GA's College Counseling Office Helps Students Find Their Way

We talk all the time about how GA is a College Preparatory School. Sometimes, teachers use this phrase to justify, for example, a large homework assignment. “In college,” they say, “you’ll be independent, on your own! Will you do your work without me telling you to?” This serves as motivation for a lot of students who then complete their homework without complaint.

But, one of the most important parts of GA’s College Prep program is the College Counseling Office. The team, led by Director of College Counseling Ms. Karen Mason, spends the first three-quarters of the school year assisting the senior class throughout their college application process. Then, as soon as every senior has committed to a school, they immediately restart the whole process for the junior class. Their hard work and unrelenting schedule have turned the difficult, drawn-out, menacing college application process into a much more manageable experience for both students and their parents.

It’s a big statement to make, but it’s 100% true: the College Counseling office ensures that each year, every single GA senior gets into a respectable college of their choice. We, as outsiders to the Office, don’t often actually see the counselors’ day-to-day work, which includes reading supplemental essays (usually giving one essay several read-throughs), liaising with college representatives, and even managing the hilarious college counseling twitter account.

The College Counselors are some of the most compassionate and caring faculty members at GA. Despite their heavy workload, they spend a lot of time focusing on us, the students. They check in not only to make sure we have accessed the Common Application website and updated our Naviance accounts, but also to congratulate us on our sports team’s latest win or to ask how our AP class is going. Most importantly, they are just as excited as we are when we happily receive our college acceptance letter.

The Counselors’ excellent work ethic and attitude serve as a great example for the rest of the GA community. Applying to college can be extremely terrifying, but with a GA College Counselor by your side, there’s no way you can go wrong.

- Alli L. '14



Alli was accepted to and will attend New York University in the fall. The College Counseling Office served as a valuable resource during her college search.