BSM markets itself as a ‘college-preparatory school,’ promising to prepare its students for college. One of BSM’s greatest resources is its college and career counselors. Students are required to meet with these counselors several times during their years at BSM. These counselors are just one resource in how BSM works to guide students through the tedious college application process.

A large part of BSM’s college preparation is Build Your Future Day, which all BSM students have to attend during their junior year. During Build Your Future Day, juniors hear from representatives from various colleges and BSM’s own college counselors. “This year, the University of Minnesota representative was talking about finding your fit, really figuring out the best place for you…St. Olaf was talking about essays and how to construct an essay that reveals some good information about you as a student and person,” BSM college counselor Ms. Heidi Wessman said.

Building Your Future Day made college applications much easier to put together when the time came to send them in. “We had already written our college essays, so it was kind of like we had to write the additional essays that the application required you to write, but the majority of the stuff we had was already done,” senior Ellie Mitchell said.

Of course, the Common Application–an online resource which allows students to send the same application to as many colleges as they’d like–was also a useful tool that helped save time. “[With the] CommonApp you just hit submit and keep it going,” Mitchell said.

Students only have one Build Your Future Day, but they have access to their college counselors at all times. Three one-on-one meetings between students and counselors are required: one in freshman year, one in junior year, and finally one their senior year. Students also have the option to talk to their counselors at any available time, which is encouraged. “We do think that it is helpful if [students] stop in more often, just because we get to know them better… It can kind of inform how we coach them or how we think about them going forward, and we can match colleges to their interest,” Wessman said.

Although BSM counselors are a valuable resource, some students and their families believe that outsourcing is needed. College counselors that work outside of BSM can be valuable in guiding students in putting together applications as well as helping them apply to colleges. “My parents also hired an outside college counselor, so that kind of helped too… He helped me through the whole process,” senior Caitlin Fox said.

Although stress can often be associated with the college application process, support for BSM’s students comes from their parents. “My mom was like, ‘Wherever makes you happy you can go’… They don’t really have a strong opinion where I go, they just wanna support me wherever I go,” Mitchell said.