Senior parents at Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA; are you happy with college results?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

Sorry to hear that. Ours had our child fill out a survey and had a get to know you meeting (early junior year I think). The counselor had both our kid and us bring a list of schools to a family meeting and then had some additions … which we considered but I think only took one suggestion. We thought they were all thoughtful suggestions.

But we got good input on ED strategy. In the end, you may just want to look at your school’s naviance data to help formulate a list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your point OP?

That public’s do as well if not better on college admissions?

sour grapes from a typical pub school parent.

Did OP ask about public schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instagram doesn't tell much. Maybe the kid going to Georgetown really, really wanted to go to a top 20 liberal arts college but settled on Georgetown because that's there they got in. Maybe they got in because that's where their parent works.

Maybe the kid going overseas really wanted to stay somewhere domestically but didn't get in.

Maybe the kid going to a small liberal arts college really wanted a large state school but didn't get in.

There can be a huge disconnect between the final result which may look good to an outside observer and what the kid really wanted.

(These above scenarios are all made up).

I mean sure, but it does give you a general sense of what percentage go to top 25, top 50, etc., which is better than the drivel given on these boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instagram doesn't tell much. Maybe the kid going to Georgetown really, really wanted to go to a top 20 liberal arts college but settled on Georgetown because that's there they got in. Maybe they got in because that's where their parent works.

Maybe the kid going overseas really wanted to stay somewhere domestically but didn't get in.

Maybe the kid going to a small liberal arts college really wanted a large state school but didn't get in.

There can be a huge disconnect between the final result which may look good to an outside observer and what the kid really wanted.

(These above scenarios are all made up).

I mean sure, but it does give you a general sense of what percentage go to top 25, top 50, etc., which is better than the drivel given on these boards.

It's not better because as many many people have noted on these boards - the T25 is heavily filled by students with hooks. There are many unhooked kids with higher rigor and grades who also have strong "full package" or ECs and recommendations who land outside of T25. This is a reality - instagram will not tell you this. A student like this will not be "happy" that they got into a T40 school - but they will be perfectly fine in the long run.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instagram doesn't tell much. Maybe the kid going to Georgetown really, really wanted to go to a top 20 liberal arts college but settled on Georgetown because that's there they got in. Maybe they got in because that's where their parent works.

Maybe the kid going overseas really wanted to stay somewhere domestically but didn't get in.

Maybe the kid going to a small liberal arts college really wanted a large state school but didn't get in.

There can be a huge disconnect between the final result which may look good to an outside observer and what the kid really wanted.

(These above scenarios are all made up).

I mean sure, but it does give you a general sense of what percentage go to top 25, top 50, etc., which is better than the drivel given on these boards.

It's not better because as many many people have noted on these boards - the T25 is heavily filled by students with hooks. There are many unhooked kids with higher rigor and grades who also have strong "full package" or ECs and recommendations who land outside of T25. This is a reality - instagram will not tell you this. A student like this will not be "happy" that they got into a T40 school - but they will be perfectly fine in the long run.

And their parents will also have to get used to the idea that this is the way it goes. Again - these kids will all do great - but the initial sting and reality is real. This is why parents on DCUM post about this - nobody believes it until they have it happen to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

Sorry to hear that. Ours had our child fill out a survey and had a get to know you meeting (early junior year I think). The counselor had both our kid and us bring a list of schools to a family meeting and then had some additions … which we considered but I think only took one suggestion. We thought they were all thoughtful suggestions.

But we got good input on ED strategy. In the end, you may just want to look at your school’s naviance data to help formulate a list.

Zero ED strategy....zero "strategy" of any kind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

can you share which school so we can avoid?

Not the previous poster but Sidwell is notorious for having a totally dysfunctional college counseling office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

can you share which school so we can avoid?

Not the previous poster but Sidwell is notorious for having a totally dysfunctional college counseling office.

Did your kid go there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

can you share which school so we can avoid?

Not the previous poster but Sidwell is notorious for having a totally dysfunctional college counseling office.

Are you a Sidwell parent of a senior (or recent graduate)? If yes, why was Sidwell’s CCO “totally dysfunctional,” based on your personal experience?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

can you share which school so we can avoid?

Not the previous poster but Sidwell is notorious for having a totally dysfunctional college counseling office.

Did your kid go there?

I’m certain the answer is no. People love to talk sh!7 about Sidwell…based purely on rumor and speculation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instagram doesn't tell much. Maybe the kid going to Georgetown really, really wanted to go to a top 20 liberal arts college but settled on Georgetown because that's there they got in. Maybe they got in because that's where their parent works.

Maybe the kid going overseas really wanted to stay somewhere domestically but didn't get in.

Maybe the kid going to a small liberal arts college really wanted a large state school but didn't get in.

There can be a huge disconnect between the final result which may look good to an outside observer and what the kid really wanted.

(These above scenarios are all made up).

I mean sure, but it does give you a general sense of what percentage go to top 25, top 50, etc., which is better than the drivel given on these boards.

Until you've been through it yourself, you may not appreciate that kids have definite ideas about what they want and do not choose according to rankings. Kids may get into top 50 but love school #67, or may not like any of the schools in the top 10 even though they have the stats, or only want small schools even though they could get into a higher ranked big school, etc. Other peoples' final choices really are not helpful to your own child's process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

can you share which school so we can avoid?

Not the previous poster but Sidwell is notorious for having a totally dysfunctional college counseling office.

Did your kid go there?

I’m certain the answer is no. People love to talk sh!7 about Sidwell…based purely on rumor and speculation.

No, based on the pain of parents who have had to deal with the nothing burger CCO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

can you share which school so we can avoid?

Not the previous poster but Sidwell is notorious for having a totally dysfunctional college counseling office.

Did your kid go there?

I’m certain the answer is no. People love to talk sh!7 about Sidwell…based purely on rumor and speculation.

No, based on the pain of parents who have had to deal with the nothing burger CCO.

I have been through two cycles of CCO at Sidwell.

The parents expect way too much, and the CCO tells the parents what to expect early on, and the parents still expect way too much.

The CCO cannot chose your kids schools, they cannot "get a kid in" to a school. Their main function is to help make sure the admin side is handled in a timely and orderly manner. They are not going to tell you "hey, you have 12 classmates applying to school X ED, so you may want to think about a different one" and they are not going to tell you that big school Y is a better option than small school Z. The kid has to get a sense of belonging, which cannot be imposed by the CCO.

Just my two cents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

can you share which school so we can avoid?

Not the previous poster but Sidwell is notorious for having a totally dysfunctional college counseling office.

Did your kid go there?

I’m certain the answer is no. People love to talk sh!7 about Sidwell…based purely on rumor and speculation.

No, based on the pain of parents who have had to deal with the nothing burger CCO.

I have been through two cycles of CCO at Sidwell.

The parents expect way too much, and the CCO tells the parents what to expect early on, and the parents still expect way too much.

The CCO cannot chose your kids schools, they cannot "get a kid in" to a school. Their main function is to help make sure the admin side is handled in a timely and orderly manner. They are not going to tell you "hey, you have 12 classmates applying to school X ED, so you may want to think about a different one" and they are not going to tell you that big school Y is a better option than small school Z. The kid has to get a sense of belonging, which cannot be imposed by the CCO.

Just my two cents.

Other schools’ CCOs go beyond mere administration. Among the Big 3 STA and GDS have stronger CCOs. Sidwell kids do well despite them and because there’s a lot of legacy status.

[Anonymous]

We found college counseling at GDS to be hit-or-miss — its value very much depended on the counselor the kid was working with. Overall, though my kid is happy with the ultimate result, it was a bumpy process and I do think the office failed to provide consistently good guidance in a couple areas (namely, school selection and essay topic selection). Among other things, there was what I felt to be an undue focus on what they call “foundational” schools, and what the rest of us call safety schools. Even though our child was admitted early to a safety school that he would have been happy with, they insisted that he still apply to other safety schools rather than use those those slots for reaches or hard targets. GDS limits the number of applications a student can submit, so this had a real impact.