College Admissions Professional help needed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does your DD have any EA offers open? I personally would have her focus on accepting one of those offers and NOT draw attention to the poor grade. Presumably the EA schools are in receipt of the report with the F and still keep the offers open, so this is transparent. I’d want to nail it down to try to foreclose them coming back and saying they rescind. I’d think it’d be less likely they’d rescind if your DD has already paid the deposit. She can keep the counselor letter in her back pocket in case an EA school raises an issue. Good luck.

Thanks for the constructive feedback. Are you an admissions counselor? Thanks for taking the time to respond.
DC applied mostly EA and has several offers. Already put down a deposit for one before this grade fiasco and course change which happened early February. None of the EA schools requested mid-year grades so we are not sure if they actually looked at the mid-year report that the school sent. DC met with HS counselor mid-Feb. They suggested that we send a letter so schools are not surprised by the change when they get the final grade. The thinking was, its better to find out if there are any negative consequences now, rather than after acceptance deadlines have passed for all schools and we are out of options. Also want to decline the other offers so other students may benefit but we are hesitant due to the uncertainty.

RD: Applied to two RD schools, got accepted into one of them after the school sent in the mid-year grade but mid-year grades were not something they requested. However, this is a SSAR school and I wasn't sure if the SSAR needs to be updated as well.

The schools DC applied to and got into are all ranked in the 40s and lower if that matters at all in terms of determining how they may react.

I'm not an admissions counselor, no. I agree with the other PP that your existing counselor and school have not served your DD well. I shared my thoughts on what I, as a parent, would do in your shoes, but I think you are right that it this point you'd probably be best served with professional advice.

BTW I'm really surprised that the school would let a kid with otherwise good prospects -- and that the school knew had already applied to top schools -- fall through the cracks like this. She should have been counseled to transfer out of the class before it became a fiasco.

[Anonymous]

OP, is your school a private? The school’s botching of your DD’s college admissions really is inexcusable if this is a private. Her grades at application time apparently merited applying to top 40. The counselor knew that. Now they are saying in mid March (!!!) to submit more applications because of the grade debacle about which they had notice in the fall, and definitely knew in January, yet they waited all this time to try to address. This is a lesson that you need to be more assertive in taking ownership of a process like this. But particularly at a private, the college counselor’s sole job is to help students navigate what it takes to get into college and they have much more knowledge than parents. It seems now the counselor is concerned DD might not have any prospects - this was foreseeable by someone in the counselor’s position yet they failed to act timely. If this goes south I’d consider requesting at least some portion of your tuition back (for utterly botching the college counseling you paid for), or the grade changed to a W or some other resolution from that school. So sorry this happened to your DD.

Having said that, even in a “worse case,” situation, it sounds like your DD is bright and can start somewhere, take manageable (not the hardest) classes and do well, and even could transfer if need be.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like the family was informed in January but neither the parents nor the counselor acknowledged the need for speed and let the kid agonize over the letter. I can see that happening.
I’m sorry this happened and hope it works out.