Sidwell college advisor leaves

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a kid going to LS at Sidwell in September, I am now terrified, thanks. I think it emphasizes our burden will be on helping keep college preoccupation in check, and leaving the school if the atmosphere seems toxic.

FWIW, I found Garman to be very level-headed and willing to talk through placement with (non-superstar or glamorous) parents like us. And he talked a lot about the antisemitic events happening in US because he knew that LS admits had a lot of questions. And he said to all the admits that thinking of private school as a means to an Ivy League end is an attitude that won't serve you well for the next 10 years. This could be just lipservice but at least it's lipservice to the parents who may join the community (and still have a chance to go elsewhere if it's not what they want to hear).

It will be more than fine. Just know that however competitive schools were when you went through it, it is 10x worse now. Hopefully, by the time your kid gets there, there will be a solution to the common app, because it is crazy that (non-Sidwell) kids are applying to 15+ schools because it just takes checking a box and sending a check.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And there aren't anti-semetic people at the school. What happened two weeks ago was woefully misunderstood by the Administration and resulted in poor discipline decisions.

How so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And there aren't anti-semetic people at the school. What happened two weeks ago was woefully misunderstood by the Administration and resulted in poor discipline decisions.

How so?

Not for public airing.

[Anonymous]

Hahaha Hahaha!!! No one can pay enough for guaranteed college admissions- Blame the counselor. Blame the system. But does anyone really think a college name will guarantee a successful outcome for anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a kid going to LS at Sidwell in September, I am now terrified, thanks. I think it emphasizes our burden will be on helping keep college preoccupation in check, and leaving the school if the atmosphere seems toxic.

FWIW, I found Garman to be very level-headed and willing to talk through placement with (non-superstar or glamorous) parents like us. And he talked a lot about the antisemitic events happening in US because he knew that LS admits had a lot of questions. And he said to all the admits that thinking of private school as a means to an Ivy League end is an attitude that won't serve you well for the next 10 years. This could be just lipservice but at least it's lipservice to the parents who may join the community (and still have a chance to go elsewhere if it's not what they want to hear).

It will be more than fine. Just know that however competitive schools were when you went through it, it is 10x worse now. Hopefully, by the time your kid gets there, there will be a solution to the common app, because it is crazy that (non-Sidwell) kids are applying to 15+ schools because it just takes checking a box and sending a check.

Don't you know that Sidwell kids are compared among themselves by the admission officers and not with kids from other schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a kid going to LS at Sidwell in September, I am now terrified, thanks. I think it emphasizes our burden will be on helping keep college preoccupation in check, and leaving the school if the atmosphere seems toxic.

FWIW, I found Garman to be very level-headed and willing to talk through placement with (non-superstar or glamorous) parents like us. And he talked a lot about the antisemitic events happening in US because he knew that LS admits had a lot of questions. And he said to all the admits that thinking of private school as a means to an Ivy League end is an attitude that won't serve you well for the next 10 years. This could be just lipservice but at least it's lipservice to the parents who may join the community (and still have a chance to go elsewhere if it's not what they want to hear).

It will be more than fine. Just know that however competitive schools were when you went through it, it is 10x worse now. Hopefully, by the time your kid gets there, there will be a solution to the common app, because it is crazy that (non-Sidwell) kids are applying to 15+ schools because it just takes checking a box and sending a check.

Don't you know that Sidwell kids are compared among themselves by the admission officers and not with kids from other schools?

And they are also compared to thousands of private school kids from the region and country for the few slots in the elitist of the schools. Obviously Yale isn't taking 20 Sidwell kids per year anymore. What is your point?

[Anonymous]

To play the devil’s advocate for a moment: what if your kid was student government president (I don’t know if Sidwell even has one) and another kid was bragging that they had (falsely) claimed to be student govt president in their application to the same schools your kid had applied to. What would you do? Does the recent admissions scandal change your response? Food for thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To play the devil’s advocate for a moment: what if your kid was student government president (I don’t know if Sidwell even has one) and another kid was bragging that they had (falsely) claimed to be student govt president in their application to the same schools your kid had applied to. What would you do? Does the recent admissions scandal change your response? Food for thought.

Food for thought, if two kids applied to the same school claiming to be school government president, the Admissions office from the college would probably ask the high school and the one falsely claiming it would likely be rejected and the high school notified of the lie. Presumably the kids do not know who is applying to what schools, so assuming there is a little overlap from kid to kid. Yes, they would get away with it if they were applying ED to an "easier" school that no one else was applying to. It seems like a pretty risky ploy. But it certainly isn't one that a parent should be involved with at any level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To play the devil’s advocate for a moment: what if your kid was student government president (I don’t know if Sidwell even has one) and another kid was bragging that they had (falsely) claimed to be student govt president in their application to the same schools your kid had applied to. What would you do? Does the recent admissions scandal change your response? Food for thought.

Food for thought, if two kids applied to the same school claiming to be school government president, the Admissions office from the college would probably ask the high school and the one falsely claiming it would likely be rejected and the high school notified of the lie. Presumably the kids do not know who is applying to what schools, so assuming there is a little overlap from kid to kid. Yes, they would get away with it if they were applying ED to an "easier" school that no one else was applying to. It seems like a pretty risky ploy. But it certainly isn't one that a parent should be involved with at any level.

Maybe so, but is it that far-fetched that some kids lie (not embellish, but lie) on their applications — often without any fear of consequence. All I’m saying is that this happens more than we might imagine and it’s not a victimless crime. And while I agree that parents should not be involved, what do you suggest should be done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To play the devil’s advocate for a moment: what if your kid was student government president (I don’t know if Sidwell even has one) and another kid was bragging that they had (falsely) claimed to be student govt president in their application to the same schools your kid had applied to. What would you do? Does the recent admissions scandal change your response? Food for thought.

Food for thought, if two kids applied to the same school claiming to be school government president, the Admissions office from the college would probably ask the high school and the one falsely claiming it would likely be rejected and the high school notified of the lie. Presumably the kids do not know who is applying to what schools, so assuming there is a little overlap from kid to kid. Yes, they would get away with it if they were applying ED to an "easier" school that no one else was applying to. It seems like a pretty risky ploy. But it certainly isn't one that a parent should be involved with at any level.

Maybe so, but is it that far-fetched that some kids lie (not embellish, but lie) on their applications — often without any fear of consequence. All I’m saying is that this happens more than we might imagine and it’s not a victimless crime. And while I agree that parents should not be involved, what do you suggest should be done?

I don't have a solution, but I certainly wish karma on anyone who is trying to lie or cheat their way through life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a kid going to LS at Sidwell in September, I am now terrified, thanks. I think it emphasizes our burden will be on helping keep college preoccupation in check, and leaving the school if the atmosphere seems toxic.

FWIW, I found Garman to be very level-headed and willing to talk through placement with (non-superstar or glamorous) parents like us. And he talked a lot about the antisemitic events happening in US because he knew that LS admits had a lot of questions. And he said to all the admits that thinking of private school as a means to an Ivy League end is an attitude that won't serve you well for the next 10 years. This could be just lipservice but at least it's lipservice to the parents who may join the community (and still have a chance to go elsewhere if it's not what they want to hear).

It will be more than fine. Just know that however competitive schools were when you went through it, it is 10x worse now. Hopefully, by the time your kid gets there, there will be a solution to the common app, because it is crazy that (non-Sidwell) kids are applying to 15+ schools because it just takes checking a box and sending a check[u].

With the common app, it's still more work than that. Schools often ask for one, two or three more essays, and not all of the essays can be recycled from other applications.

[Anonymous]

The Sidwell Friends CCO needs at least 4 (not just 3) counselors, ideally in addition to the director. It's very understaffed for today's admissions environment. Parents need to deliver that simple message to the Head of School and the board.

[Anonymous]

But over half the class uses private advisers for college anyway, so this is essentially a phantom problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But over half the class uses private advisers for college anyway, so this is essentially a phantom problem.

Not really. Even if there is outside help, the in-house counselors have to write THE recommendation letter for their students and they have 40-50 files each year. they supposedly need to get to know the kid well enough to recommend schools and conversely, be able to sell the kid to a top choice school if they are called about it.

[Anonymous]

Good point, though really the HOS should read every single one of those letters, irrespective of the number of counselors. Can't pass the buck there.