What is a guidance counselor?
Your Guidance Counselor is a special person that every student can really benefit from knowing. It is important for you to meet your counselor and to understand what is a guidance counselor so that you begin to be advised for success in your future endeavors.
Guidance Counselors help students move from high school life into college life and are helpful with skill assessment, college admission and valuable community contacts.
Skill Assessments
The Guidance Counselor has access to a variety of skills tests. He or she will ask you questions about your own particular skills and interests and may administer a formal evaluation. These evaluations are designed to find out what your strong areas are so that you can pursue these areas in later life. For example, if you have a special skill, the tests will reveal this. This is to help you understand your own aptitudes for future success in jobs and college.
College
Sometimes, if you have developed a professional relationship with them and they know your work and teachers well, Guidance Counselors are able to write letters of recommendation for college. They know when you have performed especially well in a certain class or subject area and they can encourage you in this special ability. They also have a great deal of information about the scores and what types of grades are acceptable to get into the college of your choice. They also know about college preparatory programs. Finally, Guidance Counselors may be able to give you some wise advice about future career paths that you may ultimately choose to take.
Community Contacts
Guidance Counselors are experts at problem solving and can meet with you one on one in order to help you with special needs you might have. They are experienced professionals who may have a number of business contacts. It is quite possible that they may be able to refer you to people they know in order to help you in your goals and help you with any special situations or disabilities wherein you may need accommodations. For example, if you have any disabilities they may be able to assist you with vocational training or college advice.
This is an introduction to what is a Guidance Counselor and what they do in your school. They give skill assessments, college advice and help within the community. The Guidance Counselor can be a rich source of help to you throughout your high school and college years.
