Counselors, Information, and High School College-Going Culture: Inequalities in the College Application Process

While socioeconomic inequality in postsecondary outcomes is well documented, limited research explores the extent to which seeing a high school counselor can help to reduce inequality in college destinations. In particular, previous research rarely considers the high school context in which counselors and students interact as well as the other sources of social and cultural capital available to students. Using the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002), we find that seeing a counselor plays a significant role in predicting application to college, and while this relationship is attenuated, it remains strong even net of other sources of information. Moreover, the relationship between seeing a high school counselor and whether and where students apply to college is largely similar across high school contexts, with some indication that high school counselors may be most relevant in schools with moderate college-going culture. Finally, presented analyses provide insights regarding the extent to which different factors contribute to socioeconomic inequality in the college application process.