Physical, in-person counseling sessions for college applications used to take precedence, but times have changed. Virtual college counseling now outpaces in-person on multiple axes. Based on real conversations with families, this article gives you a jumpstart by outlining why online college counseling gets results so you can start now. When weighing the options, we’ll investigate what families should know before committing to this meaningful relationship.
The relationship between a student and their counselor is important. If you’re on the fence about working with a college counselor online, some of the following concerns may have occurred to you.
“After doing school online, I would rather meet with a counselor locally, in person.”
For those of you who have done distance learning and found it to be unengaging: our counselors are trained in this medium. After all, Empowerly Counselor Brooke reminds us that your counselor works in a “one-on-one format, not a big class where students will be staring at a screen, zoning out!” Direct conversation and feedback push your student to get the most out of the experience.
It’s critical that your counselor has a strong rapport and provides value to your student’s personalized goals and journey. A number of years ago, Empowerly did offer in-person counseling and found it less effective for a variety of reasons.
For instance…
- Your best match counselor is unlikely to live in your neighborhood or city.
- If you were able to find a local counselor, he or she might live up to an hour away, which takes up a significant part of your mentor’s daily available schedule.
- Factor in your commute; many get stuck in traffic and arrive late to their scheduled sessions, adding stress to the process.
- The family or student would often be exhausted because most meetings take place in the afternoon or evening. Imagine, you’ve just ended school/extracurriculars at 6 pm to just drive another 1.5 hours cumulative to meet a counselor, all before starting your homework.
- In senior year, you meet a counselor much more frequently; our 12th graders have found it much easier to collaborate online.
In fact, our virtual model has allowed us to give clients access to counselors they would not be able to meet with in person. Even better, when you work with an Empowerly counselor, you can also work with the entire Empowerly team—including research experts, essay editors, former admissions officers, and more—at the click of a button. Students thrive with the “resources of many as opposed to the resources of one,” as Empowerly expert Jeanine C. says, and Empowerly is here to provide.
Empowerly has been offering college counseling virtually for years, and our numbers prove virtual counseling works. Since the advent of the pandemic, students are adjusting to working digitally, which has only strengthened our counseling model. The safety, convenience, and improved student outcomes all indicate that online college counseling is the way to go.
“How does virtual college counseling really work? I want to talk to past customers.”
If you’re researching the student experience, I’d recommend this page with videos, testimonials, and case studies from Empowerly students and families. You can also visit our reviews page to hear more feedback from customers.
Feel free to schedule an exploratory call with a team member to learn more. You can also read about our founders’ story in Forbes 30 Under 30!
“I don’t see the benefits of starting college counseling sooner rather than later.”
As seen in our Empowerly Score matrix, the longer you wait, the less control you have over the process. This is because much of what you’re doing is set in stone by the later years in high school.
Empowerly Counselor Gelyna shared: “I’ve seen many students who have come to us in the junior year who have no way of becoming competitive for the schools they’re interested in because there’s not enough time for them to improve significantly at that point.” Empowerly Head of Research Julia shared the inverse scenario, recalling a number of “star students of ours who were with us for more than 2 or 3 years,” who created great extracurricular lists and “got into top colleges.”
Consider how different your student’s experience would be, missing out on all the following steps:
- 8th, 9th, and 10th graders need to keep their GPAs up and communicate well with teachers—their counselors will help them monitor possible GPA threats and address them.
- Young students also need to be finding enrichment opportunities like volunteering, competitions, research, and pre-college programs, developing creative and entrepreneurial efforts, joining meaningful clubs, and preparing to find leadership in those clubs—-Empowerly counselors will help them find or create these opportunities.
- Middle and early high school students also need a counselor to help guide them through the process of exploration and find their guiding passions so that they will be able to turn those into impactful, stand-out projects by their junior year in the application cycle.
This kind of hard work is the only way they can stand out in the competitive admissions climate when they do apply to college!
In Summary
If you or a loved one is heading into high school, it’s more important than ever to plan ahead. For those hoping to attend college after high school graduation, you can get a head start now, from the comfort of your home!
Why go for online college counseling instead of meeting with a local counselor in person? To put it simply, for the results: virtual college counseling is advancing in leaps and bounds to provide comprehensive support for students throughout their academic and professional journey. If you’re ready to start working towards your best future, book an exploratory call with Empowerly to learn more.
