Regrets?

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure you really need a private counselor. All the information is out there. Our public school counselor was brand new and worse than useless but we were able to figure it out ourselves. A lot of it is common sense and there is so much info available from admissions blogs and YouTube videos from private counselors, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those who recommend cutting back on sports to focus on GPA, don't kids need involvement with extracurriculars too? Our DS is in private in 9th, and the workload is intense. I can see the attraction to cutting back on sports, but would that just leave him with a higher GPA and not the other things he needs?

Maybe GPA would be higher if fewer sports, maybe not. My DC wants to play the sports, so I let him. He is not the type to put in hours more of study time if he had more free time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To those who recommend cutting back on sports to focus on GPA, don't kids need involvement with extracurriculars too? Our DS is in private in 9th, and the workload is intense. I can see the attraction to cutting back on sports, but would that just leave him with a higher GPA and not the other things he needs?

Maybe GPA would be higher if fewer sports, maybe not. My DC wants to play the sports, so I let him. He is not the type to put in hours more of study time if he had more free time.

Great, but they're talking about their regrets, not saying everyone should do this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure you really need a private counselor. All the information is out there. Our public school counselor was brand new and worse than useless but we were able to figure it out ourselves. A lot of it is common sense and there is so much info available from admissions blogs and YouTube videos from private counselors, etc.

I kinda agree with this. The biggest problem many make is not understanding the requirements of the school they hope to attend before it’s too late. If your kid wants to attend a selective college, preparation, in terms of class selection, grades, etc., begins at the beginning of high school or earlier. By the time junior year arrives, much of a student’s profile is already determined; it’s too late to change course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son and I visited UVA in the spring of this junior year. At the end of the presentation by the admissions person he looked over at me and said, “I wish I had heard all of this when I was in 8th grade or a freshman”. I thought that was pretty telling.

We did tell my DC the things they need to know, and even an older cousin had the talk and said, "I wish someone had told me at your age..." but it didn't make a difference because sometimes their brains are not ready to hear about or process the future.

Totally agree with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasting time talking to our top private’s college counselor - school’s interests don’t really coincide with the bulk of its students in a given year.

Yup. I made this mistake as a senior at a big years ago, you obviously need to play the game and talk to the counselor, but don’t entirely trust her

+2 Arrived home after our first meeting with the school college counselor and immediately started calling private counseling companies. By the second kid, we had the counselor booked in 9th grade!

Any recommendations for private college counselor please ? DC is a rising Sophomore at the Blair magnet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son would say to get more involved earlier on. He went into junior year with basically nothing but participating in a varsity sport. He didn’t get into NHS because of lack of leadership and volunteering which was actually a great wake up call for him. He spent junior and senior year getting more of that done and did get into NHS and his dream school even with a comparatively weak EC list.

Could you share the school? Thx.

UVA

UVA doesn't care about ECs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasting time talking to our top private’s college counselor - school’s interests don’t really coincide with the bulk of its students in a given year.

Yup. I made this mistake as a senior at a big years ago, you obviously need to play the game and talk to the counselor, but don’t entirely trust her

+2 Arrived home after our first meeting with the school college counselor and immediately started calling private counseling companies. By the second kid, we had the counselor booked in 9th grade!

Any recommendations for private college counselor please ? DC is a rising Sophomore at the Blair magnet

There were recommendations on the Blair pta listserv earlier this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son would say to get more involved earlier on. He went into junior year with basically nothing but participating in a varsity sport. He didn’t get into NHS because of lack of leadership and volunteering which was actually a great wake up call for him. He spent junior and senior year getting more of that done and did get into NHS and his dream school even with a comparatively weak EC list.

Could you share the school? Thx.

UVA

UVA doesn't care about ECs.

This is not entirely true. They want top grades and test scores, but they also want leadership and extracurricular. The above post says that their child upped their game in jr and sr year, and got in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We would have moved DC to private for middle school. We would have hired a tutor sooner. We would have cut way back on sports in high school.

Same experience here re private. I really regret the public middle school.

Not sports, though, but my kid has a chance at being recruited.

[Anonymous]

Sending DC to Fairfax County public school for High School. I will regret this epic failure for the rest of my life. DC has not been in school for an entire year. Educating students is not among the top priorities of public school. I should have known better and kept him in private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. The private college counselor thing is very interesting to me. we are in an okay but not great school district, with not many kids at all going to selective schools, although the valedictorian did go to Harvard last year. I'm really concerned that the guidance counselors will be completely clueless about what it takes to get into these schools, and put my kid in a worse position in many ways because they may be totally ignorant when it comes to applying at that level. Food for thought, thanks.

2020 was not a normal year. Every senior I know (20+) was accepted to a MUCH better school than they would have been, any other year - about two tiers higher than they would have been, had it not been 2020.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son and I visited UVA in the spring of this junior year. At the end of the presentation by the admissions person he looked over at me and said, “I wish I had heard all of this when I was in 8th grade or a freshman”. I thought that was pretty telling.

We did tell my DC the things they need to know, and even an older cousin had the talk and said, "I wish someone had told me at your age..." but it didn't make a difference because sometimes their brains are not ready to hear about or process the future.

Totally agree with this.

+1

High school admins know this, so they will tell the parents not to put ANY pressure on the teens until mid junior year. They literally tell you not to MENTION college until junior year.

There is not much we, as parents, can do about it. If you push, the teens push back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. The private college counselor thing is very interesting to me. we are in an okay but not great school district, with not many kids at all going to selective schools, although the valedictorian did go to Harvard last year. I'm really concerned that the guidance counselors will be completely clueless about what it takes to get into these schools, and put my kid in a worse position in many ways because they may be totally ignorant when it comes to applying at that level. Food for thought, thanks.

2020 was not a normal year. Every senior I know (20+) was accepted to a MUCH better school than they would have been, any other year - about two tiers higher than they would have been, had it not been 2020.

Me too. And unfortunately, 2021 is turning out to be the exact opposite. More denials and defers than ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. The private college counselor thing is very interesting to me. we are in an okay but not great school district, with not many kids at all going to selective schools, although the valedictorian did go to Harvard last year. I'm really concerned that the guidance counselors will be completely clueless about what it takes to get into these schools, and put my kid in a worse position in many ways because they may be totally ignorant when it comes to applying at that level. Food for thought, thanks.

2020 was not a normal year. Every senior I know (20+) was accepted to a MUCH better school than they would have been, any other year - about two tiers higher than they would have been, had it not been 2020.

Do you mean class of 2020? What about ED and EA with decisions before 3/1? What made it different since the pandemic hadn't come to town yet?