Earlier this summer, I posed this question to a few of my Collegewise colleagues: Could we help our newer Collegewise counselors get even better, faster?
Our counselors in their first or second year at Collegewise are not inexperienced rookies. Most arrived here after working as admissions officers or counselors. They’ve already completed more than 50 hours of training with us. They’ve successfully enrolled and delighted families. They’ve long since progressed far beyond the basics.
But we also have counselors who have been here five or seven or ten years who are pillars of college counseling knowledge. We wondered if there were any way to accelerate counseling learning and growth to turn newer counselors into veteran counselors. If you’re a sports fan, this wasn’t like trying to get an average basketball player to play like a college prospect. This was trying to get a player already on an NBA starting five roster to play like LeBron James.
The result: The Collegewise College Counseling Master Class.
Starting this week, interested first and second year Collegewise counselors will enroll and begin their Master Class-level learning. Ten lessons, each comprised of videos, readings, discussions, and exercises, will run through December until we close out for our holiday break.
I’ll occasionally share some of our Master Class teachings (and learnings) here as the course progresses. But if your’e curious, here’s the course syllabus. And the trailer, featuring me and Arun, along with our special guests Allison (who runs our Talent Department with me) and Frank (our filmmaker), is below:
We’re excited about—and proud of—this and can’t wait to get started.