How to Schedule a Meeting with your College Advisor (in steps) 

We’re really happy that you decided to say hello and introduce yourself to your college counselor or advisor/a very crucial person in your college application process. This is a great first step. We’ve waxed poetic about how important it is to build and maintain relationships with teachers throughout your time in high school, and your college counselor/advisor is no exception. They are just yet another person on your “Get Into College Team,” and you should regard them with an appropriate level of importance.

Let’s go through how to facilitate this introduction, step-by-step, shall we?

Step 1: WHO

  • Figure out who your college advisor is (IF YOU KNOW, SKIP TO STEP 2). You can do this by asking around. Teachers, staff, peers, the main office staff, or your school’s trusty website. One of these sources should be able to reveal the identity of this person (or persons).

Step 2: WHEN

  • Carve out time during your week (with 1-2 back-up times) when you plan to go pop by their office to introduce yourself. Write or type it into your calendar. The “I’ll do it when I have time” method somehow never works. You’re always going to find an excuse to not execute on a task that isn’t entirely fun. So, write in a few times when you are dedicating 10 minutes to this task. Backups are good in case your advisor isn’t available.

Step 3: WHAT

  • What are you going to say to them? This seems to be the hardest part for most students: the social interaction requirement of it all. Some suggestions for ice breakers below.

  • If you’re a junior, it would be wise to stick around and let them know what schools you’ve visited thus far and what your general thoughts on the college process are.

“Hello! My name is Caroline. I’m a junior. I wanted to just come by and say hi and introduce myself.”

“Is now a good time? Hi! Great. I just wanted to introduce myself--I’m a sophomore, my name is Caroline, and I know college is a bit of a long way off for me but I still wanted to say hi.”

The good news is that this person has chosen to work in a school, which means they are used to and expect to interact regularly with others, particularly students. They will definitely take charge of the conversation and then you’ll blink and it’ll be over. You did it!

Step 4: WHERE

  • Pretty self-explanatory. Their office. Armed with your notebook (we love to look prepared at all times).

Step 5: HOW

  • As with any introduction or anticipated meeting, prepare yourself. This means making sure you’re dressed in nice-ish clothing. No sweatpants, please. Why wear sweatpants to school at all?

  • When the time comes, use your preferred hyper-local mode of transport (walking, wheelchair, whatever it may be), and hope that they’re in their office. If they’re not, please refer to your calendar for your back-up stop-in time(s) and loop back later.

Bonus offering: if you’ve made it this far in the blog post we’re going to offer up some very VIP advice: go with a friend. You’ll both be grateful to have a buddy in this. It’s a nice vibe.

Let us know if you need any help or advice on this front by calling or emailing us.