Best advice you got from a private college admissions counselor?

[Anonymous]

Your daughter needs one or two activities that she is passionate about. That is it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any list should include at least a couple colleges that your child will happily attend AND you can afford with little to no financial aid.

+1. Pitt acceptance received on Sept 10, rolling admission. We could pay full freight if we had to, no debt for my kid. It’s not my kids first choice, but he likes the school, likes Pittsburgh, likes the urban/suburban campus and it’s very good in his area of interest. It is now the worst case scenario, and that takes a ton of pressure off of us. I hope he ends up at a smaller LAC with merit aid or WM. But if it’s Pitt, he’ll be okay with it and we’ll be okay with it.

Huge weight off our shoulders as we work through the other college apps. A good safety— financial and academic— everyone can love with is key. Finding one with rolling admission is golden.

Congrats!

I can tell you from first-hand experience OP this is one strategy that private college counselors use. Apply early to a rolling admission school where your kid is at or near the top of the pool so you get an early admission. It provides a much-needed psychological boost so your kid knows that they are going somewhere. Pitt is nothing to sneeze at though - I love that school even though my oldest didn't choose to attend.

It is hard to give just one piece of advice, but here are some things I learned that helped our process.

Other tips
Pick a school to apply to Early Admission, which is non-binding.
Work on essays the summer after junior year. This naturally means that the list of schools should basically be complete by junior year. My oldest applied to 10 schools and many of those schools had multiple supplemental essays.
Use all content from essays written for applications for outside scholarships; my oldest got about 15K in scholarships[b]
Fill out the FAFSA early

If you are working without a counselor be sure you read every detail about each the admission process and requirements for each school your kid is applying to. For example, Emory has multiple deadlines but one thing to note is that if you want merit aid you need to have your application by November. I wouldn't have known that unless the counselor told us. Another requirement for some schools is the number of years of foreign language, just be sure to read the websites carefully.

In addition to College Confidential, follow the Facebook Group Paying For College, lots of good information there without all of the angst of College Confidential. I did find College Confidential really useful though and yes I did still follow College Confidential even though we had a paid counselor. I wanted to be informed. Spreadsheets are your friend and there are generous souls out there willing to share their application tracking spreadsheets - I've seen this on College Confidential and Paying for College.

Hope this helps.

How do you find out what scholarships are available?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She sounds like a great student. NHS is indeed a significant honor (that my kid didn't have). I agree with the poster who said "fit matters more than ranking." Getting in to Harvard may be out of the question without extracurricular activities, but many great schools will be matches for her. Just figure out what she wants to study, and start looking at good schools. I wish my kids were straight A students.

A private admissions counselor said NHS is not an honor given that there is no set standard of acceptance. She said 50% of some school could be members and could entail going to a few meetings and doing 10 hours of community service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She sounds like a great student. NHS is indeed a significant honor (that my kid didn't have). I agree with the poster who said "fit matters more than ranking." Getting in to Harvard may be out of the question without extracurricular activities, but many great schools will be matches for her. Just figure out what she wants to study, and start looking at good schools. I wish my kids were straight A students.

A private admissions counselor said NHS is not an honor given that there is no set standard of acceptance. She said 50% of some school could be members and could entail going to a few meetings and doing 10 hours of community service.

Correct. NHS doesn't mean academic excellence because there is no set standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She sounds like a great student. NHS is indeed a significant honor (that my kid didn't have). I agree with the poster who said "fit matters more than ranking." Getting in to Harvard may be out of the question without extracurricular activities, but many great schools will be matches for her. Just figure out what she wants to study, and start looking at good schools. I wish my kids were straight A students.

A private admissions counselor said NHS is not an honor given that there is no set standard of acceptance. She said 50% of some school could be members and could entail going to a few meetings and doing 10 hours of community service.

Correct. NHS doesn't mean academic excellence because there is no set standard.

My daughter's in NHS and Spanish HS. THey have a few meetings, have to do some community service in and out of school. FOr Spanish HS, she has to go to two culture events.
It's not an activity to brag about usually.

[Anonymous]

OP what is your HHI?

If it is under $70,000 consider looking into Questbridge

https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/national-college-match/who-should-apply

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any list should include at least a couple colleges that your child will happily attend AND you can afford with little to no financial aid.

+1. Pitt acceptance received on Sept 10, rolling admission. We could pay full freight if we had to, no debt for my kid. It’s not my kids first choice, but he likes the school, likes Pittsburgh, likes the urban/suburban campus and it’s very good in his area of interest. It is now the worst case scenario, and that takes a ton of pressure off of us. I hope he ends up at a smaller LAC with merit aid or WM. But if it’s Pitt, he’ll be okay with it and we’ll be okay with it.

Huge weight off our shoulders as we work through the other college apps. A good safety— financial and academic— everyone can love with is key. Finding one with rolling admission is golden.

Congrats!

I can tell you from first-hand experience OP this is one strategy that private college counselors use. Apply early to a rolling admission school where your kid is at or near the top of the pool so you get an early admission. It provides a much-needed psychological boost so your kid knows that they are going somewhere. Pitt is nothing to sneeze at though - I love that school even though my oldest didn't choose to attend.

It is hard to give just one piece of advice, but here are some things I learned that helped our process.

Other tips
Pick a school to apply to Early Admission, which is non-binding.
Work on essays the summer after junior year. This naturally means that the list of schools should basically be complete by junior year. My oldest applied to 10 schools and many of those schools had multiple supplemental essays.
Use all content from essays written for applications for outside scholarships; my oldest got about 15K in scholarships[b]
Fill out the FAFSA early

If you are working without a counselor be sure you read every detail about each the admission process and requirements for each school your kid is applying to. For example, Emory has multiple deadlines but one thing to note is that if you want merit aid you need to have your application by November. I wouldn't have known that unless the counselor told us. Another requirement for some schools is the number of years of foreign language, just be sure to read the websites carefully.

In addition to College Confidential, follow the Facebook Group Paying For College, lots of good information there without all of the angst of College Confidential. I did find College Confidential really useful though and yes I did still follow College Confidential even though we had a paid counselor. I wanted to be informed. Spreadsheets are your friend and there are generous souls out there willing to share their application tracking spreadsheets - I've seen this on College Confidential and Paying for College.

Hope this helps.

How do you find out what scholarships are available?

Our high school maintained a list of scholarships which was a good start. We also paid attention to the scholarships that students from our high school received. And then good old Googling. There wasn't one source. The scholarships won were mostly local programs that catered to students in our city and school district. IMO scholarships are mostly awarded to students that bother applying, often students are too lazy to apply and sometimes money is left on the table. One scholarship my DC won increased the award because they had more money to give - they just redistributed the extra among the winners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First generation college is considered an asset.

Rather than activities that she's not interested in, encourage her to get a part-time job. Many strong schools consider that a considerable plus.

Such as...? Wake Forest advises not to include work experience and the other good schools I’ve looked at rate it as barely considered.

[Anonymous]

OP - depending on your family income, there are a # of programs around locally that target first gen low income HS students. College Tracks, Collegiate Directions Inc., POSSE, dunno if you live in the District but there are multiple programs there too (College Success Foundation & more). I would ask the HS counselor at your child's school if there are community based organizations that provide services. Many of these will address your Qs about timing & scholarships, FAFSAs, financial aid etc.

[Anonymous]

18:44 here - even if you are not low income, you should ask for local programs anyways. Some of the orgs I listed serve a mix of kids. They will want to help first gen kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First generation college is considered an asset.

Rather than activities that she's not interested in, encourage her to get a part-time job. Many strong schools consider that a considerable plus.

Such as...? Wake Forest advises not to include work experience and the other good schools I’ve looked at rate it as barely considered.

UVA, W&M, UMD-CP, HYPS, MIT Especially first generation plus student working. A couple admissions officers commented during visits that "it would be really nice to see students who actually held a job before they got here." DC didn't apply to Wake Forest so I don't know about there, but other SLACs mentioned it too.

No activity is going to matter more than GPA/SATs unless national awards/strong leadership positions come into play. But a strong first gen student with good grades and SAT scores who holds a job is going to look a heck of a lot better than a strong first gen student with good grades and SAT scores who just sits at home studying and hanging out.

[Anonymous]

I have heard that the counselors at my DD's HS arent very helpful with college admissions and we don't have the money to pay for a private counselor

Have your daughter talk to a teacher that she likes and who is in a subject area of potential interest. Teachers very often have good insights for students and can make suggestions to help them find their fit.

Just today I had a 10th grade student come for help on something after school on the 1/2 day. She had spent a lot of time on it, and had just been overthinking the problem. She said she was working hard because she needed to get scholarships to go to college and shared that her mother hadn't gone to college and didn't know how to help her. We spent 30 minutes talking today, and needless to say, I have now adopted her and will be advising on course selection, clubs, colleges, and essays for the next couple of years. Honestly, it's the best part of teaching - finding the kids who really needed you as a mentor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First generation college is considered an asset.

Rather than activities that she's not interested in, encourage her to get a part-time job. Many strong schools consider that a considerable plus.

Such as...? Wake Forest advises not to include work experience and the other good schools I’ve looked at rate it as barely considered.

Work experience is absolutely a plus. (I marvel at the kids who try to impress by "starting" a business even though they've never worked in one.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First generation college is considered an asset.

Rather than activities that she's not interested in, encourage her to get a part-time job. Many strong schools consider that a considerable plus.

Such as...? Wake Forest advises not to include work experience and the other good schools I’ve looked at rate it as barely considered.

Why would this be? I would think paid employment would rank in the same category as participating in a sport or any other extracurricular. I can't imagine why it would be barely considered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First generation college is considered an asset.

Rather than activities that she's not interested in, encourage her to get a part-time job. Many strong schools consider that a considerable plus.

Such as...? Wake Forest advises not to include work experience and the other good schools I’ve looked at rate it as barely considered.

Why would this be? I would think paid employment would rank in the same category as participating in a sport or any other extracurricular. I can't imagine why it would be barely considered.

I’m a Wake Alum and this seems... very off. If it’s true, I’m a pissed off alum who is about to send them a note explaining why I’m not donating this year. So please link to this in their recruiting. If a Sidwell counselor said a wealthy kid working as an intern in a make work position for daddy will be treated less seriously by Wake than a student in competitive research program, that’s one thing. But if the school itself says there is little to no value in kids who need to help support their family or take care of a sibling doing so so don’t bother to mention it, that is not pro humanitata.

It’s school with a lot of wealthy kids. But I’ve never felt like “Work Forest” discounted the importance of a work ethic. And they at least pay lip service to recruiting 1st gen kids who may need to work or care for siblings. If that’s BS, I want to know.