Menlo students are lucky enough to have one of the strongest college counseling departments in the country yet many students’ families invest in outside of school college counselors. Staff reporter Katie Stonesifer expands on why she opposes that choice.

Photo by Pete Zivkov

By Katie Stonesifer

Class after class, Menlo students find themselves facing that dreaded time in their high school career where they must begin thinking about the college process. The road ahead consists of countless drafts of the exact same essay, panic over deadlines, and, of course, the common favorite, the avoidance of the pestering parents and their unwanted advice. For many, none of this can be put off any longer. The question then becomes, “Who do I want to help me sort through all of this and guide me along the way?” Many Menlo students hire outside of school college counselors. However, I believe this to be an unnecessary action that is being made at an extravagant price.

I understand the counter argument of the importance of a second opinion. With something as significant as college, it does make sense to have multiple people giving you advice and more than one set of eyes reading your applications. However, the Menlo college counseling office is filled with four college counselors employed to help you. What’s stopping students from popping into another counselor’s office to get the second opinion they were looking for? Why is it necessary to pay additional money when there are four people already prepared to do the exact same job, for no additional fee? As for essays, there are English teachers and a writing center who would happily pull out their red pens and markup college essays as much as you wish them to.

We live in the heart of Silicon Valley. The expectations are high and the pressure heavy. But a lot of us need perspective. We pay over $40,000 in tuition. On top of that, many of us pay for ACT, SAT, and SAT subject test tutors. These prices don’t even begin to account for the various extracurriculars that most students participate in. While most public schools have one college counselor for a large amount of students, we have about 34 students for every one counselor. We are extremely privileged. Everything is set up for us to succeed. We go to an academically challenging and highly regarded high school, we have the best faculty behind us, and we have the best of the best working with us. Why would we want more?

Outside of school college counselor or not, it’s time we pause, look at how fortunate we are, and thank those that have helped us.