<p>Need some quick advice. I've just been asked to be part of a committee to interview prospective college counselors for next year. This will be the first time we've ever had a full-time college counselor. What questions could you ask a candidate?</p>
<p>More than I can list here!</p>
<p>I'm assuming you'll be given information about the candidates' backgrounds and experience, so you won't have to ask those factual questions, but that information will probably prompt a lot of questions related to how their background/experience will play into working with kids in your area/from your school. For example, if his or her background is in working with private school kids, and your district is public, that's a rich field for questions (as is the reverse). Or if he or she comes from the NE and you're in a different area (which I think you are, and I'm sorry I can't remember where), once again that should suggest a long list of questions.</p>
<p>Other things I'd ask a prospective counselor to talk about, in no particular order:</p>
<ol>
<li>how he/she would go about getting to know the students</li>
<li>how he/she views family involvement in the process</li>
<li>what he/she thinks the concept of fit involves</li>
<li>what constitutes success, in the college application process, to him/her</li>
<li>why he/she is interested in coming to a school where there's not an established college guidance office (that one's kind of a gimmie, but I think sometimes you get especially interesting answers to gimmies)</li>
<li>what does he/she like about working with adolescents? (no, I'm not kidding, I'd be on the edge of my seat waiting for the answer to this one, and I'd want to be there in person, not reading a written answer later!)</li>
<li>can he/she tell about a time when he/she had to cope with a student's very serious disappointment? (this is fairly open - an answer could go in a lot of different directions but might tell you a lot about this person's opinions and philosophies)</li>
</ol>
<p>I could probably go on and on and on and on. . . . But there's a start.</p>
<p>Excellent! Thanks.</p>
<p>What experience does the counselor really have with highly selective colleges?</p>
<p>As someone who's been a school and an independent college counselor, here's what I'd want to know if I was interviewing people for this job.</p>
<p>I would recommend asking about the counselor's experience in helping students who AREN'T going to be aiming at "highly selective colleges." In my experience, the kids at the top often get the lion's share of attention from counselors, and B and C students tend to be left to their own defenses, or shuttled off en masse to the local public institution or community college. Yet, they are the students who most need encouragement and help in the admissions process. So, some very important questions are: does he/she have any success stories about helping C and B students find colleges where they went on to be happy and successful? Or, which colleges do they feel are great choices for a B or C student? How does he/she help those B or C students find great options beyond the local public or community college? Similarly, I'd ask about which colleges they'd recommend to fill out the list of students who only have a list comprised of highly selective colleges? What is their method for helping to make sure those students have a safety net?</p>
<p>Career planning goes hand and hand with college counseling, so I'd also ask about what tools and techniques they've used in the past to help students identify their career interests. It doesn't hurt to ask a few questions about which colleges they'd recommend for a student interested in engineering, going to medical school, business, journalism, performing arts, English, or a few other fields. Good counselors can come up with suggestions pretty quickly when asked by students, or at least be able to point students in the direction of resources to find answers.</p>
<p>It is also a good idea to ask about the counselor's connections in the admissions world and how current their knowledge is:</p>
<p>-Are they active members of your regional NACAC association or NACAC on the national level? Do they regularly attend college counseling professional conferences, both regional and national ones? What counseling and higher ed publications do they read on a regular basis? Do they have education specific to college counseling (most guidance counselor programs only require 1 course specifically in college counseling). What are their favorite college guidebooks? Why?</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How many college campuses have they personally visited in the last year? The last three years? How many do they plan to visit in the next year? Do they participate in organized counselor tours of colleges? Are most of the colleges they've visited in the past three years located within 200 miles of your town? Or do they make a point of visiting schools in other parts of the country too? </p></li>
<li><p>Do they have any ties with admissions folks at various schools? Do they seem to know about a wide range of schools, not just the state university system and a few highly selective colleges that everyone has heard of? What do they say when you ask them, "What colleges do you think are hidden gems that more students should take a look at?" If they are stumped by that question, keep looking.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Another question I would ask is this: what experience does the counselor have working with diverse populations? Even at private schools, there will be students who will be the first in their family to attend college, who have learning disabilities, who come from families where the parents don't speak English, and who come from very low income families. The more experience a counselor has serving different populations, the more every students needs are likely to be met.</p>
<p>I'd also want to ask about how the counselor will get parents involved in the college planning process --- what types of workshops will they schedule for parents, and how often, how open are they to meeting with parents and students individually, etc. See if you can get a sense of how they view the parents role in the process --- do they think any parent who calls with questions is a helicopter parent? Or will they actively encourage parents to learn, get involved, and be a part of the process. Do they see themselves as working as a team with parents? It also is not a bad idea to ask about how they feel about working with students who are getting help from an independent counselor. The best school counselors won't feel threatened and, indeed, may have some good recommendations for independent counselors who they have worked with in the past.</p>
<p>Also, ask them about their feelings on admissions testing. Can they discuss the differences between the ACT and the SAT? Do they have some thoughts on which tests are better for which types of kids? Do they have a plan for making sure that the largest percentage of students possible at the high school will complete college admissions testing? When do they recommend that students take the PSAT for the first time? The SAT? Subject tests? ACT? How up are they on local test prep companies? </p>
<p>Finally, the most important knowledge and experience any college counselor needs these days is: a thorough understanding of the financial aid process. If they can't explain the difference between Federal Methodology and Institutional Methodology, have never helped families with FAFSA and profile questions, and give a blank stare when asked about which schools guarantee to meet full need or have great merit opportunities, then they may not be the best choice.</p>