Early Decision Results at Top DC Privates

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I realize that some counselors are probably better than others -- and there is certainly a lot of stress in the process -- but I don't see how any parents /kids (except maybe for first generation college students or maybe foreign students) can legitimately feel they are "flying blind" -- not as informed as desired, sure - but bind? Before we met with our counselor we started to make a long possible list based largely on the off-the-shelf books with descriptions about the schools, admissions criteria, etc. Yes, that list was too long and we had questions about a number of the schools. That is where the counselors can really help in terms of describing the feel /culture of a place and whether they thing its likely a good match or not for a given student. And if your school has Naviance that too can help.

Some of the stress in the process has been created by the colleges themselves. The ED process -- originally designed to improved school yields and sold as reducing senior year college burden for the student who really knows his/her first choice, has turned into a new stressor as kids/families now have to strategize about where to use that ED card. The holistic admissions process is itself a greater stressor, because once a student is within range of a schools qualifications it is all about the schools "building classes." In that regard, counselors themselves are at a bit of a loss. The current system I would argue is more stressful in some ways than the British system that relies more heavily on testing. In our system, we have some kids spending 4 years knocking themselves out with EC's and studying to pad their resumes. If a kid loves an EC, great, do it, but if the kid feels he/she has to do it even if it cuts into sleep after homework, that's a problem with our system that adds to stress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Honestly, I realize that some counselors are probably better than others -- and there is certainly a lot of stress in the process -- but I don't see how any parents /kids (except maybe for first generation college students or maybe foreign students) can legitimately feel they are "flying blind" -- not as informed as desired, sure - but bind? Before we met with our counselor we started to make a long possible list based largely on the off-the-shelf books with descriptions about the schools, admissions criteria, etc. Yes, that list was too long and we had questions about a number of the schools. That is where the counselors can really help in terms of describing the feel /culture of a place and whether they thing its likely a good match or not for a given student. And if your school has Naviance that too can help.

Some of the stress in the process has been created by the colleges themselves. The ED process -- originally designed to improved school yields and sold as reducing senior year college burden for the student who really knows his/her first choice, has turned into a new stressor as kids/families now have to strategize about where to use that ED card. The holistic admissions process is itself a greater stressor, because once a student is within range of a schools qualifications it is all about the schools "building classes." In that regard, counselors themselves are at a bit of a loss. The current system I would argue is more stressful in some ways than the British system that relies more heavily on testing. In our system, we have some kids spending 4 years knocking themselves out with EC's and studying to pad their resumes. If a kid loves an EC, great, do it, but if the kid feels he/she has to do it even if it cuts into sleep after homework, that's a problem with our system that adds to stress.

All good points. I would add that the ED/EA process has shifted the whole schedule up so that you have to have your list of colleges mostly decided by early October. That means doing most visits in junior year which means having taken the SATs far enough in advance of spring break to be able to use that time to visit appropriate colleges. In my DCs case it also meant having 3 applications done by November 1 - not a bad thing of course, but adds to the pressures of the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Honestly, I realize that some counselors are probably better than others -- and there is certainly a lot of stress in the process -- but I don't see how any parents /kids (except maybe for first generation college students or maybe foreign students) can legitimately feel they are "flying blind" -- not as informed as desired, sure - but bind? Before we met with our counselor we started to make a long possible list based largely on the off-the-shelf books with descriptions about the schools, admissions criteria, etc. Yes, that list was too long and we had questions about a number of the schools. That is where the counselors can really help in terms of describing the feel /culture of a place and whether they thing its likely a good match or not for a given student. And if your school has Naviance that too can help.

Some of the stress in the process has been created by the colleges themselves. The ED process -- originally designed to improved school yields and sold as reducing senior year college burden for the student who really knows his/her first choice, has turned into a new stressor as kids/families now have to strategize about where to use that ED card. The holistic admissions process is itself a greater stressor, because once a student is within range of a schools qualifications it is all about the schools "building classes." In that regard, counselors themselves are at a bit of a loss. The current system I would argue is more stressful in some ways than the British system that relies more heavily on testing. In our system, we have some kids spending 4 years knocking themselves out with EC's and studying to pad their resumes. If a kid loves an EC, great, do it, but if the kid feels he/she has to do it even if it cuts into sleep after homework, that's a problem with our system that adds to stress.

Our counselor was pretty clueless about who our kids were and where would be the best fit. In the past Sidwell hasn't allowed students and parents to have access to Naviance, which is of limited help anyway. For $30,000 a year, I think it's reasonable to expect more guidance than the Fiske Guide can provide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Honestly, I realize that some counselors are probably better than others -- and there is certainly a lot of stress in the process -- but I don't see how any parents /kids (except maybe for first generation college students or maybe foreign students) can legitimately feel they are "flying blind" -- not as informed as desired, sure - but bind? Before we met with our counselor we started to make a long possible list based largely on the off-the-shelf books with descriptions about the schools, admissions criteria, etc. Yes, that list was too long and we had questions about a number of the schools. That is where the counselors can really help in terms of describing the feel /culture of a place and whether they thing its likely a good match or not for a given student. And if your school has Naviance that too can help.

Some of the stress in the process has been created by the colleges themselves. The ED process -- originally designed to improved school yields and sold as reducing senior year college burden for the student who really knows his/her first choice, has turned into a new stressor as kids/families now have to strategize about where to use that ED card. The holistic admissions process is itself a greater stressor, because once a student is within range of a schools qualifications it is all about the schools "building classes." In that regard, counselors themselves are at a bit of a loss. The current system I would argue is more stressful in some ways than the British system that relies more heavily on testing. In our system, we have some kids spending 4 years knocking themselves out with EC's and studying to pad their resumes. If a kid loves an EC, great, do it, but if the kid feels he/she has to do it even if it cuts into sleep after homework, that's a problem with our system that adds to stress.

Our counselor was pretty clueless about who our kids were and where would be the best fit. In the past Sidwell hasn't allowed students and parents to have access to Naviance, which is of limited help anyway. For $30,000 a year, I think it's reasonable to expect more guidance than the Fiske Guide can provide.

It's a bargain compared to the other top schools.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell Class of 2013 National Merit Semi-Finalist Destinations:
Harvard
UC-Berkley
Brown
Harvard
University of Chicago
Brown
Harvard
Middlebury
Tufts
Columbia
Cornell
University of Edinburgh
Georgetown
Princeton
Stanford
Yale
William and Mary

Sidwell Class of 2014 National Merit Semi-Finalists results SO FAR:
Yale
Yale
Penn
Dartmouth
Columbia
Brown
Harvard

This supports the point that college counseling at Sidwell does well to support its top students. It really can do nothing for students who aren't academically motivated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell Class of 2013 National Merit Semi-Finalist Destinations:
Harvard
UC-Berkley
Brown
Harvard
University of Chicago
Brown
Harvard
Middlebury
Tufts
Columbia
Cornell
University of Edinburgh
Georgetown
Princeton
Stanford
Yale
William and Mary

Sidwell Class of 2014 National Merit Semi-Finalists results SO FAR:
Yale
Yale
Penn
Dartmouth
Columbia
Brown
Harvard

This supports the point that college counseling at Sidwell does well to support its top students. It really can do nothing for students who aren't academically motivated.

What makes you think college counseling had anything to do with the success these kids experienced? And, BTW, I don't know many kids at Sidwell who aren't motivated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Honestly, I realize that some counselors are probably better than others -- and there is certainly a lot of stress in the process -- but I don't see how any parents /kids (except maybe for first generation college students or maybe foreign students) can legitimately feel they are "flying blind" -- not as informed as desired, sure - but bind? Before we met with our counselor we started to make a long possible list based largely on the off-the-shelf books with descriptions about the schools, admissions criteria, etc. Yes, that list was too long and we had questions about a number of the schools. That is where the counselors can really help in terms of describing the feel /culture of a place and whether they thing its likely a good match or not for a given student. And if your school has Naviance that too can help.

Some of the stress in the process has been created by the colleges themselves. The ED process -- originally designed to improved school yields and sold as reducing senior year college burden for the student who really knows his/her first choice, has turned into a new stressor as kids/families now have to strategize about where to use that ED card. The holistic admissions process is itself a greater stressor, because once a student is within range of a schools qualifications it is all about the schools "building classes." In that regard, counselors themselves are at a bit of a loss. The current system I would argue is more stressful in some ways than the British system that relies more heavily on testing. In our system, we have some kids spending 4 years knocking themselves out with EC's and studying to pad their resumes. If a kid loves an EC, great, do it, but if the kid feels he/she has to do it even if it cuts into sleep after homework, that's a problem with our system that adds to stress.

Agreed. With Naviance (virtually every school around here uses it, if not every school), not to mention the INTERNET, how on earth could any parent or student feel they are "flying blind"? Schools have college fairs for juniors. They meet with families and students. If anything is available, it is information. If people don't like the information (hard to get into Ivies; lots of kids with great grades and scores; harder for girls to get accepted than boys; advantages for athletes in admissions; lots of competition in this geographic region), that's something different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell Class of 2013 National Merit Semi-Finalist Destinations:
Harvard
UC-Berkley
Brown
Harvard
University of Chicago
Brown
Harvard
Middlebury
Tufts
Columbia
Cornell
University of Edinburgh
Georgetown
Princeton
Stanford
Yale
William and Mary

Sidwell Class of 2014 National Merit Semi-Finalists results SO FAR:
Yale
Yale
Penn
Dartmouth
Columbia
Brown
Harvard

This supports the point that college counseling at Sidwell does well to support its top students. It really can do nothing for students who aren't academically motivated.

What makes you think college counseling had anything to do with the success these kids experienced? And, BTW, I don't know many kids at Sidwell who aren't motivated.

"The fault, my dear friends, lies not in the stars but ourselves." Or something like that. Kids with great grades and great scores get into excellent schools, wherever they come from -- students make their own college destinies by and large (although it helps if they've arranged to be born a legacy). I would actually say that where the private school experience makes the most difference is for the kid in the "middle" or below. Having good recommendation letters from a teacher who knows the student; having college counselors look at and critique essays (I'm not a college counselor but have seen some first drafts of essays and ye gods they were hideous, even from good students); having a college counselor who has taken some time to learn about your child identify schools that a creative non-test taker might thrive in.