College Counseling Hours during Winter Break?

[Anonymous]

Our college counseling office was very up front from early December on about what days they would and would not be available over break. Basically they were around a few days over the 2.5 week break for last minute emails or check-ins.

I think this is totally reasonable for everyone involved! It's a job that is busier this time of year. As a trade-off it's really, really slow over the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our college counseling office was very up front from early December on about what days they would and would not be available over break. Basically they were around a few days over the 2.5 week break for last minute emails or check-ins.

I think this is totally reasonable for everyone involved! It's a job that is busier this time of year. As a trade-off it's really, really slow over the summer.

school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

Not pp, but I think it depends on “when” during break. My kid is not in HS, but I noticed teachers and admins started coming back online after new year’s, even though school was still closed. I’d assume this would be even more true for CC.

[Anonymous]

Our counselors have a general inbox for emergency type questions (Eg something that cannot wait) over break and I think the three CCs took turns checking it over the break because they said that you might not get a response from your assigned CC.

And, in reality, we know they they are checking email sporadically at least over the break. It’s more about response time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

Not pp, but I think it depends on “when” during break. My kid is not in HS, but I noticed teachers and admins started coming back online after new year’s, even though school was still closed. I’d assume this would be even more true for CC.

We have to. If teachers didn’t spend our breaks working, we wouldn’t have lessons prepared for the day back. It’s also the only time we can get through the backlog of work caused by our over-scheduled days.

But I do not consider myself on-call to students and parents during my break.

Yet every winter, I end up doing last-minute recommendation letters or I end up reading last-minute supplemental essays. And, after years of giving up family time for these requests, I can honestly say I have not been thanked once. Not once.

There is an expectation in some households that I am always on-call. I resent that more than the work itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

Not pp, but I think it depends on “when” during break. My kid is not in HS, but I noticed teachers and admins started coming back online after new year’s, even though school was still closed. I’d assume this would be even more true for CC.

We have to. If teachers didn’t spend our breaks working, we wouldn’t have lessons prepared for the day back. It’s also the only time we can get through the backlog of work caused by our over-scheduled days.

But I do not consider myself on-call to students and parents during my break.

Yet every winter, I end up doing last-minute recommendation letters or I end up reading last-minute supplemental essays. And, after years of giving up family time for these requests, I can honestly say I have not been thanked once. Not once.

There is an expectation in some households that I am always on-call. I resent that more than the work itself.

Of course they didn’t thank you - you’re just the help, there to jump when they snap their fingers.

You’d think such important, accomplished people wouldn’t need the help of such a low-level educator—surely they’d be better at it themselves!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

Not pp, but I think it depends on “when” during break. My kid is not in HS, but I noticed teachers and admins started coming back online after new year’s, even though school was still closed. I’d assume this would be even more true for CC.

We have to. If teachers didn’t spend our breaks working, we wouldn’t have lessons prepared for the day back. It’s also the only time we can get through the backlog of work caused by our over-scheduled days.

But I do not consider myself on-call to students and parents during my break.

Yet every winter, I end up doing last-minute recommendation letters or I end up reading last-minute supplemental essays. And, after years of giving up family time for these requests, I can honestly say I have not been thanked once. Not once.

There is an expectation in some households that I am always on-call. I resent that more than the work itself.

Of course they didn’t thank you - you’re just the help, there to jump when they snap their fingers.

You’d think such important, accomplished people wouldn’t need the help of such a low-level educator—surely they’d be better at it themselves!

That thought certainly has crossed my mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

Not pp, but I think it depends on “when” during break. My kid is not in HS, but I noticed teachers and admins started coming back online after new year’s, even though school was still closed. I’d assume this would be even more true for CC.

We have to. If teachers didn’t spend our breaks working, we wouldn’t have lessons prepared for the day back. It’s also the only time we can get through the backlog of work caused by our over-scheduled days.

But I do not consider myself on-call to students and parents during my break.

Yet every winter, I end up doing last-minute recommendation letters or I end up reading last-minute supplemental essays. And, after years of giving up family time for these requests, I can honestly say I have not been thanked once. Not once.

There is an expectation in some households that I am always on-call. I resent that more than the work itself.

Are you a teacher or College Counselor? Why would you be reading supplementals and preparing lessons?

Also, just a side note can you imagine having this person as your college counselor or teacher? They clearly have disdain for their students, for parents, and clearly hate their job. I can not imagine it is a good situation for anyone especially if they are a college counselor - their disdain for their students would clearly be coming through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

Not pp, but I think it depends on “when” during break. My kid is not in HS, but I noticed teachers and admins started coming back online after new year’s, even though school was still closed. I’d assume this would be even more true for CC.

We have to. If teachers didn’t spend our breaks working, we wouldn’t have lessons prepared for the day back. It’s also the only time we can get through the backlog of work caused by our over-scheduled days.

But I do not consider myself on-call to students and parents during my break.

Yet every winter, I end up doing last-minute recommendation letters or I end up reading last-minute supplemental essays. And, after years of giving up family time for these requests, I can honestly say I have not been thanked once. Not once.

There is an expectation in some households that I am always on-call. I resent that more than the work itself.

Of course they didn’t thank you - you’re just the help, there to jump when they snap their fingers.

You’d think such important, accomplished people wouldn’t need the help of such a low-level educator—surely they’d be better at it themselves!

DP. They sometimes need them to send in a different rec letter or are adding on a school at the last minute after getting all rejections for early actions or whatnot that were anticipated to be admits. These are kids and things change and the job should be flexible and allow for that. I know kids that got rejected to schools that should have been safeties so their app process changed as it should. It happens. To the CC hopefully you get some time off this summer....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

Key word here is that your daughter got into SOME schools EA. There are kids currently which have been rejected from every single school so far and have needed to change their list and add more. This is very reasonable. I know a few in that boat right now. Kids at much less rigorous schools getting admitted because they have higher gpas. This is not my kid btw but I feel sorry for those kids who I know are taking very rigorous course loads and have very high STAs or ACTs but are getting hit with low gpas in comparison to other applicants from this area...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

Not pp, but I think it depends on “when” during break. My kid is not in HS, but I noticed teachers and admins started coming back online after new year’s, even though school was still closed. I’d assume this would be even more true for CC.

We have to. If teachers didn’t spend our breaks working, we wouldn’t have lessons prepared for the day back. It’s also the only time we can get through the backlog of work caused by our over-scheduled days.

But I do not consider myself on-call to students and parents during my break.

Yet every winter, I end up doing last-minute recommendation letters or I end up reading last-minute supplemental essays. And, after years of giving up family time for these requests, I can honestly say I have not been thanked once. Not once.

There is an expectation in some households that I am always on-call. I resent that more than the work itself.

Are you a teacher or College Counselor? Why would you be reading supplementals and preparing lessons?

Also, just a side note can you imagine having this person as your college counselor or teacher? They clearly have disdain for their students, for parents, and clearly hate their job. I can not imagine it is a good situation for anyone especially if they are a college counselor - their disdain for their students would clearly be coming through.

I am an upper-level English teacher, and a very well-regarded one. I work hard, deliver challenging lessons, and support my students. Why do I sound like I hate my job? Because I acknowledged that a few families don’t respect me or my time? Should I *like* the fact I got 4 emails from students on Christmas Eve this year, all “asking” me to proofread their last-minute supplemental emails? One even told me she needed me to do it that day so she could have an stress-free Christmas with her applications behind her. Ironic.

And this is after I voluntarily stayed after school multiple times from August-December, giving up my own time to help students with essays. Again: this is not part of my job. I did this out of support.

So you criticize me because I would appreciate at least a simple “thank you” for doing something that ISN’T my job on a day that ISN’T a workday?

So while I don’t have disdain for my job or my students, I certainly do for you. You are displaying the type of demanding, arrogant behavior only a few parents actually show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

Not pp, but I think it depends on “when” during break. My kid is not in HS, but I noticed teachers and admins started coming back online after new year’s, even though school was still closed. I’d assume this would be even more true for CC.

We have to. If teachers didn’t spend our breaks working, we wouldn’t have lessons prepared for the day back. It’s also the only time we can get through the backlog of work caused by our over-scheduled days.

But I do not consider myself on-call to students and parents during my break.

Yet every winter, I end up doing last-minute recommendation letters or I end up reading last-minute supplemental essays. And, after years of giving up family time for these requests, I can honestly say I have not been thanked once. Not once.

There is an expectation in some households that I am always on-call. I resent that more than the work itself.

Are you a teacher or College Counselor? Why would you be reading supplementals and preparing lessons?

Also, just a side note can you imagine having this person as your college counselor or teacher? They clearly have disdain for their students, for parents, and clearly hate their job. I can not imagine it is a good situation for anyone especially if they are a college counselor - their disdain for their students would clearly be coming through.

I am an upper-level English teacher, and a very well-regarded one. I work hard, deliver challenging lessons, and support my students. Why do I sound like I hate my job? Because I acknowledged that a few families don’t respect me or my time? Should I *like* the fact I got 4 emails from students on Christmas Eve this year, all “asking” me to proofread their last-minute supplemental emails? One even told me she needed me to do it that day so she could have an stress-free Christmas with her applications behind her. Ironic.

And this is after I voluntarily stayed after school multiple times from August-December, giving up my own time to help students with essays. Again: this is not part of my job. I did this out of support.

So you criticize me because I would appreciate at least a simple “thank you” for doing something that ISN’T my job on a day that ISN’T a workday?

So while I don’t have disdain for my job or my students, I certainly do for you. You are displaying the type of demanding, arrogant behavior only a few parents actually show.

You should be thanked and sorry you have not been thanked but go back and reread your posts on this thread. You have posted multiple posts criticizing kids and parents and your posts have gone beyond just wanting to be thanked. Reread your posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

Not pp, but I think it depends on “when” during break. My kid is not in HS, but I noticed teachers and admins started coming back online after new year’s, even though school was still closed. I’d assume this would be even more true for CC.

We have to. If teachers didn’t spend our breaks working, we wouldn’t have lessons prepared for the day back. It’s also the only time we can get through the backlog of work caused by our over-scheduled days.

But I do not consider myself on-call to students and parents during my break.

Yet every winter, I end up doing last-minute recommendation letters or I end up reading last-minute supplemental essays. And, after years of giving up family time for these requests, I can honestly say I have not been thanked once. Not once.

There is an expectation in some households that I am always on-call. I resent that more than the work itself.

Are you a teacher or College Counselor? Why would you be reading supplementals and preparing lessons?

Also, just a side note can you imagine having this person as your college counselor or teacher? They clearly have disdain for their students, for parents, and clearly hate their job. I can not imagine it is a good situation for anyone especially if they are a college counselor - their disdain for their students would clearly be coming through.

I am an upper-level English teacher, and a very well-regarded one. I work hard, deliver challenging lessons, and support my students. Why do I sound like I hate my job? Because I acknowledged that a few families don’t respect me or my time? Should I *like* the fact I got 4 emails from students on Christmas Eve this year, all “asking” me to proofread their last-minute supplemental emails? One even told me she needed me to do it that day so she could have an stress-free Christmas with her applications behind her. Ironic.

And this is after I voluntarily stayed after school multiple times from August-December, giving up my own time to help students with essays. Again: this is not part of my job. I did this out of support.

So you criticize me because I would appreciate at least a simple “thank you” for doing something that ISN’T my job on a day that ISN’T a workday?

So while I don’t have disdain for my job or my students, I certainly do for you. You are displaying the type of demanding, arrogant behavior only a few parents actually show.

You should be thanked and sorry you have not been thanked but go back and reread your posts on this thread. You have posted multiple posts criticizing kids and parents and your posts have gone beyond just wanting to be thanked. Reread your posts.

No, I have not. I’ve seen those posts, but I did not write any of them. There are clearly multiple teachers and college counselors on this thread.

I have posted twice that people should thank those who are working during break. If a college counselor worked last week, they did so as all of their colleagues got well-deserved rest. I’ve posted that that should be acknowledged, and I was informed that they are merely doing their job so no acknowledgement is necessary.

That’s my primary contribution to this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP but similar experience at Stone Ridge except DD did not get into ED. She is doing okay because she and her CC worked out a good strategy and also applied to some schools EA (which she got into). She is debating following up with another 1-2 RD applications. No expectation of true counseling over break as plans were made ahead of time for all sorts of scenarios.

And I’m not sure why you assume someone like Pp (or me by extension) is someone who has been complaining for years but is now suddenly happy. I think we just had reasonable expectations and the CC did a solid job with our daughter.

sounds like you didn’t need help.
That is fine but if you did are you saying they would not answer email?

Not pp, but I think it depends on “when” during break. My kid is not in HS, but I noticed teachers and admins started coming back online after new year’s, even though school was still closed. I’d assume this would be even more true for CC.

We have to. If teachers didn’t spend our breaks working, we wouldn’t have lessons prepared for the day back. It’s also the only time we can get through the backlog of work caused by our over-scheduled days.

But I do not consider myself on-call to students and parents during my break.

Yet every winter, I end up doing last-minute recommendation letters or I end up reading last-minute supplemental essays. And, after years of giving up family time for these requests, I can honestly say I have not been thanked once. Not once.

There is an expectation in some households that I am always on-call. I resent that more than the work itself.

Are you a teacher or College Counselor? Why would you be reading supplementals and preparing lessons?

Also, just a side note can you imagine having this person as your college counselor or teacher? They clearly have disdain for their students, for parents, and clearly hate their job. I can not imagine it is a good situation for anyone especially if they are a college counselor - their disdain for their students would clearly be coming through.

I am an upper-level English teacher, and a very well-regarded one. I work hard, deliver challenging lessons, and support my students. Why do I sound like I hate my job? Because I acknowledged that a few families don’t respect me or my time? Should I *like* the fact I got 4 emails from students on Christmas Eve this year, all “asking” me to proofread their last-minute supplemental emails? One even told me she needed me to do it that day so she could have an stress-free Christmas with her applications behind her. Ironic.

And this is after I voluntarily stayed after school multiple times from August-December, giving up my own time to help students with essays. Again: this is not part of my job. I did this out of support.

So you criticize me because I would appreciate at least a simple “thank you” for doing something that ISN’T my job on a day that ISN’T a workday?

So while I don’t have disdain for my job or my students, I certainly do for you. You are displaying the type of demanding, arrogant behavior only a few parents actually show.

I don’t believe you are a teacher. Sorry no. Students tend to not use school teachers for supplementals. Some
schools have rules against this for equity reasons.