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College Counseling at Sidwell - One Year Later
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Anonymous
| I don't know, each counselor has 40 or so cases, there is an admin person as part of the office, it doesn't seem like an overload for organized and detailed people. Something lacking the last couple of years. It all seems so much better this year, and there haven't been any reports of missing data on early applications. |
Anonymous
| But it would be helpful to have a larger staff, particularly to give some guidance to juniors and even sophomores. So much energy goes into the senior class for obvious reasons. Because the advisory systems isn't really an advisory system, it would be helpful to offer true advising to the students (for choosing classes, etc). |
Anonymous
| CCO needs to be viewed more strategically by the school administration. The Head of CCO should elevated to be a peer to the US Head, just like the Athletic Director. |
Anonymous
Any junior or sophomore can meet with the staff during the open periods when they are hanging out and open for questions, or they can make an appointment any time. The whole process starts early enough for there to be plenty of time and opportunity to work through it. Advising for classes is really only predicated on math and science. For those, the level of math and interest in the topic, along with recommendation from the prior year faculty should be sufficient to gauge proper placement. I am not sure what college guidance is going to tell you about class placement because they don't know the interest/aptitude of the student without having taught them already. |
Anonymous
| Sidwell should stick with the “no doofus” rule in hiring for the CCO. They clearly broke that rule a couple of years ago but seem to be getting back on track now. |
Anonymous
It is EXACTLY like this at GDS as well. SO MANY MIXED MESSAGES. There is a ton of work and pressure but then "don't worry about prestige or rigor in the college you go to, worry about "fit". It's absurd. |
Anonymous
No fit and major are way more important than college ranking. The goal of college is to learn, graduate and get a job that you can afford to live. I should know six kids Ivies and public universities. Private school and public graduates through 12th. It’s not your kids fault you paid for an expensive private school and they are not a academically qualified for an elite school. The school can only do so much. The “mixed messages” are not mixed they are realistic that’s the difference. Not every kid at a good strong private is going to elite colleges. |
Anonymous
If you really have six kids, you are Catholic, and therefore some or all of those six kids went to places like Visi, Prep, Gonzaga, SJC, etc. This thread doesn't concern you. |
Anonymous
What about whether to take AP's? how many? which ones? when? subject tests? when? how many? which ones? it's not just about math placement. better to take the super-advanced and get a lower grade vs regular classes (which are still advanced) and get higher grades? there are lots of interesting questions to be discussed. why do some families feel the need to hire private college counseling services and start early in high school? what niche are they filling? is that a waste of $ given what SFS already offers from the college counseling office? |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
| My sense is that this area has more than enough Type A helicopter parents who will take the belt-and-suspenders route for college counseling, because they have the disposable income and it's just their nature to approach everything this way with raising kids (i.e., doing something/more must be better than doing nothing/less). |
Anonymous
The faculty of the classes your child is taking can advise as to whether that class is prep for an AP or not. The faculty of the classes your child is taking can advise as to what, if any, subject test they should or could take. Yes, meet with a college advisor regarding advice for math placement, but usually the department head will advise on best placement based on past performance. Generally, your kid should take the most rigorous schedule possible. |
Anonymous
It’s terrible, isn’t it? That you cannot have a forum that excludes those people. Just awful, here on the Internet. Bwaaahahaha. |
Anonymous
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Here's the thing: the points the counselors make about "fit" are both totally right and totally wrong. They are totally right descriptively. Yes, sending your kid to a place he/she will be happy, productive, etc. is very important. They are totally right that not every kid "fits" at, say, Harvard, or, say, Yale. That said, most kids could probably fit at one or the other (again, say Harvard and Yale). It would be a rare kid who couldn't find a place somewhere at either of those two schools.
So in that sense, the counselors are "wrong." "Fit" is important, but they are also using "fit" to manage expectations. That is "wrong," in its own way. Anyone who does well at these rigorous schools in DC would probably "fit" at a lot of colleges, including top ones. So perhaps brutal honesty is more appropriate. "Fit" is important, but many of the students will not get into top colleges b/c, well, it's a numbers game, and nothing about having "Sidwell" or "St. Albans" or "NCS" or [fill in the school here] changes that significantly. Indeed, Sidwell and other top schools tell families not to come to that school for college placement (indeed, we were told this expressly at an admitted families event at SFS last year). THEY MEAN THAT. And I'm glad schools are being more honest about this. The problem is, parents just don't hear it, not really. Most parents think the "don't send your kid here if it's only about college" applies to SOMEONE ELSE's kid. Then they are disappointed with the end result. Which is such a shame. There are some who would think that the price tag of a top education at SFS, cathedral schools, GDS, etc. is worth it regardless of outcome. Others would think that the price tag is outlandish without a big college bump. Yet droves of people in the second group pay the price tag thinking it's worth it for the college boost that may not come. It's way too much pressure on the kids. p.s. None of this is to say college counselors ought not spell things correctly (please let's not resurrect that issue, which misses the bigger point). |