Questions about College Placement

[Anonymous]

What questions should I ask potential high schools regarding college placement. I have read many posts expressing disappointing outcomes, whether because of grading systems, college counseling officers or other reasons. What are the right questions to ask to determine the best place to put my DC in an effort to give them the right and best future outcomes? Any advice from parents who've gone through the process is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

If you're considering private HS because of college placement, you are doing it wrong.

At best, private schools can help your child thrive academically - whether that means more rigor, more support, smaller class sizes, new and different clubs and ECs, etc.

And if your child reaches their academic potential, you're in the same boat as every other public and private HS parent - scrambling with an extremely dysfunctional and competitive college admissions landscape.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you're considering private HS because of college placement, you are doing it wrong.

At best, private schools can help your child thrive academically - whether that means more rigor, more support, smaller class sizes, new and different clubs and ECs, etc.

And if your child reaches their academic potential, you're in the same boat as every other public and private HS parent - scrambling with an extremely dysfunctional and competitive college admissions landscape.

OP here - to clarify, we are already in a Big 3 private in 7th grade. We are weighing staying there vs moving to another private. We are not considering public.

[Anonymous]

Your post suggests that what you want to ask is:

- Will you fudge grades so all the kids look awesome for admissions?

- If my kid gets a 3.5 or lower, do you have any magic tricks to make Harvard love him anyway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your post suggests that what you want to ask is:

- Will you fudge grades so all the kids look awesome for admissions?

- If my kid gets a 3.5 or lower, do you have any magic tricks to make Harvard love him anyway?

Are you ok? Why so snarky? No, I am OP and I am worried about my child. I feel, in 7th grade, I’m starting to sense an unhealthy trend. I don’t wish Harvard for her, I want to her to end up where she belongs. Thank you for your constructive input.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your post suggests that what you want to ask is:

- Will you fudge grades so all the kids look awesome for admissions?

- If my kid gets a 3.5 or lower, do you have any magic tricks to make Harvard love him anyway?

Are you ok? Why so snarky? No, I am OP and I am worried about my child. I feel, in 7th grade, I’m starting to sense an unhealthy trend. I don’t wish Harvard for her, I want to her to end up where she belongs. Thank you for your constructive input.

Stop with the TiKTok psychology ..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your post suggests that what you want to ask is:

- Will you fudge grades so all the kids look awesome for admissions?

- If my kid gets a 3.5 or lower, do you have any magic tricks to make Harvard love him anyway?

Are you ok? Why so snarky? No, I am OP and I am worried about my child. I feel, in 7th grade, I’m starting to sense an unhealthy trend. I don’t wish Harvard for her, I want to her to end up where she belongs. Thank you for your constructive input.

Stop with the TiKTok psychology ..

Are you like this when you aren’t anonymous? Geez, go to bed already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your post suggests that what you want to ask is:

- Will you fudge grades so all the kids look awesome for admissions?

- If my kid gets a 3.5 or lower, do you have any magic tricks to make Harvard love him anyway?

Are you ok? Why so snarky? No, I am OP and I am worried about my child. I feel, in 7th grade, I’m starting to sense an unhealthy trend. I don’t wish Harvard for her, I want to her to end up where she belongs. Thank you for your constructive input.

Because this is ridiculous. Your child will end up where they belong and no college counseling office will really have an impact on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're considering private HS because of college placement, you are doing it wrong.

At best, private schools can help your child thrive academically - whether that means more rigor, more support, smaller class sizes, new and different clubs and ECs, etc.

And if your child reaches their academic potential, you're in the same boat as every other public and private HS parent - scrambling with an extremely dysfunctional and competitive college admissions landscape.

OP here - to clarify, we are already in a Big 3 private in 7th grade. We are weighing staying there vs moving to another private. We are not considering public.

Are you generally happy with the education your child is getting? Is your child happy there? College admissions -- at any school -- is too unpredictable to switch away from somewhere you are happy just for the potential of "better" admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your post suggests that what you want to ask is:

- Will you fudge grades so all the kids look awesome for admissions?

- If my kid gets a 3.5 or lower, do you have any magic tricks to make Harvard love him anyway?

Are you ok? Why so snarky? No, I am OP and I am worried about my child. I feel, in 7th grade, I’m starting to sense an unhealthy trend. I don’t wish Harvard for her, I want to her to end up where she belongs. Thank you for your constructive input.

What are you worried about? What is the unhealthy trend?

The only unhealthy trend I see is an inappropriate focus on college admissions too early. Your question seems to be part of that trend. If there's something else you are concerned about, you'll get better answers if you ask directly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What questions should I ask potential high schools regarding college placement. I have read many posts expressing disappointing outcomes, whether because of grading systems, college counseling officers or other reasons. What are the right questions to ask to determine the best place to put my DC in an effort to give them the right and best future outcomes? Any advice from parents who've gone through the process is appreciated.

You are going to get nowhere asking explicitly about college placement - especially if applying out - asking this at admissions will be a big X on your child's application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your post suggests that what you want to ask is:

- Will you fudge grades so all the kids look awesome for admissions?

- If my kid gets a 3.5 or lower, do you have any magic tricks to make Harvard love him anyway?

Are you ok? Why so snarky? No, I am OP and I am worried about my child. I feel, in 7th grade, I’m starting to sense an unhealthy trend. I don’t wish Harvard for her, I want to her to end up where she belongs. Thank you for your constructive input.

Because this is ridiculous. Your child will end up where they belong and no college counseling office will really have an impact on that.

Thank you. I haven’t gone through this process, so I will admit that I’ve been influenced in to fear by some posts on here. I would like to believe that what you say is true, but it just doesn’t seem like that’s what people are experiencing. So I guess I wonder if I leave my child where she is, where she’s happy, but the work is getting difficult and she’ll be a mostly B student, or move her somewhere else.

And back to the original question, how do I get to the root of it all? I don’t even know what questions to ask. It never would’ve crossed my mind to ask about the average gpa of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your post suggests that what you want to ask is:

- Will you fudge grades so all the kids look awesome for admissions?

- If my kid gets a 3.5 or lower, do you have any magic tricks to make Harvard love him anyway?

Are you ok? Why so snarky? No, I am OP and I am worried about my child. I feel, in 7th grade, I’m starting to sense an unhealthy trend. I don’t wish Harvard for her, I want to her to end up where she belongs. Thank you for your constructive input.

Because this is ridiculous. Your child will end up where they belong and no college counseling office will really have an impact on that.

Thank you. I haven’t gone through this process, so I will admit that I’ve been influenced in to fear by some posts on here. I would like to believe that what you say is true, but it just doesn’t seem like that’s what people are experiencing. So I guess I wonder if I leave my child where she is, where she’s happy, but the work is getting difficult and she’ll be a mostly B student, or move her somewhere else.

And back to the original question, how do I get to the root of it all? I don’t even know what questions to ask. It never would’ve crossed my mind to ask about the average gpa of the class.

This is not a college admissions question. You know your child: does she like working hard? How does she feel seeing many peers be more successful at school than she is? Does she rise to the occasion when challenged or does she get overwhelmed? Are there things important to her outside of school that she wants time for? How does she feel about 3+ hours of homework?

Give your child the best high school environment *for her* and college will take care of itself.

[Anonymous]

Seek (or stay at) a place where your child is happy and challenged "just right". Don't worry about college admissions - there are no answers that will make a difference in where she should be in school. Her happiness and her education are what matters. Deal with the college part when you get there. It sucks for everyone - really.

But when you get there - be realistic. And, FYI - you are probably better off getting an outside counselor anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your post suggests that what you want to ask is:

- Will you fudge grades so all the kids look awesome for admissions?

- If my kid gets a 3.5 or lower, do you have any magic tricks to make Harvard love him anyway?

Are you ok? Why so snarky? No, I am OP and I am worried about my child. I feel, in 7th grade, I’m starting to sense an unhealthy trend. I don’t wish Harvard for her, I want to her to end up where she belongs. Thank you for your constructive input.

Because this is ridiculous. Your child will end up where they belong and no college counseling office will really have an impact on that.

Oh boy. Op you said you have been reading the threads on this question. Read them closely and there is your answer.