I, ____, take you, ____, to be my lawfully wedded (husband/wife), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. Wait! Stop! …I an not speaking of wedding vows, or a comic strip by Lynn Johnston that ran in its original incarnation from 1979 to 2008 chronicling the lives of a Canadian family, The Pattersons and their friends. I am speaking here of the use of technology in the counseling field.
Without question the wealth of available information on the Internet has been for the better. The plethora of information about standardized testing, college essays, interviews, financial aid, etc., has allowed students and their parents to gain access to resources and information that previously would have been unobtainable without exerting a great deal of time and effort, and perhaps financial outlay. Today however, a simple Internet search for the answer to just one questions can led one down the proverbial rabbit hole. One could easily spend hours upon hours researching the various aspects of the complex path to college.
Access to all this information can be overwhelming. Caution: Do-it-yourselfers beware. The old adage of you get what you pay for is applicable when surfing the worldwide web. Not all the information floating around online and in the cloud is accurate. Anyone can claim to be an expert. How does one decipher the fact from the myths?
As an Independent Educational Consultant, I believe one of the many roles we play is to help our families filter out all the ‘noise’ on the Internet. To help them shorten the learning curve by directing them to Internet resources (or provide them ourselves) that are truly beneficial in helping them reach their college admission and financial aid goals while steering them away from those Internet resources that are simply useless or perhaps even detrimental. Additionally, to be in a position to confidentially direct students to those areas where they should be spending the most of their time to maximize their return on investment.
The availability of all this information can also led to “analysis paralysis.” In other words, they fail to make any forward progress because they’re too wrapped up in processing all of the information. Just when they think they’ve got it all figured out, they hear a contradictory remark from another parent and they’re back to scratching their heads, not knowing what to believe or what is correct. As an Independent Educational Consultant we can guide them through every step of the process. Provide them with objective advice, access to reliable information, and the kind of individual attention necessary to make informed decisions.
Without question the wealth of available information on the Internet has been for the better. The plethora of information about standardized testing, college essays, interviews, financial aid, etc., has allowed students and their parents to gain access to resources and information that previously would have been unobtainable without exerting a great deal of time and effort, and perhaps financial outlay. Today however, a simple Internet search for the answer to just one questions can led one down the proverbial rabbit hole. One could easily spend hours upon hours researching the various aspects of the complex path to college.
Access to all this information can be overwhelming. Caution: Do-it-yourselfers beware. The old adage of you get what you pay for is applicable when surfing the worldwide web. Not all the information floating around online and in the cloud is accurate. Anyone can claim to be an expert. How does one decipher the fact from the myths?
As an Independent Educational Consultant, I believe one of the many roles we play is to help our families filter out all the ‘noise’ on the Internet. To help them shorten the learning curve by directing them to Internet resources (or provide them ourselves) that are truly beneficial in helping them reach their college admission and financial aid goals while steering them away from those Internet resources that are simply useless or perhaps even detrimental. Additionally, to be in a position to confidentially direct students to those areas where they should be spending the most of their time to maximize their return on investment.
The availability of all this information can also led to “analysis paralysis.” In other words, they fail to make any forward progress because they’re too wrapped up in processing all of the information. Just when they think they’ve got it all figured out, they hear a contradictory remark from another parent and they’re back to scratching their heads, not knowing what to believe or what is correct. As an Independent Educational Consultant we can guide them through every step of the process. Provide them with objective advice, access to reliable information, and the kind of individual attention necessary to make informed decisions.
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