Admissions 101: If your college counselor undercuts you
I'm back from vacation with a new topic for our Admissions 101 discussion group. It's a provocative subject: What do you do when your guidance counselor or college counselor doesn't believe in you? Some parents are wealthy enough to hire a private educational consultant, but most are not. I describe a no-cost solution used by one student, but am asking the group to share their best ideas.
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Washington Post editors
| April 22, 2010; 1:00 PM ET
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Posted by: starrsitter | April 23, 2010 10:10 AM | Report abuse
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As a senior in high school, I was told by our so-called guidance counselor that a) I couldn't afford to go to college, b) there was no nearby school that had the program I was looking into, and c) that there wouldn't be any teaching jobs when I graduated. One of the three private colleges in the county I lived in had one of the most prestigious programs in the state. I left that college with under $15K in student loans, much less than the cost of one year, because of the huge number of academic and need-based scholarships I received (I was in the top 5% of my class in both high school and college). I graduated college during one of the largest nation-wide teacher shortages in 50 years and I am still teaching. I have a Master's degree and am considering further graduate study.
This man was an idiot and I feel sorry for the students who were fooled into thinking he knew what he was talking about. I shudder to think about the opportunities they might have missed and the fact that there are more like him out there "guiding" young people.