Lee Norwood is a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association, Higher Education Consultants Association, NACAC Charactor Collaborative and she is on faculty with the CounselMore Business Development Academy. She speaks at industry conferences on topics like “Meeting Gen Z Where They Are” and “Growing Your Business” and she has been featured on podcasts with CollegeScoops, ThirdFloor Views, Tests And The Rest, and others.If you are interested in our process, our team, reviews and outcomes, just look at our website www.annapoliscollegeconsulting.com
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Here are 7 essential tips for navigating the role of school counselors and teachers in your college applications:
1. Understand Their Crucial Roles Recognize the pivotal role that your school counselors and teachers play in supporting your college applications. They provide vital elements like transcripts, school profiles, counselor recommendations, and teacher endorsements that offer context to your application.
2. Comprehend Your School’s Process Familiarize yourself with your school’s specific procedures for sending transcripts and recommendations to colleges. Schools often employ systems like Naviance, Scoir, or Maia. Be aware that advance notice is typically required, sometimes up to a month, to send these documents. Neglecting this process can lead to missed application deadlines.
3. Grasp What the School Provides School counselors are responsible for sending official school transcripts to colleges. These transcripts contain course history, grades, and your GPA. Additionally, counselors may submit a school profile detailing courses, graduation requirements, grading policies, and more. They may also write counselor recommendation letters.
4. Navigate Teacher Recommendations Many colleges require teacher recommendation letters. Carefully review the requirements, as some colleges specify the number of recommendations and subjects (e.g., math and English). Approach teachers personally to ask for recommendations, and don’t assume their willingness. They may request a brag sheet or a brief resume, often collected through an online questionnaire.
5. Adapt to Special Circumstances In light of the challenges posed by COVID-19, some students worry about the strength of virtual class recommendations. Consider alternative sources, like teachers from previous years or those who know you from extracurricular activities. Don’t hesitate to contact college admissions offices for clarification on whether they accept recommendations from these sources.
6. Know Your School’s Transcript and Recommendation Request Process Schools may have specific protocols for transcript and recommendation requests. Some require requests through platforms like Naviance, Scoir, or Maia. You may need to provide counselors and teachers with a resume or brag sheet, and in some cases, proof of application submission. Keep in mind that it can take weeks for busy counseling offices to provide these records, so plan well in advance.
7. Stay Ahead of Deadlines Coordinate with your counseling office and teachers early on, well before application deadlines. If you’re applying for Early Decision, Early Action, or fall Rolling Decision dates, be especially proactive. Avoid the pitfall of missing early deadlines by adhering to your school’s established processes.
By following these 7 tips, you’ll be better equipped to navigate the college application process with the support of your school counselors and teachers. Remember, they want you to succeed, but their time is limited. Proactively managing the process, understanding your school’s procedures, and working ahead of deadlines will ensure your applications are completed on time and set you up for success.
As an educational consultant, college advisor, admissions coach, educational planner - you should be touring schools
New to Educational Planning? You have questions and even bigger concerns.
At this point in the year, most top schools have let students from the Early Applications and Early Decision round know their results. We are celebrating all of the acceptances with you!! If you’ve been deferred or denied, we want you to take a minute and think about your school list and forge a plan to show continued interest where you were deferred. The application season has been different this year. There were higher than usual numbers of students applying to top universities.This graph shows significant growth in applications. Look at MIT! We believe that many of the early applicants were those students with high test scores, or students who took a chance with their reach schools and did not have test scores. As predicted earlier in the year, this clogged the system. The COVID-19 pandemic has made this year see a more competitive applicant pool at many national universities and liberal arts colleges. So, if your early decision results haven’t gone according to plan, do not stress. You can work through this! And if you still have not heard from your schools, many are predicting that results will be out in late January. We believe that students end up where they belong. It is important to have a realistic college list with a good mix of schools. If you were deferred or denied, this is NOT the time to apply to tons of additional schools to hedge your bets for regular admissions; it is time to look at your list and, if you had balance before this started, you should be fine. Anotheroption is to add 1 more safety school that you would love to attend, so that you have your bases covered. Lee Norwood is a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association, Higher Education Consultants Association, NACAC Charactor Collaborative and she is on faculty with the CounselMore Business Development Academy. She speaks at industry conferences on topics like “Meeting Gen Z Where They Are” and “Growing Your Business” and she has been featured on podcasts with CollegeScoops, ThirdFloor Views, Tests And The Rest, and others.If you are interested in our process, our team, reviews and outcomes, just look at our website www.annapoliscollegeconsulting.com
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