Reply to Early Decision Results at Top DC Privates

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=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. [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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