A high school counselor advising a highly motivated student about preparing to apply to college may need to provide advice about narrowing down an appropriate list of colleges, help the student manage the stress and time pressures of the application process, and determine how best to market the student to a school -- in short, primarily fulfilling the supporting and delegating functions of Step Two. The same counselor dealing with an unmotivated student might have to work with the student first to find out why and if he or she wants to go to college at all and actively motivate the student to take constructive steps in planning his or her life outside of high school in ways similar to the author's behavior with his class of at-risk youths.

While with the highly motivated student, the counselor might seem overly directive if he or she pressed the student with many...
[ View Full Essay]