by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D. As I recall, the subject line of the email was so plain, I almost deleted it in the preview screen—but off we went, and it went something like this. “Dear Mr. O’Connor: “You don’t know me, but I attended one of your college application seminars at the public library two years ago. You said that building a college list only worked if you looked around enough to understand all the possibilities, and that too many students settle for the easy answers. It’s important to make sound choices, you said, but don’t be afraid to follow your heart a little. “I went home and ..read more

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D. November 1st is finally in the rearview mirror, giving counselors a chance to breath just a little until the November 15th deadline, and a chance to reflect on how things went in the early application period: Lists are beyond aggressive A number of counselors are reporting more students with college lists that seem to be based more on hope than anything else. It isn’t unusual for a few students to come in with a list of colleges that, based on the numbers, make the student a reach candidate. This year, more lists than usual are fitting that description ..read more

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D. This week, we zero in on specific activities teachers can do, mostly independent of you, to help advance your college curriculum. Tell their story The more adults who “talk college”, the more students will go. Teacher stories are a huge help, since it brings the choice of college to life-- as long as they are told in the context of lessons learned, not with a tone of “yeah, that was awful, so don’t bother.” Many high schools have a College Application Week, a Spirit Week to promote college awareness. Many of these programs devote a day for teachers to wear t ..read more

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D. An English teacher’s daughter got into Princeton, so now she tells every Ivy League applicant just what to do to get in. A History teacher’s son got no financial aid, so he now tells students not to bother to apply. Welcome to our world. Like it or not, the best way to reduce this unhelpful helping is to replace it with what you’d like them to say about college—more specifically, what you’d like them to say about college advising. Tell them what you do The vast majority of teachers are really more than happy—and far too busy—not to offer college advice. But that ..read more

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D. At this stage of things, you’re heading into the home stretch of the first part of the college search. By studying hard, giving back, thinking about your place in the world, and having fun, your high school years have been great to experience and great to grow on—something to build, not just a college application on, but for applying yourself once you’re in college, and once you’re out. Because you built these qualities up over time, you’re not burned out about college; because your parents and your counselor are on board with you, they’re not on your case; because ..read more

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D. Students, driving the life-after-high school bus means taking care of all the passengers, and that includes someone whose role is pretty important—your school counselor. Go ahead, I’ll wait. “Hang on. So I meet with my parents every week, and I have to stay in touch with someone I’ve only met once when I changed my schedule?” Exactly right—and that’s the problem. If you look at most college applications, there’s a section that has to be filled out by your school counselor. It doesn’t matter how well the counselor knows you. It doesn’t matter how many o ..read more

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D. The Dream Team—Deren Finks far right He was born and raised in South-Central LA, but his laugh could fill counties. He attended a local college, and started working in its admissions office, where his natural instincts for the work, and for people, were evident at the jump. People who met him for the first time didn’t just like him; they loved him, and had to summon everything they could not to end their first meeting by hugging this giant, effusive, teddy-bear of a man. Word spread about this guy in the college admissions community, and it didn’t take lo ..read more

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D. 2023 may be remembered as the year artificial intelligence hit the world of college admissions head on. While AI has long been an integral part of the selection process for many colleges, the ability to use AI in application essays is leading to significant discussions of its impact on student essays in the application process. Lost in this AI discussion is the question of whether AI has a proper place in the writing of counselor or teacher letters of recommendation. At first blush, the use of AI seems like a pretty bad idea. If the goal of recommendations is to g ..read more

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D. Counselor chat rooms are filled with lamentations about writing college letters for students. I get it—you think this is time consuming, with 100 seniors on your case load. But you just spent three hours a day on schedule changes; why not write up to three letters a day in those three hours?   What’s that—you can’t do a letter in 20 or 30 minutes? Try this:   Plan ahead Most counselors do senior reviews, to make sure seniors will graduate on time, and ask about future plans. Instead, take 30 minutes each morning to review the files of the seniors you’re g ..read more

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D. School has just started in many districts, and the counselor chat rooms are already rich with concerns about the subject we love to hate in the fall—schedule changes. No sooner do we get through with orientation sessions where we tell the students how much we care about them, and we’re saying no to a schedule change that “will ruin their lives.”   It's a little late to change the rules in the middle of the game, but there will always be more schedule changes with the next trimester or semester. Giving some thoughts now about how to change the schedule change p ..read more