That is not the case in 2010.  The New York Times and Wall Street Journal regularly feature articles devoted to college admission, and my local Barnes and Noble devotes an entire shelf to college guides and books on college admission, a shelf almost as big as the True Crime section.  Just the other day the Chronicle of Higher Education described college admission as having “mystique.”

I’m still trying to decide if “mystique” is a good thing.  Certainly the increased attention given to the college admission process is a dual-edged sword.  It is good to have the importance of what we do validated, but the public’s interest in college admission increases the hype and anxiety that are already too much a part of the process, and preying on the anxiety felt by students and parents with regard to college has become a billion-dollar growth industry. 

There is a hunger among students and parents for knowledge about college admission, and those of us who work in the trenches and understand the realities should be providing that knowledge and driving the public discussion.  There is particularly a role for NACAC to play as a professional organization unencumbered by commercial interest.

Last spring, the NACAC Board of Directors identified providing knowledge as preeminent among NACAC’s strategic priorities, and in the past 18 months we have made significant strides in this area.  The Knowledge Center is an amazing resource for our members and is being updated all the time.  The work of the Testing Commission has raised awareness of the proper use of standardized testing in the admission process and attracted important attention from the media, and in 2010 we will continue to push to implement many of its recommendations.  Our ad hoc committee of NACAC members appointed by Immediate Past President Bill McClintick has begun to meet with editors from U.S. News and World Report to represent the views of those of us in the profession with regard to college rankings

All of those efforts will continue in the coming year, and NACAC is also looking for other ways to serve as a source of knowledge about college admission.  That raises some important larger questions.  Is NACAC a membership organization or a professional organization?  Do we have an obligation to professionals who can’t afford to become members? (My answer is yes.) If so, how do we balance that need with the need to provide benefits to justify the investment that members make in our organization?  Should NACAC be an organization of college counselors or an organization that supports the activity of college counseling?  Does NACAC have a role to play in providing knowledge not only to professionals, but also parents and students?  It is easy to pose the questions, and harder to come up with answers, especially in a time of economic challenges for our organization and our profession.

“Knowledge is power.”  That quotation from Sir Francis Bacon provides not only a justification for education itself, but also for our work as college counselors, whether on the secondary or postsecondary side of the desk.  It is our responsibility to share our knowledge about college admission to empower students to make thoughtful decisions about their futures, and in 2010 NACAC will continue to think about what that means for us as an organization and as a profession.    

(Reprinted from the January 6 Bulletin)