Whenever new students join our high school, some of them and their parents will ask, “What is a university counsellor?” This seemingly simple question is not always easy to answer. Sandy Zhang, our  head of counselling, has his own definition which is that it  helps the students to answer two questions, “Who am I?”, and“Where am I going?”. Counselling is a series of events to guide students so that they can fully understand themselves, improve themselves, find their own life direction and finally to be accepted by an ideal university. University admission is only part of the counsellors’ work. Most importantly, it helps students to know their strengths and weaknesses, to set their life goals, and cultivate their core abilities in adapting to the future.

The four year counselling programme starts in Grade 9 and ends in Grade 12. It mainly guides students to participate in decision-making, so that they actively grow through practice. The content includes self-identification, career exploration, country/major preference, examination plans, activity arrangements, course selection, summer school applications, reading plans, family connections, CV creation, recommendation requests, essay preparation, psychological guidance, standardised test plans, interview guidance, strategy of applications, and visa applications.

The main goal for Grades 9 and 10 is, to actively understand western education and universities, to lay a solid foundation of disciplines and English, to try various activities, to know their own core competitiveness and preferences, to find their own goals, and to make clear plans. With experience and understanding, they can have the basis for choice and judgment.

The emphasis for Grade 11 is for students to determine their interests, to prepare for university, to determine professional interests, to make a CV, to start reading and to practise writing, to find appealing extracurricular activities in which they can  participate, to lay a good foundation in standardised examinations,to further and clearly understand their goals, to participate in an internship or Summer Schools.

The emphasis for grade 12 is university application. This strictly requires students to  select the country, university, major, application mode (ED, EA, RD), deal with time management, find their competitive strengths, sort out their extracurricular activities, think about how to conceive/ write in-depth, think about suitable schools and how to fill in application forms, standardise communication with teachers, and to prepare for interviews. Students practise and learn a lot through university applications.

University application often requires participants to deal with problems, and to make choices and decisions. Students participate in this process, with the goal of gaining growth and maturity. Therefore, the four-year guidance can not only help our students to cope with fierce competition and obtain good admission, but also to help them in laying a solid foundation.

Know their core advantages and preferences/ know their goals/ know the key points in the preparation process / have clear plans/ and to finally succeed in theirabilities, academics, and happiness

It is very important for every school to have a scientific and professional counselling service. Counsellors go the extra mile by supporting “learning” and “comprehension”. Knowledge, creativity, and thinking skills guarantee the completion of the core work. In the process of daily work, counsellors will also discuss various life topics with students, help them to establish a value framework, form a healthy self-development mode, and enable them to have lifelong learning abilities.