College counseling at APS high schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, sounds like you blinked and missed it.

Its actually way better at HBW, where the teachers are the counselors, and they are responsible for like 50 kids. At least they might know your students name.

This is HBW's actual model? That's terrible. Honestly. Being a teacher and being a counselor is not the same job and also being a counselor should not be a side job for a teacher.

50 kids? What? At H-B each teacher is also a TA and are responsible for 10-15 kids, and the TAs/homerooms are across all 4 grades so they only have 3-4 seniors at a time to be assisting with the college process.

Tangent. The question was specifically about the comprehensive high schools and college counseling. NOT about how HB handles things.

Thank you to those who have actually provided helpful answers.

Well the subject line says "at APS high schools" which would include HBW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question is specifically about college counseling, not how HB teachers are also mentors/untrained counselors.

Well, that's the college counseling HB gets. So what's your real beef?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Adding to my comment at 14:08

You “saved” money not sending your child to private school but the downside is nonexistent college counseling. Its going to cost you 4-6k for a private college counselor but you are over all head money wise.

Just what, exactly, do people expect from "college counseling?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your best bet is to hire a private college counselor. Your child will not get individual attention from their high school counselor to build a college list in this college environment.

1000% this. You're not getting any personalized college counseling. You have to hire a private counselor if that is what you want. Chances are you counselor won't even know who your kid is.

[Anonymous]

We hired a private counselor and everyone in my DC's close friend group also hired one. We did so on the advice of those that came before us. I don't know if it's common or it's just the people we know. I can't imagine that the 1 college counselor for the who school can give personalized advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your best bet is to hire a private college counselor. Your child will not get individual attention from their high school counselor to build a college list in this college environment.

1000% this. You're not getting any personalized college counseling. You have to hire a private counselor if that is what you want. Chances are you counselor won't even know who your kid is.

This is depressing but really good to hear it validated by many PPs. Guess we will plan on coming back to DCUM in a few years to ask for recommendations for private college counselors!

[Anonymous]

My kid's at WL but I don't think it's that different than Yorktown. The dedicated college counselor will send out emails about summer programs, scholarships, college reps coming to visit the school, alumni chats, etc. They don't meet 1:1 with your kid to talk about college. Your kid should be assigned a regular counselor and they will meet with them each year around this time to talk about scheduling. In junior year they will also ask what they are thinking about for college. Oh, and they will write the required letter of recommendation for colleges, but you need to provide them with all the information because they basically don't know one kid from the next. If you want advice on what colleges to apply to or what might be target colleges, you really need to do your own research or hire a private counselor. They do make Naviance data available to parents and kids so that can be helpful to see where kids from the school have applied in the past, whether they got accepted/denied/waitlisted and what their stats are (anonymously).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid's at WL but I don't think it's that different than Yorktown. The dedicated college counselor will send out emails about summer programs, scholarships, college reps coming to visit the school, alumni chats, etc. They don't meet 1:1 with your kid to talk about college. Your kid should be assigned a regular counselor and they will meet with them each year around this time to talk about scheduling. In junior year they will also ask what they are thinking about for college. Oh, and they will write the required letter of recommendation for colleges, but you need to provide them with all the information because they basically don't know one kid from the next. If you want advice on what colleges to apply to or what might be target colleges, you really need to do your own research or hire a private counselor. They do make Naviance data available to parents and kids so that can be helpful to see where kids from the school have applied in the past, whether they got accepted/denied/waitlisted and what their stats are (anonymously).

The experience is roughly the same at Wakefield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's at WL but I don't think it's that different than Yorktown. The dedicated college counselor will send out emails about summer programs, scholarships, college reps coming to visit the school, alumni chats, etc. They don't meet 1:1 with your kid to talk about college. Your kid should be assigned a regular counselor and they will meet with them each year around this time to talk about scheduling. In junior year they will also ask what they are thinking about for college. Oh, and they will write the required letter of recommendation for colleges, but you need to provide them with all the information because they basically don't know one kid from the next. If you want advice on what colleges to apply to or what might be target colleges, you really need to do your own research or hire a private counselor. They do make Naviance data available to parents and kids so that can be helpful to see where kids from the school have applied in the past, whether they got accepted/denied/waitlisted and what their stats are (anonymously).

The experience is roughly the same at Wakefield.

Exactly the same for my Yorktown senior. We did a lot of our own research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's at WL but I don't think it's that different than Yorktown. The dedicated college counselor will send out emails about summer programs, scholarships, college reps coming to visit the school, alumni chats, etc. They don't meet 1:1 with your kid to talk about college. Your kid should be assigned a regular counselor and they will meet with them each year around this time to talk about scheduling. In junior year they will also ask what they are thinking about for college. Oh, and they will write the required letter of recommendation for colleges, but you need to provide them with all the information because they basically don't know one kid from the next. If you want advice on what colleges to apply to or what might be target colleges, you really need to do your own research or hire a private counselor. They do make Naviance data available to parents and kids so that can be helpful to see where kids from the school have applied in the past, whether they got accepted/denied/waitlisted and what their stats are (anonymously).

The experience is roughly the same at Wakefield.

Exactly the same for my Yorktown senior. We did a lot of our own research.

I'm not understanding why people are in such a kerfuffle about this. Why should schools provide 1:1 college counseling? Why isn't the stuff mentioned above that our schools currently do sufficient?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's at WL but I don't think it's that different than Yorktown. The dedicated college counselor will send out emails about summer programs, scholarships, college reps coming to visit the school, alumni chats, etc. They don't meet 1:1 with your kid to talk about college. Your kid should be assigned a regular counselor and they will meet with them each year around this time to talk about scheduling. In junior year they will also ask what they are thinking about for college. Oh, and they will write the required letter of recommendation for colleges, but you need to provide them with all the information because they basically don't know one kid from the next. If you want advice on what colleges to apply to or what might be target colleges, you really need to do your own research or hire a private counselor. They do make Naviance data available to parents and kids so that can be helpful to see where kids from the school have applied in the past, whether they got accepted/denied/waitlisted and what their stats are (anonymously).

The experience is roughly the same at Wakefield.

Exactly the same for my Yorktown senior. We did a lot of our own research.

I'm not understanding why people are in such a kerfuffle about this. Why should schools provide 1:1 college counseling? Why isn't the stuff mentioned above that our schools currently do sufficient?

This sounds to me pretty reasonable for schools to provide:
Junior College Night! / 11th Grade Parents & Students

"Subject: Junior College Night! / 11th Grade Parents & Students

Dear 11th Grade /Juniors Parents and Students,

Join us to plan for rising Seniors at Junior College Planning Night Presentation:

Topics that will be discussed:

College Planning Timeline
Factors to consider and how to choose your colleges.
Factors colleges use to evaluate candidates.
Standardized testing
Application process & procedures.

We'll provide: Spanish, Arabic and Amharic simultaneous interpretation. Please refer to the flyer."

[Anonymous]

When do we start having access to that Naviance data? My kid is a freshman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's at WL but I don't think it's that different than Yorktown. The dedicated college counselor will send out emails about summer programs, scholarships, college reps coming to visit the school, alumni chats, etc. They don't meet 1:1 with your kid to talk about college. Your kid should be assigned a regular counselor and they will meet with them each year around this time to talk about scheduling. In junior year they will also ask what they are thinking about for college. Oh, and they will write the required letter of recommendation for colleges, but you need to provide them with all the information because they basically don't know one kid from the next. If you want advice on what colleges to apply to or what might be target colleges, you really need to do your own research or hire a private counselor. They do make Naviance data available to parents and kids so that can be helpful to see where kids from the school have applied in the past, whether they got accepted/denied/waitlisted and what their stats are (anonymously).

The experience is roughly the same at Wakefield.

Exactly the same for my Yorktown senior. We did a lot of our own research.

I'm not understanding why people are in such a kerfuffle about this. Why should schools provide 1:1 college counseling? Why isn't the stuff mentioned above that our schools currently do sufficient?

Same reaction. It is not taxpayers burden to do customized individual college research you could do yourself with some basic knowledge and tools, which they provide to you. If you don’t want to do it, pay someone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, sounds like you blinked and missed it.

Its actually way better at HBW, where the teachers are the counselors, and they are responsible for like 50 kids. At least they might know your students name.

HB parent here. I think it's both better and worse at HB. Yes, the teachers/counselors know the kids, but they don't know much about college advising. I get info from my friends with kids at the comprehensive high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When do we start having access to that Naviance data? My kid is a freshman.

My kid at W-L got his Naviance logon info in 8th grade at Swanson. They had to fill in some background info during class with the counselors, not sure the details.