By Anya Markovitz, Year 9
Typically, college counsellors and guidance firms serve as a doorway between high school and university. They can help in the critical decision of choosing where to go to school for the next four years, whether it’s through writing an admissions letter, keeping you on top of your deadlines, or coaching you through every step of your college application.
Where do we find guidance counsellors? Sometimes, the school you attend has designated counsellors, who work for or in the school, but many schools don’t provide this service. Guidance counsellors and firms do exist outside of school though – businesses and enterprises created to help students just like a counsellor would. Students at LGB often use guidance provided by the school, although recently students have been targeted by guidance firms advertising their organization. Emails have been sent to several students containing personal information to try and persuade them into trying out their business. This begs the question: who are these ‘counsellors’ and what do they do?
Crimson Education is the main name that pops up when I think about these firms that are, in the end, just trying to drum up business. This organization has been emailing students to get the word out there about their business. Although they may be legitimate, using personal facts about a student to make money is probably not the best way to do it and crosses a line. Students may feel violated and even a bit “stalked” to receive emails from an unknown business talking about their life.
So what measures has LGB taken to handle this problem? There have been incidents like this in the past, and usually those businesses would either stop or subside eventually. Dr. Hughes has been notified of these emails, and will be looking further into it.
I spoke to Ellyn Levin, a guidance counsellor at LGB, and the fact is you don’t need to use outside guidance as your tuition already pays for a counsellor. In my interview with Mrs. Levin, she mentioned that the money you pay for your education at LGB already covers the college guidance counsellor fee, which means that there is no need to and no value added if you use someone from the outside. The school counsellors still have to write your letters of recommendation for colleges, whether you go through the school or use another source. In addition to this, the school already knows the students in the context of their academics and history at the school.
If you really believe that you should use an outside source, the school can provide recommendations of guidance firms they know and trust. In using an outside service you have to verify their experience and authenticity. Some of these businesses are well placed within the professional association; however, others might just be a parent who thinks they can handle the job of getting other kids into schools because they managed to get their own kid into a school. Many parents may just panic and assume they should go through an outside source, which, Mrs. Levin said, is completely untrue. Students and their parents should be assured that our school’s guidance counsellors are excellent, with years of experience in this area.
The school believes that students shouldn’t feel the need to find somebody from the outside. Private guidance can definitely be needed for students coming from a school that doesn’t provide counsellors. For example, a student coming from the Swiss system might not have the resources to get through the complicated process of applying to a U.S. college.
So there is a need for guidance companies for other students, but here at LGB, counsellors are available and they would know you better than an outside company would (and they’re already paid for in your tuition). Using another source may mean that when the time comes for one of the school counsellors to write a letter of recommendation, they may not be able to do their best to get you into a college of your choice. LGB is already very involved with lots of universities and has the resources for this college process. Students already have the full service at LGB.
