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School counselors serve as scientists, coaches and marketers
April 27, 2006 Baldwin guidance counselor Annette Senicola is flanked by Roger Murray, left, who's been accepted at Drexel; and Stephen Moore, who's been accepted at Augusta State University. As a school counselor at Baldwin Senior High School on Long Island , Annette Senicola manages a case load of 250 students. Because more than 90 percent of Baldwin 's students go on to college, nearly all of those students will rely on Senicola to shepherd them to admission. "We work very hard to package our kids," Senicola said. If that sounds like marketing speak, well, it is. More kids are going to college than ever before and competition is intense. During her 20 years as a school counselor, Senicola, a member of the Baldwin Teachers Association, has learned that a good counselor is part scientist, part coach, and part marketer. Baldwin 's counselors spring into action during their students' junior years, with a kick-off night for parents and students that explains the college admissions process. After that, families meet individually during the start of senior year to narrow choices. Counselors use a detailed database that scientifically analyzes former student records and college acceptances to help prospective students see their likelihood of getting admitted. School counselors sometimes need to dish out tough love. Senicola believes in front-loading the pain — she'll be honest with her students before they apply to a "reach" school. When a final list of safe, mid-level and high-reach schools is decided, that's when school counselors become marketers. Baldwin counselors don't use checklists — every kid gets a personalized letter of recommendation to better sell themselves. And even with all of this planning, sometimes things still go wrong for counselors — like too much humidity. Many school counselors throughout the state are scrambling this spring after the College Board, which administers the SAT exam, announced in March that some 4,400 students nationwide received incorrectly low SAT scores due to scanning errors that appear linked to humid weather. New York leads the nation in SAT participation and, as such, was disproportionately affected. Brian O'Reilly, executive director of SAT Information Services at the College Board, said approximately one-fourth of the students affected were New Yorkers. "School counselors are unhappy, as we are," O'Reilly said. Of the 4,400 students affected, O'Reilly said, only 150 had scores that were off more than 100 points. He believes that the revised scores, in most cases, will not reverse an admissions decision. Doug Morrissey, immediate past president of the New York State School Counselor Association, says school counselors have been forced to field phone calls from worried parents, while having little information themselves. Both O'Reilly and Morrissey, a counselor at Canajoharie High in Montgomery County , said it has been difficult to tell whether certain pockets of New York were affected more than others. Although some Long Island students were affected, Senicola said so far, none of her students have received notifications. She's always been a little skeptical about the significant role SATs play in the admissions process anyway. "SATs don't always reflect what a kid is capable of," she said. — Kevin Hart |
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