“We’re still going to provide the same level of support we always do,” said Matt Essman, Director of College Counseling. “It’s just going to look a little different right now.” He’s talking, of course, about working around a pandemic, and his team of college counselors has created a variety of options to maintain their connections with students and parents.
This week, the College Counseling team hosted Zoom sessions for 12th grade parents. St. Louis County Department of Public Health guidelines don’t allow us to host our usual in-person meetings, so each Counselor set up a time to meet with their students’ parents. They discussed the timeline for the semester, application process details, and suggestions for a smooth college process, all of which they covered with the students themselves the week before.
“We wanted to provide some information to our parents, but really, we used this as more of a touch-base and an opportunity to answer questions. We asked, ‘What’s on your mind? What can I do for you?’,” said Essman.
Each college counselor supports around 40 students from each grade, and they begin getting to know each other early. Students are assigned to their college counselor as they begin their 9th grade year, providing a lot of time for counselors to learn about each student’s aspirations and goals, along with personality and culture, before the application process even starts. This helps them guide each student toward a successful match with a college or university.
Around 110 parents took advantage of this first of many opportunities to meet with the college counselors. They received tips for a smooth fall and learned what they as parents can be doing to support their children. Essman recommends setting up a regular, weekly time to talk about the college application process as a family. He encourages parents to give their students responsibility for completing tasks, saying, “the more responsibility your children take now, the easier your heart will be when they go away.” Parents should also determine now what role their children will have in the financial part of the process and notes that clear understanding of any financial limitations and expectations will help everyone. He shared that it’s natural for parents and children to experience the complete range of emotions during this process and encourages them to call their counselors immediately when things appear unusual or unclear.
Everyone is adjusting to a new process due to the pandemic, including colleges and universities. Essman reports that many institutions are waiving their ACT or SAT test requirements for the Class of 2021. Some schools will stick with it permanently while others will go back to business as usual. And college recruiters can no longer visit secondary schools, so they’re setting up virtual college visits.
“We’re here for our students and their parents just like every other year,” Essman said. “It may look a little different, but the outcome is the same.”
We wish all our students in the Class of 2021 well as they navigate through their college application process!