Why you need college counseling in 2024

It’s no secret that college admission has become more complex. As a result, college counseling has transitioned from a nice-to-have service to a necessity.

Reflecting the need for admissions guidance, college counseling has grown into a $3 billion industry!

Here are 5 reasons why college counseling is a must these days.

1. Counseling helps you lower your stress

College counseling lowers application stress by breaking down the process into manageable steps, so that you’re clear on what you need to focus on and what you don’t.

Great programs also have staff available to help you manage your psychology around applying to colleges while performing at a high level at school simultaneously.

Cohort does both. We’ve distilled everything into one clear, understandable, and standardized way to apply. We’ve make it crystal clear for you to understand what you need to do to get where you want.

We’ve also built in checkpoints along the way to make sure you’re managing your psychology. If you’re not, that’s okay too. Our mentors and staff have been through it before and understand, and can help you work through whatever you’re feeling.

2. Counseling keeps you on track to submit applications on time

A counselor’s most important job is to make sure you get your apps in on time. That’s the best way you’ll have a fighting chance at admission: if you apply!

Sadly, there’s rarely an easy way to keep track of what essays and supplementals you need, how long they’ll take to write, and what to do if you fall behind. Even in programs that cost $6,000, this happens all the time!

We’ve seen students give up on their applications partway because they simply started too late and couldn’t scramble together an application in time.

Cohort makes sure you won’t be left behind. That’s a key part of our strategy: we build in clear, achievable goals every month, on a timeline that’ll put you in great shape to submit an early application if you want to (usually two months before regular applications are due).

3. Counselors cut out the B.S.

Our favorite example of college application B.S. is the idea of a “test optional” school. Students are led to think that they should apply without SAT/ACT scores at test optional schools. That’s false! In almost all instances, admissions officers want your test scores! Given two exact same applications, admissions officers will almost always prefer one with a standardized test score.

Then why call it test optional? “Test optional” is often a marketing tactic to get more application submissions to a college.

There’s tons of B.S. like this littered in the application process. If you actually believed all the college advice out there, you’d fall into the trap of not being able to distinguish between marketing and advice.

A great college counseling program like Cohort will help you cut the B.S. so you don’t have to waste time figuring out what’s important to focus on in your applications.

4. Counseling makes sure you don’t leave colleges or financial aid on the table

About 70% of all application submissions go to just 30% of colleges. There are a ton of fantastic schools with great STEM programs, humanities programs, and small class sizes that students overlook simply because these schools don’t appear on the US News & Report World Rankings.

Not to mention, these other schools have bucketfuls of money to spend per student.

Counselors have an excellent understanding of what colleges are out there and what they can offer your student. They also help assist families in navigating financial planning, financial aid, scholarships, and loans.

Cohort cares a ton about affordability - both at the college counseling level and actually paying for college. We have tons of information about scholarships for middle income families, a list of colleges with very generous financial aid packages, and mentors who are Coke Scholars, Gates Millennium Scholars, or scholars who won merit scholarships.

We take affordability very seriously at every level of the college application process.

5. Counselors make you stand out in a competitive applicant pool

Every student's journey to college is unique, as it should be! But all too often, students don’t know how to showcase that in their application.

In their bid to meet all requirements for college, students often forget the most important fact of all: admissions officers are also human.

And like any other human, they want to hear your unique story. Not a list of accomplishments, not a brag sheet of activities. They want to get to know you.

Counselors help students identify what’s unique about their story. Counselors remind students that their high school journey was also influenced by their academic interests, career goals, and personal circumstances.

Great counselors help students present themselves holistically to admissions officers, while always sticking to their unique story.

At Cohort, you’re always in control of your story. We chose mentors - young adults who’ve recently been in your shoes - because they have tons of practice putting together a compelling application. We chose not to have former admissions officers, as we’ve found that they can tell when an application is compelling but can’t always figure out the mechanics of putting it together.

Our curriculum is built around compelling essays. We have bootcamps on essay writing. And we never forget that you’re in control of your unique story, as you should be.

We’ve found that highlighting your unique story gives you the best chance of acceptances at where you are most likely to thrive academically and socially.

Conclusion

In 2024, as the stakes of college admissions soar and the process becomes more complex, college counseling has become a necessity.

Join Cohort as we start our next college readiness cycle! We’re accepting new juniors for our March 24th start date.