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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Never liked her anyway[/quote]

This quote sums up self-proclaimed "Big Three" parents who post on here. Can you imagine how much of a queen B this poster is in real life? The funny thing is, most of the Sidwell parents I know are not like this poster at all - and I can guarandamntee they are exponentially more successful that this mother is. I'd love to know what the college counseling office folks think about this poster and her progeny. It's a good thing they have more tact than she does.

Also, do Sidwell parents really call the college counseling office to levy anonymous charges against little Johnny's classmates? If true, that has to be the most toxic high school environment I've ever heard about.

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I guess you don’t know a lot of us Sidwell parents if you think I’m the exception.  I just didn’t like her patronizing style.  Not queen bee at all.  In fact, you probably never even noticed me nor my DC while there.  But, I feel you’re not a Sidwell  parent if you don’t know the answer to your question about the anonymous charges.  Otherwise you would at least know the class year.  [/quote]

+1....We have a 2021 alum, didn't care for her either, and also found her to be patronizing, condescending and a slight bit dismissive of our opinions as to what type of environment we felt would be a good fit for our child. She was ready to support and defer to DC on their (mostly unrealistic) college wish list without a second thought. For example, (and hypothetically speaking)...say that DC put southern and west coast schools on their college list, but not because of the program or majors that were available...it was only because of the warm weather/beach access that these schools offered. Another example would be if DC getting the OK to apply a New England school with a very good performing arts program, even though DC was planning on majoring in math, and only interested in performing arts as a minor or an extracurricular. Again, these were not our actual scenarios, but in situations like this (or ours), I would have expected a responsible CC to redirect the student, offer school stats, pros/cons of the school choices the student made, as well as more appropriate alternative schools that would be a good fit...but nope, didn't get any of that.

I'm not saying that all HS juniors/seniors are cavalier, unenthusiastic or unrealistic about the college application process...as a matter of fact, I think most kids are excited, engaged and eager to jump in and get started....but our kid was not. Had our DC approached the process with more maturity, seriousness and thoughtfulness, we would have been more than willing to hand over the wheel, step aside and let DC drive the process, but that just wasn't our reality. We wanted more than anything for our kid to be all-in and amped, but applying (and I mean seriously applying) for college was intimidating and overwhelming to our child...this was not a surprise to us given that DC was one of the younger kids in the class. But had the CC known [i]anything[/i] about our kid, she would have 100% known that a fair amount of parental hand holding was going to be necessary, she would've understood our position, and she would have respected our approach. None of that happened. DC ended up taking a gap year and everything worked out fine, but the CCO gets minimal (if any credit) for DC's outcome....the school at large gets major credit, but the CCO....no.

And for the record, I am as far from a "Queen Bee" type as you can get. We are not pushy, over-the-top, Borderline personality type people....and we were not looking for a miracle worker to get our child into the Ivy League. We are dedicated parents who reasonably expected to get the guidance, expertise, and honest advice that we felt our tuition dollars paid for from the college counselors at our well-regarded private school.  
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