel their school isn’t doing a good job getting students ready for college or a job.
Counselors only make up 1.7% of a school’s personnel.
54% of recent high-school graduates said their counselor didn’t help them fill out college applications correctly.

There are plenty more facts like this (and you can find some of them in our Video Report), but the bottom line is that your guidance counselor may not be the best person to prepare you for life after high school, particularly if you want to go to college. Now, there are plenty of great counselors out there, and with any luck, yours is one of them. But if you have doubts, or don’t think he or she can meet your needs, consider turning to a college prep service Inside Higher Ed placed above public school counselors – counselors at private companies.

We have no other purpose than to help you meet your goals. Our 5 years of service are cheaper than 4 years at a private school, and our counselors are trained to get you into college, provide financial aid advice, and put you on the path to the college or career you want.

And if you don’t believe us, you can read the Inside Higher Ed report here.

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