Anonymous wrote:I graduated from a midwest public high school in the 90's - when I told my guidance counselor I wanted to apply to AU his response was "why would you want to go to school on the east coast? that is a waste of time and effort and you can't afford it apply to this d3 state school instead". To this day this comment just kills me.
(I did get into AU)

As a high school senior in the midwest, won a regional award for scholarly (and ec) achievement and at the ceremony the guy handing out the awards read aloud the schools I was interested in - 2 top 20 schools in Midwest and one Ivy, and he snorted and said “good luck getting into those!”

I ended up at the Ivy.

My guidance counselor had tried hard to get me to apply to a local community college as a backup, as he thought I was aiming too high.

Anonymous wrote:I think I private schools do help with ED - if you already can afford to pay for private, and the counselor calls Northeestern or Brown and says the kid is really interested, that means full pay. It’s about yield and money more so than superior students. And yes, proving you can pay, and are a potential donor, is the biggest advantage for private schools.

I disagree that this situation is in the exclusive domain of private schools. Equally affluent parents at Bethesda/CC/Potomac public high schools work the ED avenue just as easily. Often with a hired college counselor who advertises this very service.

I concur that "it's about yield and money" -- that's the very definition of Early Decision, is it not?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think that the majority of admissions counselors would hate this kind of thing. They aren't paid well, but have to take time out to listen to some counselor from a fancy private school go on and on about how special Thurston Gregory IV is?

Nope. It is a collegial community. This is part of the job for both of them.

I feel like the people who believe this most strongly turn in to the people talking up Elon once their kids acceptances come in

No, it's what my friends who hold these jobs on both ends told me.

Also, you have a skewed vision of what this actually is. The high school counselors have a reputation to maintain as well; they are not going to talk up a Thurston if it isn't warranted, and they know, and tell Thurston, that he may not get in either way. And sometimes, they are calling on behalf of Joe, who go waitlisted everywhere and they are working to find a spot somewhere -- it is not always about Harvard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think that the majority of admissions counselors would hate this kind of thing. They aren't paid well, but have to take time out to listen to some counselor from a fancy private school go on and on about how special Thurston Gregory IV is?

Nope. It is a collegial community. This is part of the job for both of them.

I feel like the people who believe this most strongly turn in to the people talking up Elon once their kids acceptances come in

No, it's what my friends who hold these jobs on both ends told me.