How good are your HS college counseling teams

[Anonymous]

Our experience is that it depends on the college counselor your child is assigned. At our son's school, two of the counselors are exceptional, one is adequate, and one was recently relieved of his position. Therefore, half the students and parents will tell you the college counseling team is amazing, a quarter will say it is just okay, and the remainder will tell you it is awful.

[Anonymous]

I don't like limits on applications for hs counselors. i don't like schools that make charts pointing certain kids for certain schools and not helping the other kids get there. which we would have known. i am looking at you gds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't like limits on applications for hs counselors. i don't like schools that make charts pointing certain kids for certain schools and not helping the other kids get there. which we would have known. i am looking at you gds.

Trust me it's for the best. There was a valedictorian at another Big3 within the past 5 yrs who applied to pretty much every top20 school RD and basically shut out everyone else from any RD top20 admits. When the top kid joins the race, the rest of the class doesn't look so good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like limits on applications for hs counselors. i don't like schools that make charts pointing certain kids for certain schools and not helping the other kids get there. which we would have known. i am looking at you gds.

Trust me it's for the best. There was a valedictorian at another Big3 within the past 5 yrs who applied to pretty much every top20 school RD and basically shut out everyone else from any RD top20 admits. When the top kid joins the race, the rest of the class doesn't look so good.

They don’t look good because they’re inherently not as strong! (And colleges know that, too. They know what students at your school and others are capable of. They’re not just automatically giving an acceptance to the top student from your school who applies.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like limits on applications for hs counselors. i don't like schools that make charts pointing certain kids for certain schools and not helping the other kids get there. which we would have known. i am looking at you gds.

Trust me it's for the best. There was a valedictorian at another Big3 within the past 5 yrs who applied to pretty much every top20 school RD and basically shut out everyone else from any RD top20 admits. When the top kid joins the race, the rest of the class doesn't look so good.

So? Your kid should have studied harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College counseling at Bullis is fantastic and started freshman year and kicked up sophomore year. They also helped DS pick courses throughout his HS experience. Worth every penny right there.

Tell me more about how they helped with course selection. I already know that students need to take the 5 core courses every year, the most rigorous appropriate. What other advice did they give? My DS has the opportunity to consult with his school's college counselors as part of the course selection process, but I don't know what he would ask.

In terms of rigor, your HS school will categorize how much rigor your kid took on the school submitted info (you will never see this). Ask specifically about what constitutes taking the highest level of rigor at your school on an overall basis (how many highest level classes per year constitute highest rigor?). My kid did a very literal highest level of rigor, taking the highest level offered in everything, but I think students can actually take some middling classes mixed in with higher rigor and still get the highest rigor category selected for college apps. It would have been to my kid’s advantage to take at least one middling level class each year and get a higher gpa.

There also seems to be no advantage for starting foreign language as a freshman beyond level 1 as long as students take 4 years. Unless your child really likes language, might as well get easier As in it. Latin is a good option for those that will have trouble with a spoken language.

Do not be overly concerned with quantity of electives—they are a good way for your child to see if they are interested in pursuing a subject or show a spike in interest, but depending on the HS and college, they won’t necessarily be considered the same way the core classes are so don’t jeopardize core grades at the expense of electives.

Some of this is also very college dependent. A SLAC will pay more attention to the nuances of course selection than the big state schools who very highly consider GPA. UVA is a good example of a school that says they want highest rigor, but seems to accept based on gpa with good rigor, but doesn’t have to be the highest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like limits on applications for hs counselors. i don't like schools that make charts pointing certain kids for certain schools and not helping the other kids get there. which we would have known. i am looking at you gds.

Trust me it's for the best. There was a valedictorian at another Big3 within the past 5 yrs who applied to pretty much every top20 school RD and basically shut out everyone else from any RD top20 admits. When the top kid joins the race, the rest of the class doesn't look so good.

So? Your kid should have studied harder.

So your kid is the valedictorian?

[Anonymous]

Very disappointed with the ones at SSSAS. There are 3 counselors and they divide the students among them on last name (1/3 top of alphabet, 1/3 middle, 1/3 last). Our counselor was absolutely awful, basically told us our kid was stupid despite great stats (3.9 GPA, 1510 SATs), would not answer direct questions we asked in person or email (which was super strange, why?). Students fill out questionnaires re what kind of school they are interested in and then the counselor would suggest completely opposite schools (WTF).

For example: our kid wanted a medium to large size flagship public school, with great school spirit, rah rah atmosphere, not religious, close to east coast. Counselor suggested Pepperdine (I am not making this up).

We were so frustrated, as it was our oldest and we had never been down this road before. We ended up ignoring the counselor's advice, got a private counselor. My kid had top choice that had ED, stats put my kid in top of the median previously accepted students, private counselor helped with essay editing, they applied ED against the school's advice, got in.

SSSAS does have parent programs that start in sophomore year that I really enjoyed, but otherwise their college counseling IMO was awful. I did discuss with other parents, and basically if your kid isn't a recruited athlete, or at the very tippy top of the class, you're on your own.

[Anonymous]

One key aspect of private high school college counseling to understand is that they tend to meet a student where they are mid-way through junior year and find the “best fit” colleges for that student’s resume, versus working with a student to strategically build a resume starting freshman year. By the time you are meeting with them, it’s often too late to find out your child should have taken Alg 2 as a freshman, etc. If you really want more strategic guidance, you may want to consider an outside college counselor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like limits on applications for hs counselors. i don't like schools that make charts pointing certain kids for certain schools and not helping the other kids get there. which we would have known. i am looking at you gds.

Trust me it's for the best. There was a valedictorian at another Big3 within the past 5 yrs who applied to pretty much every top20 school RD and basically shut out everyone else from any RD top20 admits. When the top kid joins the race, the rest of the class doesn't look so good.

So? Your kid should have studied harder.

So your kid is the valedictorian?

No where close! But applied to 20+ schools, for the fun of it. And BTW, many schools now will waive the application fee for anyone who asks for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At DC’s school, the CCO advisor is assigned (alphabetically) to entering freshman, and helps students with course selection for all 4 years. This means they really get to know the students, their strengths, their interests, etc, *before* the college process even starts. We appreciate that they really focus on helping kids figure out what they want and what the best fit is.

The actual college advising program starts in 10th with a “college night” in the fall for students and parents that kind of gives an overview of the process. Individual family meetings happen late spring of 10th for an initial personalized discussion. In 11th, students get access to SCOIR and can attend visits from college reps, and they fill out a lengthy questionnaire after winter break, before additional family meetings in the spring. And advisors are very hands-on and available throughout the application season for their seniors.

Name the school

Sounds like SSSAS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very disappointed with the ones at SSSAS. There are 3 counselors and they divide the students among them on last name (1/3 top of alphabet, 1/3 middle, 1/3 last). Our counselor was absolutely awful, basically told us our kid was stupid despite great stats (3.9 GPA, 1510 SATs), would not answer direct questions we asked in person or email (which was super strange, why?). Students fill out questionnaires re what kind of school they are interested in and then the counselor would suggest completely opposite schools (WTF).

For example: our kid wanted a medium to large size flagship public school, with great school spirit, rah rah atmosphere, not religious, close to east coast. Counselor suggested Pepperdine (I am not making this up).

We were so frustrated, as it was our oldest and we had never been down this road before. We ended up ignoring the counselor's advice, got a private counselor. My kid had top choice that had ED, stats put my kid in top of the median previously accepted students, private counselor helped with essay editing, they applied ED against the school's advice, got in.

SSSAS does have parent programs that start in sophomore year that I really enjoyed, but otherwise their college counseling IMO was awful. I did discuss with other parents, and basically if your kid isn't a recruited athlete, or at the very tippy top of the class, you're on your own.

SSSAS parent here - this has not been our experience at all. However, I think there are 2 good ones, and 1 not so great.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One key aspect of private high school college counseling to understand is that they tend to meet a student where they are mid-way through junior year and find the “best fit” colleges for that student’s resume, versus working with a student to strategically build a resume starting freshman year. By the time you are meeting with them, it’s often too late to find out your child should have taken Alg 2 as a freshman, etc. If you really want more strategic guidance, you may want to consider an outside college counselor.

I’m the NCS PP and this is what I was getting at, only not as articulately. To hear “if only you had done xyz your application would be much stronger” halfway through junior year isn’t helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very disappointed with the ones at SSSAS. There are 3 counselors and they divide the students among them on last name (1/3 top of alphabet, 1/3 middle, 1/3 last). Our counselor was absolutely awful, basically told us our kid was stupid despite great stats (3.9 GPA, 1510 SATs), would not answer direct questions we asked in person or email (which was super strange, why?). Students fill out questionnaires re what kind of school they are interested in and then the counselor would suggest completely opposite schools (WTF).

For example: our kid wanted a medium to large size flagship public school, with great school spirit, rah rah atmosphere, not religious, close to east coast. Counselor suggested Pepperdine (I am not making this up).

We were so frustrated, as it was our oldest and we had never been down this road before. We ended up ignoring the counselor's advice, got a private counselor. My kid had top choice that had ED, stats put my kid in top of the median previously accepted students, private counselor helped with essay editing, they applied ED against the school's advice, got in.

SSSAS does have parent programs that start in sophomore year that I really enjoyed, but otherwise their college counseling IMO was awful. I did discuss with other parents, and basically if your kid isn't a recruited athlete, or at the very tippy top of the class, you're on your own.

SSSAS parent here - this has not been our experience at all. However, I think there are 2 good ones, and 1 not so great.....

I’m glad you had a good experience and hopefully your child got into a great school. But I now have kids at another DC private and the college counseling is much, much better both with the students and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't like limits on applications for hs counselors. i don't like schools that make charts pointing certain kids for certain schools and not helping the other kids get there. which we would have known. i am looking at you gds.

What charts are you talking about?

-Parent of GDS underclassman