College Counseling at Sidwell - One Year Later

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

If you are a parent at the school, discuss it with Bryan or Lauren.

If you aren't, it is weird.

I am a parent at the school. Discussing it on a message board and raising it internally are not mutually exclusive.

[Anonymous]

+1. I know it is a shocker on this board, but it is helpful to know what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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?

This is what I’d like to know. Does the office go the extra mile In pushing for it students or does it just say “times are different” and let the chips fall where they may with no responsibility for pushing qualified candidates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

This is what I’d like to know. Does the office go the extra mile In pushing for it students or does it just say “times are different” and let the chips fall where they may with no responsibility for pushing qualified candidates?

If only there were open sessions for parents to ask such questions of the staff

Hint, there are, look for them in the weekly emails, or hey, send an email and ask!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

If you are a parent at the school, discuss it with Bryan or Lauren.

If you aren't, it is weird.

I am a parent at the school. Discussing it on a message board and raising it internally are not mutually exclusive.

of course not, but only one is likely to lead to any sort of meaningful answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

This is what I’d like to know. Does the office go the extra mile In pushing for it students or does it just say “times are different” and let the chips fall where they may with no responsibility for pushing qualified candidates?

If only there were open sessions for parents to ask such questions of the staff

Hint, there are, look for them in the weekly emails, or hey, send an email and ask!

US Sidwell parent here. If there's one thing I've learned it's this: Sidwell administrators NEVER say anything of substance to parents, either in public "coffees" or in private in their office. They are masters of deflection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

We also had a child at Georgetown Day. The GDS CCO was not reluctant at all to pick up the phone and strongly advocate for GDS students with admission officers at colleges'universities where the CCO believed that the students could do the work and would be a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

If you are a parent at the school, discuss it with Bryan or Lauren.

If you aren't, it is weird.

I am a parent at the school. Discussing it on a message board and raising it internally are not mutually exclusive.

of course not, but only one is likely to lead to any sort of meaningful answer.

Then why do you read and comment on this message board? Just to blindly and reflexively defend everything about the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

If you are a parent at the school, discuss it with Bryan or Lauren.

If you aren't, it is weird.

I am a parent at the school. Discussing it on a message board and raising it internally are not mutually exclusive.

of course not, but only one is likely to lead to any sort of meaningful answer.

Then why do you read and comment on this message board? Just to blindly and reflexively defend everything about the school?

to annoy people like you, mostly. And to remind myself why we're glad we didn't send our kids to Sidwell. Sidwell does sound like it sucks if you have to resort to DCUM for answers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

This is what I’d like to know. Does the office go the extra mile In pushing for it students or does it just say “times are different” and let the chips fall where they may with no responsibility for pushing qualified candidates?

If only there were open sessions for parents to ask such questions of the staff

Hint, there are, look for them in the weekly emails, or hey, send an email and ask!

US Sidwell parent here. If there's one thing I've learned it's this: Sidwell administrators NEVER say anything of substance to parents, either in public "coffees" or in private in their office. They are masters of deflection.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

We also had a child at Georgetown Day. The GDS CCO was not reluctant at all to pick up the phone and strongly advocate for GDS students with admission officers at colleges'universities where the CCO believed that the students could do the work and would be a good fit.

As usual, GDS folks trying to turn a Sidwell thread into one about them. Posers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

We also had a child at Georgetown Day. The GDS CCO was not reluctant at all to pick up the phone and strongly advocate for GDS students with admission officers at colleges'universities where the CCO believed that the students could do the work and would be a good fit.

As usual, GDS folks trying to turn a Sidwell thread into one about them. Posers.

GDS may have its own challenges but I’ve heard very good things about their college counseling operation. Maybe Sidwell Friends could learn a thing or two from what they are doing.

[Anonymous]

Having gone thru this process with multiple kids lately, I’d like to share my experience. I used to clamor for transparency in the college matriculation lists and thought it would be helpful in figuring out where my DC might end up. If for instance, 6 girls from Visi went to Dartmouth over the past 2 yrs then I figured my daughter had a good chance. But what I realized is that the matriculation lists just aren’t that different between the top local high schools. The only major difference being that the Catholic schools send more kids to places like ND, BC etc. What we didn’t fully appreciate until going thru the process is that most of the kids that go to name colleges truly have hooks (sports, URM, big time donors or connections etc). The rest of us are at such a disadvantage and there’s nothing we or our high schools can really do about it. I still wish the high schools would release the matriculation info because, by not doing so, it creates a sense of suspicion.
We heard all this before we applied but it didn’t really sink in until we experienced it.
By the way, I’ve heard few if any parents from any schools say they were particularly happy with their CCO.

[Anonymous]

Most of these preferences and hooks have become a joke. Legacy - what’s the value? Recruited athletes - see the Varsity Blues case. URM? Is a white person from Argentina considered Hispanic? Someone whose family came from Spain? Spain by way of Mexico? Is a mixed-race AA-Caucasian student entitled to a URM preference? Only half a preference? Under the “Elizabeth Warren test” can’t pretty much anyone claim to be a URM? Many popular DNA analysis results show a little bit of genetic material from everywhere. The whole thing is basically broken.

[Anonymous]

You mean like hooks that get kids into private schools?