After witnessing a student feel defeated about plans to attend community college rather than a University, Priscilla Grijalva knew that she needed to change the narrative. That’s when “Reach Higher Thursdays” were created, leading to more support and celebration for all post-secondary options. Priscilla Grijalva is a highly accomplished school counselor with over 18 years Read More
It’s that time of year again when your head of school/principal is receiving the annual “your membership dues are past due” notice from College Board. Dear valued member, The annual College Board Membership dues for your organization are outstanding. Attached is a copy of the unpaid invoice. “Dear valued member??” We are not now and Read More
It seems everyone is laser-focused on where high school seniors are applying, their essays and their activities; but this is also an important time for high school juniors. Fall of junior year is the right time to be thinking about and doing many of the following things: Lee Bierer is an independent college adviser based Read More
If the answer is yes, a Counselor Guide just released by the State University System of Florida should be of interest. It is free to download and includes average GPA’s and test scores for all 12 public universities in the state. Here is a link: Florida SUS Counselor Guide 2023-2024
A survey conducted by EMC Group in partnership with Vice Media shows that High School students have doubts about college, want to learn essential skills early and value a healthy work-life balance. Here are four main questions Gen Z high schoolers have on their minds as they think about their futures. Do we need a Read More
Jeff Levy and Jennie Kent have released their 3 annual charts listed above and this year they are presenting the data in a new way-Looker Studio. More visual, highly interactive, and user-friendly, their Looker Studio version allows you to sort for any column in an instant and to easily compare subsets of colleges using any Read More
During the summer, after a terrible thunderstorm throughout southeastern Michigan that triggered “take cover now” warnings, one of my college essay coaching students jumped through hoops to show up for a scheduled brainstorm appointment. That was so inspiring to me. His home had lost Internet and Wi-Fi service; he tried to use the hot spot Read More
While there have been many youth epidemics over the last several decades, none seem to have ever been as widespread and challenging to quell as vaping. For scores of youths ranging from middle school students to high school students, vaping has become a normalized habit that is seemingly impossible to quit. As a counselor, it’s Read More
Cigus Vanni of The College Fairy LLC annually compiles average SAT/ACT scores for studentsm who enrolled at most US Colleges & Universities. He has compiled data from 2020, 2022 and recently updated with 2023 data. Lisa Dubuque, a Counselor at Headwaters School in Austin, TX then puts that data into an easy to access/use spreadsheet. Read More
During the 2021-22 academic year, each public school counselor was responsible for overseeing 405 students, on average,1 which exceeds the 250-to-1 maximum ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA).2 Importance of School CounselingSchool counselors play a key role in assisting students through the transition to postsecondary education. By collaborating with school administrators, teachers, Read More
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