Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the idea that college counselling helps at the margins. In my experience its a really big deal. I have had terrible counseling and really good counseling. It not only makes a difference with the end result, it makes a huge difference when going through the process. If you are frustrated or unhappy with the quality of your schools college counselor, it becomes a source of great pain at a stressful time. This is not sour grapes. The reality is that not all college counselors are created equal.

+1 -- ITA -- it's about the process. And no sour grapes here either -- our kids got into their first choice schools, but the counselor was thoroughly uninterested in getting to know the kids, way off-base in her suggestions about where to apply, and consistently negative about their prospects for getting in. Then, of course, when they did get in (early decision) she claimed it was all her behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Our youngest is a rising senior and will have a different counselor-- I'm hopeful that this time around will be different.

How do you know it's an upgrade already? The new counselor just started. Are there already good signs?

SFS dramatically upgraded its counseling. I say that as someone who experienced the process before and after.

We just had a change in the counselor at SFS, so we'll have to wait a year (at least) to see.

I don't think anyone should solely depend on their college counselling OP regardless of the school. Most of the success/failure is done on the basis of grades, test scores, ECs. But when a kid is on a wait list, a good college counselor can make a difference. You want them lobbying for your kid and not another kid from your private on the list. So, you have to be nice and do your own internal lobbying just in case.

Ours had no idea about athletic recruiting so we went it alone w/o getting the college counselor antagonistic towards us. It worked. And now, the woman touts our kid as one of her successes even though she advised her to go to US Naval Academy because she didn't think she'd get into anything better. And, I hate guns and so does my kid. So, I told kid to run the other way when they saw college counselor. Everyone has their own horror stories OP. The happy ones are people like us who figured out how to work the system around the counselor.

Anonymous wrote:NCS concentrates on the top 10% of the graduating class. They are professional, but not too interested in the rest of the class.

Yes, the tradition continues.

Anonymous wrote:College advising at Field is fantastic.

Can you elaborate? Thanks.

NCS concentrates on the top 10% of the graduating class. They are professional, but not too interested in the rest of the class.

College advising at Field is fantastic.

You want someone who can at least do a credible job of feigning interest in the outcome of your kids college search.

Hi there. I'm the OP. I thought of titling my thread "are you happy with your school's college counseling?" or "what school's have good college advising", but that type of title seems to bring out the trolls and make it seem like a race to criticize each other. Anyway, any reflections from your recent personal experience would be appreciated. Mainly, "who has been happy with their advising?" TIA

I disagree with the idea that college counselling helps at the margins. In my experience its a really big deal. I have had terrible counseling and really good counseling. It not only makes a difference with the end result, it makes a huge difference when going through the process. If you are frustrated or unhappy with the quality of your schools college counselor, it becomes a source of great pain at a stressful time. This is not sour grapes. The reality is that not all college counselors are created equal.

I think it is a combination of 2 factors. Parents assuming because they are at private that they have a leg up on gettign into competitive schools and the college counselors assumign that because of there longstanding relationships with lots of SLAC and the Ivy's that they don;t have to cultivate relatiosnhips with other schools especially the larger universities.

It is a verydifferent process than even a few years ago.There is so much competition and huge influx of applicants from overseas. especially in teh hot fields of engineering, computer science and business, privates can have a hard time competitng because there science curriculums can;t compete with publics or science academies. Traditionally, many privates have been more humanities driven and many kids today are lookign in opposite directiosn for colleges.

it will be interesting to see how privates adapt. Bullis has started a STEM oriented program. I think you will see other privates follow down this path as well.

Anonymous wrote:As our child is entering high school, I hear so much dissatisfaction from parents at most schools with their respective school's college advising program. I suspect much of this is due to unrealistic expectations from a generation of parents who came up in a different era. But I am wondering if there are any local private schools with well respected college counseling programs that seem to satisfy the parents/students at their school?

This. I would just advise you to keep an open mind and make up your own mind.

College counseling can help some at the margins, but mostly it's about factors (grades, scores, possible X factor like athletic recruit status) that are wholly out of the counselors' control.

As our child is entering high school, I hear so much dissatisfaction from parents at most schools with their respective school's college advising program. I suspect much of this is due to unrealistic expectations from a generation of parents who came up in a different era. But I am wondering if there are any local private schools with well respected college counseling programs that seem to satisfy the parents/students at their school?