<p>I’ve never even talked with my counselor. Everything I’ve ever known about college was from this informative session I went to over summer last semester, and then from CC. The department is good on the general scheme - preparing the school in general for ACT, AP tests, etc. I’ve never had any significant psychological issues so I haven’t had to talk to any of them for that. It’s kind of funny actually. There’s an area from where we walk in where the busses drop us off with the big glass windows looking in the guidance department, a lot of the secretaries just working away like robots… right outside the door, observing the commons with their arms crossed are our counselors, watching with blank looks over the flooding in of plebeians into the commons.</p>
<p>They are generally more helpful for students that don’t know what they want and are generally looking at state schools, not top tier. Also, they provide social and emotional guidance as well as college and future planning.
But yes, for the higher achievers, guidance counselors seem to fall short.</p>
<p>My guidance counselor is really nice this year. He corresponded with me over email about nearly eight hundred questions I had regarding classes. But at the same time, sometimes his responses confused me even more and I wasn’t sure what the best option really was. I think they’re needed; I just think it’s challenging for them to be able to not only get to know every student they’re assigned but also know what would truly be beneficial for this student’s high school life.</p>
<p>@dextrous - I totally agree about the deans. We have 4 deans at my school and they are laughable.</p>
<p>The guidance counselors at my school are a tossup- you’re assigned a random one, and your choices are:
- the one who only tells you to apply to safeties because college admissions are a “tough, cruel world” (most kids leave her office crying)… I have this one and basically ignored everything she said.
- the one who is the opposite of #1 and tells anyone to apply anywhere…we had literally a third of the class apply to at least 1 ivy this year and only 6 people got an acceptance.
- the one who is somehow always busy- she has the same amount of students as the other two but if you make an appointment with her she usually cancels without getting back to you, and she has forgotten on multiple occasions to send in papers. </p>
<p>I think for the majority of the crowd here at CC, guidance counselors aren’t really needed. I only talked to my GC to tell her what schools I was applying to and to send transcripts/LORs/etc. However, we are a small minority. In talking with my classmates (even those who are going to great schools like Tufts or BC) I’m kind of surprised at how much more knowledgeable I am about the college process than they are. </p>
<p>Guidance counselors are needed for the kids who are truly clueless.
They’re basically a burden to everyone else, at least, at my school.</p>
<p>The guidance counselors at my school are also a tossup- there are four possible counselors:
One can not speak English
One does not know what subject tests are
One tries to convince you to take the easiest classes possible
One is okay (That’s the one I have right now. Thankfully, I got switched to her). She was laid off, but the school brought her back. I don’t know why they got rid of her when the other counselors are much worse.
One is in charge of the Freshman. He’s alright.</p>
<p>The guidance counselors at my schools vary a ton. The one I have is very nice, but she’s also very… er… oblivious, to say the least, and technologically inept. Another counselor is apparently really mean? idkidrc. The third counselor at my school actually knows what he’s talking about and really pushes the students he’s responsible for, while the last is somewhat lenient but helps students when they ask for aid/information.</p>
<p>Luckily for me, I just got a new guidance counselor, and while she has an extensive knowledge of admissions with top schools, she’s a real bonehead and is pushing me towards schools like VCU and George Mason because I got one B last year.</p>
<p>My GC is very knowledgeable and helpful about anything related to the college process, course scheduling and life in general. She never has anything negative, only positive and constructive things. If someone needed to apply to safety schools, she told them and etc. If someone didn’t have a chance at a school, she’d say “It’s really difficult to get into University X, but you never know. Just don’t count on an acceptance”. So unlike many of you, I don’t know where’d be without my GC.</p>
<p>@thnkprnctn If it weren’t for guidance counselors, students would lose their minds, and everything would be out of order. They do more than just write your eLORs, send your transcripts or help with admission, they’re helping us build our very character and make sure our high school as well as post-high school education are on good terms. They have to do deal with TONS of administrative tasks like course scheduling which is can get pretty crazy. Counselors get a lot of crap from students and it just isn’t fair. You’re maybe too young to understand worth, but I’m really fortunate to have guidance counselors because I wouldn’t know where I’ll be without them.</p>
<p>There are four guidance counselors at my school, two of them I don’t know and the other two are always busy and running errands around the entire school. I was assigned one of the busy guidance counselors, and she has helped me with most of the college process. I remember one time I almost broke down because of stress and personal issues, and my GC walked me through my daily schedule and offered some advice to guide me through junior year. It didn’t last in the long-run, but at least she gave me some insight on my work habits. She’s very organized and knows all of the students in her building (my school is separated into four buildings) The other busy GC is pretty cool. A lot of students like her, and she’s in charge of guiding students through the Posse foundation process. </p>
<p>There is one college guidance counselor at my school (there are also only ~50 kids in each graduating class, so I guess more are just not seen as necessary…). All she does is college- she has nothing to do with scheduling, though she will give information about dual enrollment, which colleges accept which credits, what kinds of classes colleges want to see, etc (most of these are given in a seminar setting and not one-on-one, though). She meets with each kid at the end of junior year just to see how we’re doing and recommend both college options and things to do to help us with the admissions process over the summer, and then has one or two meetings at a minimum with each senior the next year to finalize where they’re applying, help with essays, etc. She supplies forms, writes LORs, and keeps in contact with most of the colleges to which people tend to apply (usually regional, so…).
The downsides are that she can sometimes miss deadlines, she doesn’t always update information in a timely way, and she’s the chemistry core and AP Biology teacher, which means that she knows us all already so that she has preexisting impressions of us upon meeting us which tend to guide her suggestions. (Luckily, I aced AP Bio so it worked out well for me :).)
The regular guidance counselor is also my psych teacher and she’s completely useless. I don’t even want to think about her. </p>