Three questions regarding the secondary school guidance counselor are addressed: (1) do counselors devote more time to students predisposed toward higher education; (2) to what extent is the counselor's advice dependent on such predisposing variables as status, intelligence, parental encouragement, etc.; and (3) does the counselor have an incremental effect on students' educational expectations independent of these predisposing variables. Correlational and path analyses with longitudinal data from 1171 males and 1105 females surveyed at the end of their freshman and sophomore years reveal that (1) if anything, counselors have more contact with students less disposed to higher education; (2) the student's educational goals and intelligence exert a direct effect on counselor advice, but students status exerts only indirect effects; and (3) the counselor does have an incremental effect on students' educational expectations independent of the influences of the predisposing variables included in the analysis. The critical role of "early" educational expectations on subsequent expectations is discussed in the text. (Author/TL)