Nearly one-half of young people
( 48 percent) say they usually felt like
“just another face in the crowd.”
one young woman from New York told
us. “It asked about all these scenarios
and how you would react or what
your preference was on a certain topic.
It was terrible because it told me I
should be a bus driver. They looked at
that when you sat with your guidance
counselor.”
A young man from New York talked
about how his guidance counselors
prioritized their time on the basis of
who they thought was more likely to go
to college: “My guidance counselors
didn’t care about me. You could see
other kids getting called in and being
asked, ‘What are you going to do after
high school?’ Those kids would come
for college day with suits and ties, and
their parents would come with them.
Then there was everybody else.” An
individual from St. Louis echoed this
view, saying he had given up on
expecting the counselors’ help because
“they really don’t care about you.” He
turned instead to his advanced biology
teacher because “some teachers, they
care . . . you can just tell.”
much higher ratios. In California, each
counselor serves nearly a thousand
students. In Minnesota, Arizona, Wash-
ington, D.C., and Utah, the numbers
are above 700.
FIGURE 1. Poor Reviews for High School Guidance Counseling
How would you rate your high school counselors
in the following areas?
Helping you decide what
school was right for you
Beleaguered and Overworked
These are harsh judgments—perhaps
too harsh—of a group of professionals
who must routinely feel besieged and
overworked, scarcely able to keep up
with the demands and expectations
placed on them. The American School
Counselor Association, a professional
group representing the field, recommends a student-counselor ratio of 100
to 1 but points out that, on average, in
public schools across the United States,
the ratio is more than twice that—265
students for every counselor (Clinedinst
& Hawkins, 2009). Some states have
Helping you find ways to pay
for college, like financial aid or
scholarship programs
33% 26% 59%
Helping you think about
different kinds of careers you
might want to pursue
29% 33% 62%
Explaining and helping you
with the application process
29% 25% 54%
; Poor ; Fair
Source: Adapted from Johnson, J., Rochkind, J., Ott, A. N., & DuPont, S. (2010). Can I get a little advice
here? How an overstretched high school guidance system is undermining students’ college aspirations.
New York: Public Agenda. Used with permission.
