If you’re planning for college, you shouldn’t be working alone. There are people who can help you through the process! These are 5 you should know.
1. Guidance Counselor
Guidance counselors are provided in most schools to help you prepare for college in a number of ways. One critical role the counselor fills is ensuring that you sign up for all right courses to qualify for college entry. Most colleges have a certain diploma type they look for, so guidance counselors should help you stay on track for completing the necessary diploma track.
Guidance counselors also make sure that you sign up for college entrance exams and Advanced Placement courses, when appropriate.
Another role for guidance counselors is helping you to identify the colleges that might be right for you. You can conduct your own search by degree, location, cost, and many other variables at Petersons.com.
It is quite possible that your guidance counselor is overworked and over-burdened. This is an unfortunate consequence of limited school budgets. If you can’t seem to connect with your guidance counselor, you can manage the process on your own. Just keep an eye on your diploma requirements and make sure you are taking the right classes and exams. Sign up for standardized tests early in your junior year, and stick to the planning time lines.
2. College Admission Counselor
Admission counselors are on hand to answer any questions you may have about the requirements for getting a college or a particular program. Some colleges assign a particular counselor to all students in a region, while others don’t designate counselors at all.
Depending on your college of choice, it could be difficult to get a live person on the phone as you’re attempting to contact your counselor. But persistence will pay off! You can go to the main web page for your college of choice and search for one or all of these terms:
- Admission counselor
- Future student information
- Open house
- New student information
- Freshman
- Visitation
- Recruiters
Keep browsing these areas until you come across a name or number and make contact.
3. Reference Providers
There will be many instances when you will need to provide names and letters of reference. Some colleges require recommendations as part of the application process, but you may also need letters to get into a particular degree program or to apply for a particular scholarship. It is important to start building good relationships with teachers, coaches, community leaders, church leaders, and business professionals as early as possible.
When you do approach a reference provider, you must do so within a generous time frame. Don’t ask for a letter at the last minute—or you could be in for a big disappointment.
4. Financial Aid Counselor
It is imperative that you meet the deadlines for applying for financial aid—and those deadlines happen much earlier than you might expect. Priority deadline for new students (starting in a fall semester) is as early as February.
Colleges have financial aid counselors to help you understand the many terms, deadlines, special rules, and conditions that are special to their world. If you plan to apply for financial assistance, and most students do, call your college and keep asking until you come up with the name of a financial aid counselor.
5. Academic Advisor
Once you get into college you will need to seek advisement. Don’t worry—you don’t really have a choice about this; the college will not let you sign up for courses until or unless you speak with the advisor.
Having said that, you can meet with an advisor during an orientation event and not realize you’ve done so. The advisor is the person who helps you select and sign up for classes. You will meet with him/her every semester until you graduate.
Academic advisors are also around to help you maintain a manageable work load, make smart choices in course selection, establish good work habits, and generally stay on track. Get to know your academic advisor!
