Do private school college counselors already know ED results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait I am confused can a counselor see every decision for their school?

Not for every college. Some colleges send some private high school counselors a list of decisions.

As recently as a couple of years ago, BC would send such a list to Catholic high school counselors along with some admission data.

Again, some colleges that use a certain system (it's called Slate) let the counselors log into their system and see decisions once they are released. It's not just private schools. It's any counselor.

Some colleges let the counselor call and ask for decisions. Not just private school counselors, but any counselor who asks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a college counselor. The post above about the software is correct. However, many schools also have what are called counselor calls, in which they will give counselors a heads up about how things look in the pool for students from that school. The way these are handled are completely different from college to college. There is no rhyme or reason in terms of which colleges have which policies, either - selective, public, whatever.

Some colleges will give the counselor a chance to advocate on behalf of all the student, others will just provide a heads up about the decision, others will provide information that can be very useful in the case of a deferral (to help the student understand if they really have a chance or not and how to maximize it) and others will not do the calls at all.

Despite all of these differences, I can tell you two things that do not change at all. First of all, any college who takes counselor calls will take them from any high school counselor who initiates the call. You don’t have to go to Sidwell. Any random public school, parochial school, whatever. Yet SO MANY high school counselors do not realize that they have the ability to initiate these calls and a lot of kids miss out as a result. The second thing is that there would absolutely never be a situation in which a high school counselor would push certain students over others. I promise you, this is just not done. If a high school counselor even attempted to do that, the college admissions officer would not engage. But no high school counselor would even try, even if they truly hated the student, because it would make them look so bad and so unprofessional. I know so many parents think this happens, but I promise that you guys are just being a little conspiracy theory esque!

Also, for what it’s worth, I would be really surprised if counselors were calling certain kids into their offices, to have lengthy discussions about strategy based on these calls. That would be way too obvious, and no respectable counselor would risk the impact of doing something like that. Confidentiality is paramount with these calls. What’s probably happening is that the counselor is just making sure that the student has enough options going into winter break, after they have learned general information about the pools at all of the various schools about how selective things have been this year.

The bolded is rather ironic given the couple of recent CCO regimes at Sidwell specifically said they do not make these calls and that the AOs had too many applications and no time to dive in on applications from any one high school.

Maybe some schools stopped for equity reasons? But it’s weird for any private to not take advantage of this type of opportunity. CCOs are in sales. You’re selling kids to universities. If you’re in sales you work the phones.

No, this is outdated. They are in counseling now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait I am confused can a counselor see every decision for their school?

Not for every college. Some colleges send some private high school counselors a list of decisions.

As recently as a couple of years ago, BC would send such a list to Catholic high school counselors along with some admission data.

Again, some colleges that use a certain system (it's called Slate) let the counselors log into their system and see decisions once they are released. It's not just private schools. It's any counselor.

Some colleges let the counselor call and ask for decisions. Not just private school counselors, but any counselor who asks.

Which private school use this system

[Anonymous]

Great Post, 13:46

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t imagine the counseling office at our W school talking to a college and caring about ED student outcomes. I doubt the call would even be returned. And that’s fine.

Yes, our W school has one college counselor for 650 students. And the individual guidance counselors each probably have 250 students of all grades. They wouldn't have the bandwith to make those calls.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea whether it’s still the case now, but when I graduated boarding school in early 2000s, our college counselors had a very good handle on who was getting in where—at least among the top schools where we’d have 50-100 applicants and 20-30 matriculate. I’ve heard they actually had lengthy meetings with each school and a sort of iterative process to help optimize results across the graduating class.

I suspect this has changed a lot. And even then, it wasn’t explicit w/ the student. I remember my counselor telling me I was getting into my top choice (HYPS) a few days in advance, but it was sort of like “you’re gonna be happy” wink wink. But it was certain enough that I told my parents and sort of remember that as the acceptance moment.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but also most counselors have a good idea if they’re getting in from the start.

[Anonymous]

^^^^Well if they do know something they aren’t sharing it with students or parents-at least at our “well regarded” private. We got no feedback whatsoever for our DC who applied ED1 to a top school (legacy). Not a peep about chancing or how many others applied. Counselors should be providing this feedback at a minimum-when they have about 30 students to worry about there is no excuse to not do more than the bare minimum of writing a counselor letter or sending the required documents. Advocating with the local school reps should also be part of the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^^Well if they do know something they aren’t sharing it with students or parents-at least at our “well regarded” private. We got no feedback whatsoever for our DC who applied ED1 to a top school (legacy). Not a peep about chancing or how many others applied. Counselors should be providing this feedback at a minimum-when they have about 30 students to worry about there is no excuse to not do more than the bare minimum of writing a counselor letter or sending the required documents. Advocating with the local school reps should also be part of the job.

Poor GDS.

[Anonymous]

Our private definitely advocates they are clear that’s part of their job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea whether it’s still the case now, but when I graduated boarding school in early 2000s, our college counselors had a very good handle on who was getting in where—at least among the top schools where we’d have 50-100 applicants and 20-30 matriculate. I’ve heard they actually had lengthy meetings with each school and a sort of iterative process to help optimize results across the graduating class.

I suspect this has changed a lot. And even then, it wasn’t explicit w/ the student. I remember my counselor telling me I was getting into my top choice (HYPS) a few days in advance, but it was sort of like “you’re gonna be happy” wink wink. But it was certain enough that I told my parents and sort of remember that as the acceptance moment.

It's no longer relevant. What worked pre-COVID is no longer relevant. I hate it when someone whose kid graduated 5+ years ago talks about their experience. I doubt that same kid would get into the school today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea whether it’s still the case now, but when I graduated boarding school in early 2000s, our college counselors had a very good handle on who was getting in where—at least among the top schools where we’d have 50-100 applicants and 20-30 matriculate. I’ve heard they actually had lengthy meetings with each school and a sort of iterative process to help optimize results across the graduating class.

I suspect this has changed a lot. And even then, it wasn’t explicit w/ the student. I remember my counselor telling me I was getting into my top choice (HYPS) a few days in advance, but it was sort of like “you’re gonna be happy” wink wink. But it was certain enough that I told my parents and sort of remember that as the acceptance moment.

It's no longer relevant. What worked pre-COVID is no longer relevant. I hate it when someone whose kid graduated 5+ years ago talks about their experience. I doubt that same kid would get into the school today.

Interesting. What does COVID have to do with anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait I am confused can a counselor see every decision for their school?

Not for every college. Some colleges send some private high school counselors a list of decisions.

As recently as a couple of years ago, BC would send such a list to Catholic high school counselors along with some admission data.

DS was admitted last week to BC in the ED1 round. While I'd be surprised if the school counselors knew the decision ahead of time, I don't think there's a single thing they'd do with that information. (As it happened, the counselor emailed DS to ask him what the decision was.) At least for BC, apps were due 11/1 and decisions came out 12/5 - it's really not a lot of time to do anything.

[Anonymous]

^^^Test optional was adapted by colleges after Covid, which drove up applications to places that were largely out of reach pre-Covid. It basically gave colleges Carte Blanche to further shroud admissions processes and made the whole thing incredibly unpredictable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our private definitely advocates they are clear that’s part of their job

Hope that does not back fire in today's admissions landscape