Reply to Any Parents Privately Disappointed with College Placement?

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "Any Parents Privately Disappointed with College Placement?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]From reading both your posts, it seems to me that no one should worry too much about college counselors discouraging students, or about counselors failing to "go to bat" for certain students.  In your posts, you both have close personal experience with qualified students being admitted despite the fact that the college counselor discouraged them and didn't "got to bat" for them either.  Seems like the college counselor doesn't have nearly as much influence on admissions as you seem to fear.

I'm sure some counselors might have inappropriate influence over [i]students[/i], and some students might fail to apply for a desired college because of what a counselor said.  Indeed, I myself was told by my college counselor not to bother applying to several colleges where I was admitted.  But that problem seems to stem from (1) the college counselor doesn't know the student well enough, (2) the college counselor doesn't have a good grasp of the admissions landscape, and (3) the student allows herself to be controlled by the counselor.  If the counselor stinks, that's a problem.  But the more important lesson (to me at least) is that students need to be strong enough to make their own decisions, and not blindly follow advice they feel is incorrect.[/quote]

I disagree with your first para, and agree with the second.

From watching DD and friends, it seems like college counselors have maybe 2 opportunities to put their thumbs on the scales -- going to bat, or not, for students. First, the school counselor writes a sort of narrative about the student that gets sent to colleges along with the transcripts. The school counselor can make this narrative glow, or it can be lukewarm. Second, school counselors work to build relationships with college admissions offices, and as a result they will have contacts at some although not all selective colleges, so when they are chatting with a particular college about their kids who are applying... well, you get the picture.

In both cases, a lukewarm endorsement can speak volumes, as we all know from other situations. I truly doubt that a school counselor would ever be really negative about a student (unless it's a question of sending the class pothead to a top school, in which case I sort of wouldn't blame them, because the pothead might damage the chances of future applicants). I also think a school counselor wants to maintain a good reputation with the selective college, so they aren't going to be overtly manipulative, except for maybe the pothead. So while I agree with you that kids should ignore advice from bad school counselors, and I applaud your ability to make your own decisions, I think your school counselor's palpable lack of support for your decision might have some consequences, unless you are strong enough to stand on the transcript, SATs and recs.[/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