Opinion: Seniors Need Help With College Planning

Are you planning for college?

Ever since we lost our career guidance counselor, I never heard a word about college planning during my junior year.

College is a necessity for most students, and to handle it the right way would give the process a smoother ride.

Most people don’t know where to start.

I sometimes ask myself what should I do first.

“When Ms. Lauwers left Dimond a few years ago, college planning got difficult and it’s hard for us students who have no help.” Senior, Gaea Thomson said.

A college guidance counselor helps you with the college applications process.

You must have a certain number of credits for each subject, and each college varies. Some colleges, for example have you take three years of a language.

Also, students are told about two-year colleges known as community colleges and four-year colleges known as universities.

These colleges have a typically long college application process of giving a personal statement, test scores, and your transcript.

College guidance counselors make sure you know what you have to turn in in order to complete your college’s full application process, making senior year for many students a breeze after that.

This process of bringing back our college guidance counselor can bring many students to success.

These students are the future of America.

If students go to college then they are able to get a degree and receive a job they are experienced in. That would make it more comfortable to work in their environment.

As for me, I want to major in architecture, so going to college for that will improve my knowledge for architecture since I don’t know a lot of information about it now.

Some seniors don’t have that support from their parents and having a college guidance counselor can make a huge difference in these students’ lives.

Our counselors now can be helpful, but they’re sometimes busy with other things so it’d be useful to have a counselor for just college preparation.

I asked many students how they were college planning and many resorted to using a website and preparing alone for it.

Many students agreed to the need to have a college guidance counselor here.

“I would get help on everything if we had a college guidance counselor.” Senior, Teya Phanmanivong said.

All college have certain requirements, including three years of a language, four years of English, three years of math, etc. It’s good for us students to know the requirements, in order to qualify for that one specific college.

A college guidance counselor would be useful for Dimond, but if we end up not having one then there could be some resources.

Websites and books are great resources.

Many students who are confused with college applying go to certain websites like collegeboard or niche or certain books like college applications for dummies.

You can always go to your local library or your school’s library.

College help can be everywhere, but to limit time on your hands, having a college guidance counselor in our school can help get through this very smoothly.