Forum Index
»
Private & Independent Schools
College Counseling at Sidwell - One Year Later
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
True. Google any school name and college profile with a graduation year. Also, going through the application process, most schools we visited put it in the welcome folder. |
Anonymous
Collegiate School NYC: https://bbk12e1-cdn.myschoolcdn.com/ftpimages/21/misc/misc_174645.pdf These are just some schools that make it available to the world. Many more provide the profile to parents without putting it on their public website. |
Anonymous
why do you care? If you're not applying (and you can get the information then), it's just voyeurism. |
Anonymous
| Our older child graduated from Sidwell and our younger is a senior at another school. Our experience with the SFS college counseling process led to a good result, but it was exceedingly stressful, largely due to poor communication by the CCO. Additionally, we never felt the counselor knew our kid or "got' him. The process at our younger child's school has been completely different -- more open, more supportive, and more of a team effort among student, counselor and parents. I will note that parents at SFS seemed more demanding and less trusting of CCO staff, though I can't say whether that was chicken or egg. |
Anonymous
As for me, my child is in the US, but not yet applying, and based on my discussions with parents I am concerned about the school’s lack of support throughout the process. Which is also reflected by the revolving door in the short-staffed counseling office, among other things. Are you saying that the profile is provided? I have been told that is not the case. |
Anonymous
| No school profile or college matriculation data is ever given to Sidwell parents... You will get a chance to view Naviance data one time. |
Anonymous
| It makes people wonder how much sidwell is trading on “mystique.” Maybe they aren’t, but they’re not disabusing the notion. More fundamentally, they’re asking a lot of parents and prospective families. All the other top schools in dc are transparent. And no, sidwell wouldn’t be violating its commitment to humility to publish anonymized lists. If anything, it seems to be dodging its commitment to honest and forthright communications with the community. |
Anonymous
| Also it does not give parents of students in 9th and 10th grade much confidence in college counseling. It all feels like a mess. Is this why so many parents feel the need for a private college counseling service, due to the lack of a supportive, functioning CCO? |
Anonymous
| Cmon it’s Sidwell. Parents were going to hire someone anyway |
Anonymous
|
You all making an issue out of nothing. Sidwell had more than double the National Merit Semifinalists last year (ie this year's senior class) than any other school. Like most of the senior class were in the "commended" level of the PSAT; last year's senior class ended up at schools across the board. If your kid is at the school, they can likely access pictures of the seniors on the day they were wearing shirts of the schools they are attending. The list is similar to the other independent schools - Ivy's, NESCAC, large flagship (Michigan, Wisconsin, Cal etc) and small colleges. What difference does it make, other than voyeurism, to know students grade distribution or college choices?
It is just so weird. |
Anonymous
|
We have an upper schooler at Sidwell but have not interacted with the CCO at this time. Does anyone know whether College Counselors at private schools (not just Sidwell), also have the responsibility of advocating for students once the college application is filed? I know not all colleges accept phone calls but some of the smaller ones may. Do college counselors reach out proactively and say "Student X applied and let me tell you why they would be a good fit for your school" or something along those lines? Do they advocate only if a student is waitlisted and really wants to go to a particular school?
|
Anonymous
Though we of course don't know what is included in the super-secret Sidwell profile, a school's college profile routinely includes a lot more information than historic matriculation data. But if the profile is so meaningless, why not just provide it? And if it is so meaningless, why do most other schools provide it to parents? Don't defend stuff that Sidwell does, just because they do it. It is possible that they might not be doing things as well as they can. And if you do want to defend something they do, try providing an actual reasoned explanation. |
Anonymous
If you are a parent at the school, discuss it with Bryan or Lauren. If you aren't, it is weird. |
Anonymous
| It's such a secret that every year the matriculated college list is published in the magazine that goes out to all families past and present. Shhhh... |
Anonymous
|
CCO "advocacy" starts with an official recommendation letter from the school that is submitted with the college application and may include phone calls with regional college reps.
However, if a student is "waitlisted" at a top 20 school there may be little that CCO can do. Some colleges maintain huge waitlists that are hard to escape from... https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/04/05/599755974/college-waitlists-often-waste-would-be-students-time |