As the saying goes, two heads are better than one, and nowhere is this truer than in ISB’s counseling office. As part of the many renovations done to the school over the summer, a new counseling model was put into place. Although freshmen and sophomores will continue their counseling sessions with their school counselor, juniors and seniors will receive a college counselor as well.

In the past, every student received one school counselor, to deal with every aspect of their life. However, the counselors felt that the system was too general. In order to specialize, and therefore be able to help the students better, the new system was developed. Now, school counselors are able deal with the socio emotional needs of the students, and college counselors can focus on college applications, courses, and careers.

School counselors fulfill the same role as counselors did in the past: supporting social and emotional needs, welcoming incoming students, and dealing with scheduling conflicts and courses. College counselors, however, are here to help juniors and seniors deal with the upcoming process of choosing and submitting an application to a university. Over the course of their final two years at ISB, college counselors aim to help students with college seminars, essay writing, common app workshops, and UCAS meetings. In addition to all of this, college counselors travel to conferences in other countries to discuss current issues and promising universities.

Ms. Melton, an 11^th grade college counselor, says that although school and college counselors fulfill different roles, there is a bit of flexibility in who students can choose to talk to. “Some of my 11^th and 12^th graders have had me before, and prefer to talk to me over their college counselors,” she explained. Counseling is not as straightforward as some of the other administrative branches, and connections between the student and the counselor are very important in determining who students choose to bring their problems to.

This new system is a great way for newly arriving juniors to learn more about the daunting process of applying to universities around the world. IB is a difficult time for many, made even more stressful by the application requirements and courses to get into college, stress the new system is sure to alleviate. College counselors will help students to deal with all these problems and hopefully be able to guide them as they prepare to move on into the real world.

Rafa Romasanta