@thomas4881 Absolutely! We don’t need help with anything other than the required documents the school sends.
@thomas4881 Absolutely! We don’t need help with anything other than the required documents the school sends.
I would do it yourself then. That way you won’t have as much to worry about.
Except the GC needs to send the transcripts on time for schools that require it.
The advice to apply to an “early school” you don’t care about is spot on. Some universities open in July (in Florida, Alabama…) - you’re sure the 9-11 transcript will be uploaded before the earliest EA/scholarship deadlines (Oct 15).
It’s important to keep an eye on the deadlines. My son was (thankfully!) pretty good about completing his applications and tracking his admissions portals to verify that the colleges that he applied to received everything that they needed to make a decision by the deadlines. Sometimes transcripts and scores do get sent out but for whatever reason they aren’t received by the colleges. Track your portals!
Well, I’m about to blow my top so I’m at the computer instead of breaking something. Last month one of my daughter’s teachers recommended her for a scholarship (essay and EC based). He filled out his recommendation and then sent another very simple form that required nothing other than a checklist to be completed and signed by the counselor. He emailed me today to tell me she never filled it out. He’s called the organization awarding the scholarship to see if it could be submitted late, but it can’t. I completely understand this, as it’s more than two weeks past due.
There’s no explanation from the counselor. This is the same woman I have been worried about having to deal with when it comes time for college applications. I don’t even know what to do at this point. I’m told off the record by teachers that she’s getting a lot of complaints lately, but she’s still there. How difficult is it to open an email, check some boxes, sign it, and send it??? I guess my daughter will have to check the status of her applications every day next year because we can’t take anything for granted. Ridiculous.
That sucks. Could the teacher perhaps complain to the principal? He took the time to complete the recommendation so he wasted his time too.
Definitely have your daughter check her portals regularly. My daughter’s school, which was on top of things, had some issues uploading stuff to the Coalition App (required for one of her schools) and my daughter had to work with them regularly to make sure everything was completed because they thought it was done and it wasn’t.
Yes, it does suck. I don’t know if he’s going to complain to the principal. I’m not sure it would do any good. I’ll take this incident as a divine warning to stay on top of the application process from the moment the first application fee is sent out. Maybe I should just be grateful it was only a scholarship and not the application to my child’s dream school.
Every time you email that school counselor make sure you copy the principal. We did that and it’s how we got responses
I agree with thumper, when you’ve discovered someone is unreliable just CC their boss on everything.
Hopefully I won’t have to CC for much longer. I’m going to make sure DD applies to each school early. I don’t think she has much of a choice, given the circumstances.
That is terrible but not surprised. I find that to be more common then you think. Lesson to everyone reading this thread: have your kid be their best advocate for the college admissions process. Whether it be for special scholarship opportunities or just regular LORs. They have to ask and follow up religiously. They need to check the status of their applications and not assume the college has a complete file. So many stories of kids not getting accepted (not necessarily rejected- just void) because the college never received X. So maddening that they have to stay on top of it.
I recall having the painful argument with S. Did you get X from Y? Normally with a reply like “Dad, stop bugging me. I told Mr. Z I needed it by a certain date.” It took him awhile to realize that it didn’t affect Mr. Z at all if S didn’t get in to a certain school. Found several situations where he needed to repeatedly follow up. I get that they’re swamped. Who cares? That’s their job. Think about it. Don’t you get swamped in yours.
In my world, if I screw up I don’t get paid. Wish that applied to most people’s jobs. You’d see a lot more attention to detail and professionalism.
I haven’t read this entire thread, but we are dealing with the same issue. Last year, more than one student missed ED deadlines because the GC failed to send materials in a timely manner. Its well known around the community that he does this all the time. Our strategy was to get him all the materials he needed as soon as possible, so we would be first on his to do list. We checked the portal every day to make sure things were submitted and followed up like crazy if anything seemed delayed.
I have to admit we also did an awful lot of butt kissing. We wanted to be the sweet family he loved. We didn’t go as far as bringing in fresh baked cookies, although I would have if I had thought of it. But all of us were always polite, sweet and grateful in every email and contact. I hated fawning like this, but since this man had power over my daughter’s life, I did it. We will do the same with D2. We will hand him the college list the moment he starts accepting them and I just might bake the darned cookies.
^^ I agree that there are slackers. But I have also been asked to write references for kids, usually for jobs or grad school, and I have gotten very vague direction from them about timing, purpose, etc. I think they are so nervous about the request that they feel like being specific might be rude? Who knows? So the breakdown is not always entIrely on the teacher, GC…
It is a good life lesson in taking ownership of the issue and following up. It is likely necessary in college as well. Yes, it would be nice to be able to count on others, but if it is important to you, trust but verify
Wow I’m surprised to hear all these horror stories! My S17 went to an average NJ public, it was smaller (class of 245 his year) but we had no issues and I didn’t hear about anyone having them. Our school was VERY clear - emails sent out religiously - “If you are applying to schools with a Dec 15 deadline, you must have your transcript requests in by xx”. It was all hands on deck for getting out transcripts - it didn’t go to his counselor, it went to the guidance office and they handled them all.
@indiethoughts: Alabama’s application is up in early July, as will some Florida universities’. Those would be absolute safeties in case something is derailed. Between July and Nov 30 hopefully all material will be submitted.
CommonApp opens on August 1st and there are new colleges there with rolling admissions. Some don’t need a GC’s recommendation. Some only require the transcripts if you enroll. Choose one of those with required transcript, one with transcript and GC req, and one with SRAR only. These will be “early” apps serving as decoys to make the GC complete something before your “real” deadline.
Your child doesn’t especially need to like the above, although if she does all the better. The hidden goal is most important: once the rec and the transcripts are uploaded, they can be used for ALL universities, no box to check or anything. By asking in July/August you guarantee it’ll be done before your “real” deadline, which is way after the “early/pretend” deadline.
Tell the GC that you’ll be applying early “since scholarships are first-come, first-served”* - in July and early August. Attach the completed resume (ie., “brag sheet” - as none may be provided by the GC, find one online). CC the principal. Bring a nice thank you card to both the day after the email.
After the “early/pretend” application’s uploaded, check regularly and email (with cc to principal). Bring cookies to the school to thank them for their help (even if no help has been provided yet - say you know they’re hard at work on the recommendation. Ask if they need a copy of the resume.
Same thing in August. The July one is unlikely to be done on time but it’ll likely be done during the summer and so will one of the August universities. Make a big deal in August if the one “early” (pretend) commonapp’s materials aren’t uploaded. But if anything’s done at all, make a big deal about it with a thank you card and/or cookies.
The “early/pretend” commonapp will ensure transcripts etc. are uploaded before your real deadline and having some “no GC rec” and some “SRAR only” applications will guarantee your child has a place next year if the GC fails abysmally.
- NCSU, Appalachian State, and some NC universities have Oct 15 deadlines if push comes to shove. Howard and many HBCUs are first-come, first-served.
This thread makes me feel great sympathy for those with bad GC and makes me feel very fortunate about our own public HS’s excellent team. I’ve posted this before but if I had known how influential guidance departments are in acceptances I would have done the following prior to buying a house:
• Call the HS and ask the ratio of GCs to student
• Ask the guidance department for a list of college adcoms that regularly visit
• Look at the HS profile and see where the kids get in. Ours wasn’t on the internet when me moved but most are now.
• Ensure the relationship with the GC was great. This happened naturally for us (again, luck) but I know many people who have said “my GC is an idiot” or “we hate her”. Cultivate that relationship as best you can.
• Get hold of a Naviance “guest” login for the school. (Many are open, others can be found with searches, and some you can get by calling the high school)
Kind of hard to think about this when you might not even have kids yet! But it does matter.
In our case, the problem isn’t the guidance department, but our particular GC. Unfortunately, it is assigned alphabetically and we have no option to switch.
My school GC’s have a 1 day response time. Guess one has to plan WAAAY AHEAD for recommendations. Thanks for starting this discussion, very useful for the rest of us.