<p>When S1 was applying to William & Mary his GC told us that the admissions office called and asked her questions about him. Today I emailed S2's GC and asked if any schools had called about him but they haven't. That worried me a bit as I assumed that interested admissions offices might call and ask a few questions. His application has a few areas that might invite some questions. What are your thoughts about this - phone calls to GC from admissions are a rarity or are routine?</p>
<p>I'd surmise they are a rarity based on what I've heard. I can't imagine how admissions officers have time to make these calls.</p>
<p>^^^I agree. I wouldn't read anything into no calls being received. The call regarding S1 was much more the exception than the norm.</p>
<p>I agree also. I've heard about the occasional call from GC to Admissions Officer, but none in the other direction. (Washington University gets twenty thousand applications each year. If there was a five minute conversation with the GC of each applicant, how much time would those calls take? Um yup, forty person-weeks!)</p>
<p>I am a school college counselor. Every now and then a college will call asking about a specific student, but mostly these are requests for updated grade information, or to clarify something in the student's transcript. We <em>might</em> also chat a bit about the student, but usually not.</p>
<p>I have never had a college call and ask me about every single student who has applied to that school. </p>
<p>If an admissions officer happens to be a personal acquaintance of mine, they will sometimes call or email me to let me know the admissions decision in advance (both positive and negative) and in a few instances, I have called or emailed admissions people I personally know to put in a good word for students (but I do this very sparingly -- if a student has a realistic list, and I've written a good recommendation letter, a push usually isn't necessary). Many (but not all) colleges also send me a letter that lists all of the students from my school who have applied, and then another letter listing their admissions results. So guidance counselors do know where students have applied!</p>
<p>However, ALL colleges do not call high schools about EVERY student. As already noted, Colleges get thousands of applications -- would they really have time to call the guidance counselor of each one? Not only that, but frankly, I, and most school counselors, would go nuts if colleges did.</p>
<p>So, don't take a call to the school, or lack thereof, to be a sign of anything, either positive or negative. Just sit tight. There's less than a month to go, and then all will be revealed.</p>
<p>Thanks, I certainly understand they couldn't call about every student (and what a burden that would be for the GCs!). I was actually very surprised that they called on S1, whose application did not really invite any questions, that I could see. I think my worry is that for the RD applications he added some personal information that he asked the GC NOT to include for the initial EA/ED applications. When he decided to include it, she did not feel she needed to update her original report for the RD schools (the GC offic is seriously overwhelmed) but I thought the discrepancy might prompt some calls.</p>
<p>DD did tell me that her GC got a call from a school adcom. Part of the conversation involved specific student(s). GC told DD that he put in good words for her. Hopefully that will make a difference.</p>
<p>Perhaps the call for S1 was one of these random checks that we hear about on these boards - applications randomly selected for verification of ECs or recommendation letters or some such thing. That is, of course, assuming that such random checks occur at all and aren't just an urban legend!</p>
<p>Sometimes the high school profile doesn't have a bit of data that we need to analyze the transcript (grading scale, GPA calculation methodology, etc.). It's common to pick up the phone and call for clarification.</p>
<p>I asked my daughter's college counselor yesterday if she has any influence at admissions departments. Her answer was a clear and unequivocal, "Nope." She said she will share information, if asked, but that is it. Her answer surprised me. I assumed there was a fair amount of "back room" politics that went on. Was I naive to believe her?</p>
<p>depends on the school, the college involved, and the counselor. Sometimes there is quite a lot of back door politics involved.</p>
<p>The admissions counselor contacted my son's GC. Everything was fine on the application and they were interested in him, but he slipped on 2 subjects (got C's) on his Senior 1st semester grades. The GC knows who my son is but that is about it. I have no idea what they discussed, and DS has not heard from the college yet.</p>
<p>This was my son's 1st choice and he knew it was going to competitive (although not as near as competitive as William and Mary). The lesson my son learned is those grades DO COUNT.</p>
<p>My college counselor told me today that she has a phone appointment with a college to talk about all of the applicants from my school.</p>
<p>So a rep from Lewis & Clark called my GC to verify my March SAT scores. I found this weird b/c SAT scores are listed on my transcript (I have an unofficial copy) and I also sent them a score report from CollegeBoard.</p>
<p>Has anyone else heard of this?</p>