COLLEGE COUNSELING
Unexpected Opportunities in an Extraordinary Year Bringing diligence, dedication, creativity, and empathy to College Counseling By Joe Iuliano, Assistant Head of Academic Affairs supplemental essay drafts, and make themselves available to our students and their families for any and every question or concern. They are available throughout the summer for this consultation as well.
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o ivy-covered buildings, science centers, or athletic field houses to walk by or peer into. No passage through campus front gates for first-glimpse drive-throughs. No inperson interactions with admissions officers or alumni. No live group tours on campus. Just virtual campus tours. Just Zoom meetings with college admissions representatives. Just virtual interviews with college alums. Just a drone’seye view of the campus. Just a brochure or webpage picture of an ivy-covered building, the new science center, or the athletic center. Descriptions on paper, descriptions online. That’s how seniors in high school in 2020-2021 sought to build the college list and find the best fit, college-of-choice for themselves.
college counseling program.
Or is it?
Associate Directors of College Counseling Dona Rehm and Lisa Summergrad are the core of the School’s College Counseling Team (which also includes Upper School Head Joshua Neudel, Co-Director of International Students Helen Du—in a consultative role—and myself). They serve our Upper School students directly as advisors in their year-and-a-half-long, three-part process: discovery, planning, and application preparation. Both are degreed from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and together they represent more than a dozen years of experience “on the other side of the college admissions desk” having previously worked at Lafayette College and Wellesley College, respectively.
While much of that is an accurate description of the changes encountered in the college application process, it does not present a complete picture for Brimmer’s Class of 2021 as it omits the work of the School’s college counselors and the features of the School’s
Throughout the year, they teach the junior and senior college counseling courses, host College Coffees and numerous informational events, read and write recommendations, consult with students on their college lists, provide feedback on numerous Common Application and
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Ms. Rehm’s and Ms. Summergrad’s approach to their work incorporates notable intelligence, expertise, diligence, dedication, and empathy applied through meticulous research, skillful writing, effective collaboration with the members of the College Counseling Team, professional affiliation and consultation through multiple counselor associations, and the staple of their work, one-on-one consultation with our students (in person, via Zoom, and through email). Due to the pandemic, some of this work is harder to manage or requires creativity; some of it actually offers a few advantages as well. Take meetings with college reps, for example. Ms. Rehm observes that virtual visits provided members of the Class of 2021 greater ease and accessibility to college campuses this fall—a student didn’t have to drive, take a bus or train, or fly (this incorporates time, cost, and means)— for a virtual visit versus being on campus. She notes, “Virtual rep visits this fall were pretty successful; over 100 colleges signed up... . Some colleges also offered students the opportunity to visit classes, talk with professors, or meet with student organizations online. Still, for some, it was hard to fully bridge the gap between a virtual and in-person visit.” Ms. Summergrad adds, “Colleges have done quite a lot in the last year to really create robust opportunities for online engagement, and that will likely continue going forward. Students can “see” a campus 3,000 miles away in a way that didn’t used to be possible. It really levels the playing field.”
