It’s the summer of your junior year, you’ve already heard the horrors that await you this year from the countless generations of veterans who have passed through the gauntlet. You know, starting Sept. 1, it’s a mad scramble to do whatever it takes to survive the onslaught.
Junior year is perhaps the most significant year in the college application process: grades, APs, the SAT and scrambling to find jobs and internships that will polish that resume to the best possible form. However, despite the immense burden, at least you have plenty of individuals and resources to not only alleviate your stress but to ease your college process as a whole. Right?
The school’s sole college coordinator is Lenny Libenzon. That means he is the only individual in the school whose only responsibility is, in some way, shape or form, to assist students in their college process. That’s one onerous responsibility. While, of course, Mr. Libenzon does a tremendous job, it doesn’t negate the fact that there is a lack of personal attention due to the sheer number of students who require help.
Granted, there are many guidance counselors who also share the responsibility of assisting students with their recommendation letters, as well as other miscellaneous work that needs review. But college placement isn’t their main focus.
The counselors who do have a junior and senior class typically have another grade they’re responsible for. This means that their focus and efforts are split between two grades, further stripping away time and attention from the students in need of it for their college processes.
As a senior reflecting back on my previous two years, having that extra personal attention and true personal advising that’s not simple general advice broadcast for the whole grade would have made a significant impact on both how I approached applying to colleges and maybe my success in the process.
Expanding the college counseling department by even a few individuals who are hired exclusively for that role would be a game-changer. It wouldn’t just allow students to get more access to faculty who can advise them and help them with the college process on a personal level, but could also free up guidance counselors from certain obligations and divert more of their efforts either towards fewer of the remaining college obligations or any other ones. Oftentimes, to compensate for the lack of personal attention, some students will get private college counselors outside of school from four thousand dollars to twenty-five thousand dollars throughout the entire process. While this is a good solution for some students who can afford it, the reality is that many students cannot. This creates a competitive disparity between individuals who can afford a personal counselor and those who can’t, fostering somewhat of an inequitable college application process.
While the gauntlet that is junior year and first semester senior year will inevitably remain difficult for the generations to come, we could, and should, ensure that each student who must traverse it isn’t just running aimlessly through it, but can push with someone in their corner, helping them make it to the finish line.
