Have you ever been to see your high school counselor? If you are a senior and thinking about going to college, then your counselor is the best place for you to go to get information about admissions tests like the ACT and SAT, help you pick out classes for college, and prepare you for living on your own once you graduate high school. Counselors are professionally trained to help you evaluate your college plans based off of career assessment and placement tests.
After you finish the ACT and/or SAT, you might be wondering what those scores actually mean. And while it is good to look online for national averages as well as researching what the breakdowns of your score means, your school counselor will be able to help you face to face and answer any questions that come up.
Consider these questions for your counselor:
- What should I major in and what types of classes should I take?
- How do I send my scores to the colleges I want to apply for?
- Would it be a good idea for me to retake the test to improve my score?
- Will I qualify for any scholarships or grants? If so, how do I apply?
- What if I did bad in one subject but did great in another, won’t the college take that into consideration?
- Is my GPA more important than the ACT or SAT for schools?
- Is there anything else I need to do to help lower tuition, ensure that I get accepted, and take the right classes?
The questions that you should ask your school counselor should be the open-ended, subjective ones that you can’t get a straight answer for when looking online. However, don’t be afraid to ask about the frequently asked questions either. Your school counselor is there to help you succeed, no matter what question you ask. In this case, there truly is no question that is a bad question. Your school counselor is one of the most accessible people you have because they don’t judge and offer an unbiased view on how to achieve your goals.
While your parents are pushing you in one direction and your friends are pushing you in another, you may be at a loss for what to do. Ultimately, it is up to you to decide what you want to do with your life, and you should choose something that you enjoy doing. It is after all your life and your responsibility to take control of your own future.
