Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 10:00     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Anonymous wrote:SSFS college counseling is meh and they too start too late. Part of the justification for high tuition should be stellar college counseling that starts in 9th grade with a required one-on-one meeting with each student and their parents.


Oh my gosh +1000! SSFS recently held a workshop for juniors and parents of juniors to look at sample applications and then had us determine which of these fake applicants would get admitted. It was a decent exercise but not when you're in the second half of your junior year. My kid came away from this workshop super anxious and with the deflated belief that getting in to their top choice of schools is now compromised because they should have been doing more to boost the application. This workshop should have happened during the day for ALL students (not just those who could attend in the evening) AND should have happened in the spring of freshman year or fall of sophomore year. Like a lot of things at SSFS, the college counseling is slow and detrimentally casual. Another thing we are not getting our money's worth on.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 08:04     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Anonymous wrote:My kids are in publics with crap college counselors, so I certainly hope that you guys have excellent counseling services for college. You're paying for it.


Why are you here?
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 08:01     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Anonymous wrote:At DC’s school, the CCO advisor is assigned (alphabetically) to entering freshman, and helps students with course selection for all 4 years. This means they really get to know the students, their strengths, their interests, etc, *before* the college process even starts. We appreciate that they really focus on helping kids figure out what they want and what the best fit is.

The actual college advising program starts in 10th with a “college night” in the fall for students and parents that kind of gives an overview of the process. Individual family meetings happen late spring of 10th for an initial personalized discussion. In 11th, students get access to SCOIR and can attend visits from college reps, and they fill out a lengthy questionnaire after winter break, before additional family meetings in the spring. And advisors are very hands-on and available throughout the application season for their seniors.


Name the school
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 08:00     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Visi is wonderful. They start focusing on the girls sophomore year and then it ramps up junior year.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 07:58     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
No CC until 2nd half junior year. Then biweekly group meetings and some 1 on 1 meetings as desired. Actual rec for my kid were puzzling, to say the least - relied on some bs AI program I think.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 07:48     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Anonymous wrote:NCS should start earlier. They don’t meet with kids until January/February of junior year. By then it’s too late to course correct if you’ve chosen the wrong classes, lack leadership etc. college guidance is fine just need to meet with the girls starting in 9th in my opinion.


This is the situation at Potomac as well. By the time you speak to a counselor it is too late to make any meaningful adjustments.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2026 22:59     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
SSFS college counseling is meh and they too start too late. Part of the justification for high tuition should be stellar college counseling that starts in 9th grade with a required one-on-one meeting with each student and their parents.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2026 22:08     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Anonymous wrote:NCS should start earlier. They don’t meet with kids until January/February of junior year. By then it’s too late to course correct if you’ve chosen the wrong classes, lack leadership etc. college guidance is fine just need to meet with the girls starting in 9th in my opinion.


There is no such thing as “wrong” classes. They offer a small variety from which to choose along with a lot of required courses. They aren’t going to allow you to go too far off the rails in course selection.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2026 22:04     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:College counseling at Bullis is fantastic and started freshman year and kicked up sophomore year. They also helped DS pick courses throughout his HS experience. Worth every penny right there.


Not great if you don’t get one of the good ones.


They handpick the students they want. More money/influence = better counselors. Know this from experience.


Yep, that’s Bullis in a nutshell
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2026 21:47     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
NCS should start earlier. They don’t meet with kids until January/February of junior year. By then it’s too late to course correct if you’ve chosen the wrong classes, lack leadership etc. college guidance is fine just need to meet with the girls starting in 9th in my opinion.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2026 20:40     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Anonymous wrote:My kids have gone to two different privates. We had no contact with college counseling until the middle of junior year. At one school, sophomores can get input on 11th grade course selection, but only if they ask for it. Sophomores certainly aren't meeting with college counseling to discuss specific schools.


I also have kids at two different privates. One private starts active college counseling with both students and parents in the last half of 9th grade which I think is the way it should be. The other private has done very little until 11th grade which quite frankly is starting too late.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 17:59     Subject: Re:How good are your HS college counseling teams
As someone said above, whether you like the college counseling team depends on where DC is accepted. In our high school experience with older DC at a big 3, there was SO MUCH changing and quitting and hiring of new college counselors that the process was hard. And I felt that DC was accepted to a decent SLAC (not top 10 but top 20) was in spite of the staff. Results always look great cause of hooked kids. Younger DC now going through the process at a different school and it seems to be night and day from last experience. Funny enough, we would have expected big 3 to have the best counselors, instead other school seems so much more caring and more individual attention.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 19:16     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:College counseling at Bullis is fantastic and started freshman year and kicked up sophomore year. They also helped DS pick courses throughout his HS experience. Worth every penny right there.


Not great if you don’t get one of the good ones.


They handpick the students they want. More money/influence = better counselors. Know this from experience.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 19:12     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Anonymous wrote:College counseling at Bullis is fantastic and started freshman year and kicked up sophomore year. They also helped DS pick courses throughout his HS experience. Worth every penny right there.


Not great if you don’t get one of the good ones.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 07:22     Subject: How good are your HS college counseling teams
Anonymous wrote:College counseling at Bullis is fantastic and started freshman year and kicked up sophomore year. They also helped DS pick courses throughout his HS experience. Worth every penny right there.


Tell me more about how they helped with course selection. I already know that students need to take the 5 core courses every year, the most rigorous appropriate. What other advice did they give? My DS has the opportunity to consult with his school's college counselors as part of the course selection process, but I don't know what he would ask.