This fall, the College Counseling Office will welcome three new faces to their team. The new counselors will replace the Director of College Counseling, Mr. Dean Jacoby, and associate counselors Charles Timlin and David Olins. So far, only two of the three replacements have been appointed. Samuel F. Bigelow will counsel Mr. Jacoby’s fifth formers, while Eric G. Stahura will take Mr. Timlin’s place.
Many students have no idea how college counselors are appointed. First and foremost, the school looks for applicants who have experience in either the undergraduate admission process or high college counseling and can simultaneously relate to the Choate student body. Mr. Jacoby remarks, “We need counselors who have read applications and can put them together and at the same time, be able to relate to students. It is important that the counselors have worked with students in the past.”
These guidelines may seem broad; however, the College Counseling team also wants replacements to fill roles similar to current counselors. This factor will ultimately ease the juniors’ transition with their new counselor.
Though the prospective counselors do not know the differences between the positions in the application process, the Choate College Counseling Office looks for specific personalities to fit each assignment. Mr. Jacoby explains: “Since Mr. Timlin counsels many post-graduate student-athletes, we were looking for someone who not only met our prerequisites of having professional experience and working well with students, but who also had skill with working with athletes or someone who is an athlete himself.”
Mr. Stahura, who will be an Associate Director of College Counseling, seemed the obvious choice to replace Mr. Timlin—he has had experience in working with applications, as he is currently the Director of Admission and College Counseling at the Doane Stuart School in Albany, New York. In addition, Mr. Stahura held the title of varsity soccer captain at Bowdoin College, where he also played for the varsity ice hockey team. He will be able to relate to and advise student athletes. Mr. Jacoby remarks, “Mr. Stahura was an easy choice. He matched exactly what we were looking for, so the process was straightforward with him.”
Tina Grant, who is currently the Associate Director of College Counseling, will fill Mr. Jacoby’s position in 2008 as the Director of College Counseling, though she will not counsel his current counselees. Mr. Bigelow, who will become Associate Director of College Counseling, is currently the Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Boston University. Mr. Bigelow has also worked as an admission officer at Harvard University. “The process of appointing my replacement was similar to replacing Mr. Timlin,” says Mr. Jacoby. “We did not look for an athlete to replace me, but rather, we tried to find someone who had a similar personality to mine, so that students would have an easy transition.”
Though the College Counseling office has yet to find Mr. Olins’ replacement, they will appoint a counselor who has varied skills, for Mr. Olins currently does some statistical analysis in the counseling office. “[In] appointing [Olins’] replacement, we are less concerned about the counseling aspect and more focused on how the replacement can work in the office,” notes Jacoby.
The counseling board does not necessarily look for expertise in areas other than counseling. However, some extra specialization is always a good quality among applicants, according to Mr. Jacoby. He remarked, “We do not require expertise, but we generally like to appoint well-rounded people, because that often makes them leaders in the office.” For example, Mr. Bigelow is not only knowledgeable in the college process, but is also a professional musician and a marathon runner.
A final factor in the counselor process is the background of each prospective counselor. The counselors should match the differences in the Choate population. Jacoby states, “Having counselors who are of different genders or who come from different ethnic backgrounds gives students the ability to select the counselor that will be the easiest for them to work with, because ultimately, they will be more comfortable with that counselor.”
