College counselors vs. Private Counselors: Our Separate Roles
Even the best private high schools can only afford to provide one college counselor for every 100 students. Is your child getting enough personal attention for their university admissions process?
With hundreds of transcripts to send and recommendation letters to write, high school college counselors are too busy with administrative work to worry about the finer details of your child’s application strategy. Let’s take a comparative look at the difference between a high school counselor’s job and ThinkSTEP’s value-add services.
Availability
Based upon Michael’s experience supporting college counseling officers in Taipei’s international high schools, these counselors spend a disproportionate amount of time in meetings with administrators and other teachers. They sometimes even act as substitute teachers! Whereas we estimate a high school counselor spends 35% of his or her time on non face-to-face student interaction, ThinkSTEP dedicates 100% of its efforts towards directly helping students with their admissions strategy and needs.
In addition, ThinkSTEP advisors are available all day, including the weekends. Whenever you have a question, there’s no need to wait until Monday morning—just LINE us!
Workload
Even in top private high schools, college counselors serve upwards of 50 to 60 seniors per year. Because they focus on the paperwork of the admissions process (sending transcripts, writing recommendation letters, etc.), their ability to make suggestions on student essays is limited. Whereas we estimate that a high school counselor has 5 to 10 hours of 1-on-1 face time with any given student, ThinkSTEP provides upwards of 50+ hours of guidance, all of which we will describe below.
Starting Year
For the above reasons, some counselors are too busy to take a student’s case more intensively until the 11th grade. By that time, it is quite late to begin developing a comprehensive admissions strategy and Triangle of Talent, making it much less possible to align a student’s academic choices with their three summers and four years of extracurricular accomplishments. For these reasons, ThinkSTEP recommends beginning Admissions Strategy during 9th grade, the earliest year that universities will consider your academic and extracurricular accomplishments.
Responsibilities and Customization
ThinkSTEP goes above and beyond what a typical high school counselor has the time or energy to offer. The school counselor covers the basic necessities, whereas ThinkSTEP is the specialist that takes your child’s high school experience and university application to the next level. Take a look at the chart below to briefly review each side’s responsibilities.
| |
High School Counselor |
ThinkSTEP Education |
| Responsibilities |
Writing Recommendation Letters;
Sending Documents to Universities;
Represent High School in Communication with University
|
Personalized Service
And Strategy for:
–Student’s Self-Discovery
–Course Selection
–Resume Building
–School List Creation
–Application Essay Planning and Editing
|
|
Level of Personal Service
|
Limited
|
Absolute
|
The Upshot: With the myriad obligations that a school counselor must fulfill, it is impossible to receive the customized and attentive service that your child deserves. At ThinkSTEP, we ensure availability for our students and offer top-notch strategies to ensure Admissions Strategy success.
Does your school not offer enough individualized attention to your child’s university application process? Sign up for a free consultation (3000 NTD value) today!
