Reply to GDS

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "GDS - Wow!"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]GDS college counseling should get a huge raise every year. They by far place all the kids in great colleges. Even the colleges some on this thread got snarky about have a special program that is harder to get into than the said college as a whole.[b] I have talked to families from GDS and it seems everyone feels heard and seems no drama at all.[/b][/quote]
Some thoughts on this. There has been drama and there are still weak points, but this academic year has been better than the recent past. 
The newest college counselor is excellent, by all accounts.
Families don't have direct access to SCOIR data -- everything is mediated through the CCO.
The AP fiasco will have repercussions for this year's junior class. I would not be surprised, given the direction that Dartmouth and others are heading, if GDS's attitude towards national testing (APs, ACTs, SATSs) will be reassessed. The CCO has been eager to ditch the importance of testing, but now that the data is suggesting that the lack of testing actually may hurt diversity efforts, testing will hopefully be emphasized again. 
Many GDS families hire a private counselor and keep it on the DL.
Many GDS families hire a tutor for SAT/ACT testing.
GDS has a disproportionately high percentages of parents who are alum at competitive colleges and who are also full pay. 
The overall curriculum at GDS aligns well with the current trend of colleges wanting "pointy" kids. Students are encouraged to nurture their unique interests rather than be excellent at everything. (GDS students still need to be solid across the board, but not geniuses in science, literature, sports, and the arts, for ex.)

[/quote]

What's the AP fiasco? Our DCs used to be @ GDS, but are now at another private in another metro area. Their new school does not offer APs, hasn't for years, and doesn't seem an issue for college placements.

Their new school also doesn't offer ANY access to Naviance/SCOIR data to either students or parents.[/quote]
GDS does not offer AP testing on campus anymore. Students have been scrambling to find places to take AP tests.
This may not be an issue for you, but many GDS students apply to colleges in the UK that require a minimum number of AP tests (with scores in the 4-5 range) to apply. [/quote]

Many? What's the threshold for many? IDK any of their GDS friends or friends of friends who are studying in the UK. Yeah, some in Canada, but not UK. [/quote]
Are you suggesting that kids who hold dual citizenship or who have ties to the UK, Europe, or Canada, should not be a concern for the CCO because there are too few students in that category? I'd guess about a dozen of so kids every year apply to schools in the UK, Canada, and Europe. In a class of about 120, that's not an insignificant number if you have 10% of the class strongly considering international colleges. Last year, 7 students matriculated to colleges outside the US, including Cambridge, St. Andrews, McGill, and Toronto. [/quote]

Curious, what are they studying at Cambridge?  We are looking at it this year.  Got an offer.[/quote]

NP. Cambridge Physics. Very impressed. Far superior academic experience as compared to other DC who is a top 5 US college for STEM. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics