Working with Your Counselor During the College Application Process

Four Simple Tips

Completing the college application process can certainly be nerve-racking, for students and parents alike. By the time colleges have been selected, recommendations requested, essays written, and applications filled out, most families have hit the height of anxiety.

Then, quite often, the unthinkable happens. You ask your school counselor to send out your transcript, and he informs you that it will go out within the next week. "That's not soon enough," you think to yourself. "It needs to go out tomorrow." The reality, though, is that counselors need a lot more than 24 hours to process college applications.

A Counselor's Work

The American School Counselor Association recommends that the student-to-counselor ratio in schools be 250 to 1. The national average, however, is 478 to 1. This means that most counselors have many students they're trying to help. Counselors also have other duties on top of college counseling, including: helping students with academic, career, and personal issues; providing classroom assistance; administrative support; and more. In short, counselors are busy people.

Helping students apply to college is a priority for counselors. However, sending application packets along with recommendations and transcripts takes time. Plus, at peak application times, counselors can be inundated with requests to process college applications.

Four Tips for Working with Your Counselor

So what can you do to make sure that your applications go out on time and that you keep your stress level to a minimum during this anxiety-filled process?

1. Be Responsible.

Ultimately, you want to go to the college of your choice. Because you have one counselor and that counselor has many students, take charge of the application process. Know your deadlines, keep in contact with your counselor, and perform the legwork necessary to get the job done.

2. Be Organized.

Make a chart to keep track of different colleges' requirements, and mark a calendar with your application deadlines. Have a separate folder for each application so you can keep materials organized and easy to access. Ask for recommendations in September, and write your essays well ahead of the deadlines.

3. Be Early.

In the case of college applications, on time might not be good enough. Essays, recommendations, and transcript request forms should all be completed and submitted at least two weeks prior to the application deadline. Counselors and support staff fill these requests on a first-come, first-served basis, so get in the line as early as possible. Most application packets are mailed, so don't forget to leave time for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver your application and for the college's internal mail service to process it. Finally, factor in some additional time for unanticipated errors and delays.

4. Be Relaxed.

Filling out college applications can be stressful. Try not to let it get you down. Make sure to go out and have fun with your friends; to take breaks when you need them; and to remember that, in the end, the college application process is just a series of steps you need to complete. Just focus on the tasks at hand.

The college application process can be stressful and exhausting—but it doesn't have to be. Organization, communication, patience, and reasonable expectations are the keys to making it a manageable and successful experience.