I saw the letters wot ten by the GC for both of my kids. Neither letter mentioned anything done before the GC would have actually met my kid…in 9th grade. The GC letter is supposed to be relevant to what the GC knows about your kid. If your GC didn’t know your kid when she was in elementary or middle school…it would be very odd to see a reference to that in the GC letter because clearly…it’s second hand info.
One of my kids did have relevant EC stuff from age nine up…but it also continued into HS…so WAS relevant for the GC to mention. It was only included in our info because this particular activity ended at the end of 10th grade.
Honestly…anecdotal stories in a GC letter? Personally I would not want that second hand info there.
My kids continued with several activities started as early as 4/5 through high school. All they did is show their accomplishments from grades 9-12 which no doubt benefitted from their early start but nothing at all was mentioned about start dates or accomplishments prior to 9th grade. Again, colleges ask for what they care about. A child precociousness is really irrelevant. All they care about is what the student has been doing the past few years. If they’ve achieved a certain level of accomplishment in 11th grade, no one cares if they started at 4, 9, or 16. Results speak for themselves.
I read the question differently. I assumed the GC is looking for anecdotes that encapsulate the kind of person she is, not necessarily that they are looking for achievements from back then.
But it’s still about a time back before he. I’m not sure I see why.
Not sure the type of little kids my kids were mattered to adcoms. After all…the entered college at age 18.
But whatever. Just write a short anecdote about your kid. And then forget about it.
If there is a specific question asking for an anecdote from childhood, I would think of something and then move on. Did your daughter sit with somebody during lunch who was sitting alone? In middle school… did she offer to help an elderly neighbor? I wouldn’t think too much… I would write a few lines and then forget about it. Our HS brag sheet did not ask for anything from childhood.
@lookingforward
I haven’t the foggiest idea why they want this. I think I will just use your suggestion and turn it into a jumping off point for something I want them to know about her.
Perhaps it provides an opening or conversation starter for the GC, or provides a bit more context about who your child is (or who you thing your child is). I can think of several anecdotes from my youngest daughter’s childhood, that help frame who she is, and has always been. They show traits that hint as ways in which she might contribute to her college campus - personality traits that the GC might not necessarily notice or highlight, unless they are pointed out.
I spoke about how my D and S17 (the only kids I did brag sheets for) had been involved in community service in various ways since childhood. For D, I emphasized her work with a local group that provided adaptive sports activities for autistic children and for my son, I spoke about how he began volunteering with local blood drives at about age 10 as an escort and person who gave out food and drinks and how, by the time, I wrote the blurb, he was already a gallon blood donor. For my son, I also wrote about his friendship with a boy who suffered from anxiety and depression so severe that he had to be on home instruction and how with S’s encouragement, he became involved in a couple of EC’s and eventually was able to return to HS part-time (I spoke with the boy’s mother before writing this). Ironically, D wound up getting a masters in special ed and S17 recently became a bone marrow donor.
I thought that what they wanted to see in the brag was something that illustrated a quality or characteristic of your child that people might not know about from just reading their academic resume, something that made them special and made them someone an AO might want on their campus.
Piggybacking on this thread, how long should the answers on brag sheet be? Ours has about 5-6 very general questions.
It may also be that some of that is for the guidance counselor’s reference when it comes to senior Awards night and other events like that not just College letters
I would use it as a chance to show her character traits. As far as length of responses, we used as much space as we needed…but we were also careful.
I agree that the GC may use this information for other things…not just the college letter. That was true for my daughter.
I hate the term “brag sheet”.
I wrote about times where my kids showed character. Things the GC wouldn’t know from meeting them or looking at lists of their activities. For example I wrote how D was cut from activities freshman year but worked really hard to get selected the next year and kept working hard after that. How she invited kids to join her group of friends, etc. I told how S always stuck up for people and how he was so generous in wanting to help people less fortunate.
It doesn’t need to be “wow” stories. Sometimes everyday actions/attitudes are where character is shown.
I would not provide anecdotes at all. It’s not necessary and I would just feel funny about using my kids’ natural qualities this way, in a brag sheet that would be used by a GC. It feels intrusive. And others who know my kids could write about their personal qualities without my involvement.
I think a more honest system would be for the GC to write that he or she doesn’t really know such and such a kid! Or make an appointment with each student and ask them about their lives and interests.
Versus using quotes from a parent. Honestly, it seems like a form of cheating when the content is provided so completely by a parent. And, as you are experiencing, awkward for a parent.
Do we really want to use that moment of kindness, when our kid moves to sit with a new student who is alone, for college admissions? It just feels private.
I do think a concise list of activities or interests outside of school is helpful- but short and to the point. Other recommenders will cover it.
The colleges can see how big the school is.
The GC letter isn’t supposed to be a bio or go over what the kid does in her home time that the GC wouldn’t have visibility to. And if it is that important, put it on the brag sheet and in the college app.
True, some GCs get to know their students. And if this is the way you have to provide input, I guess you have to go with the flow.
I’d say, just watch the parental pride parts and try to make it relevant.
I think asking about “stuff” prior to HS is unusual. If that’s what the school is asking… I like the idea of the student being the one to report it. Maybe she can make an appointment with the GC and let her be the one to provide this information? Or… maybe she can write about it on the “ brag sheet?”
Just a reminder that for certain EC’s outside of school (music, for instance) a student can submit a supplement to the common application. This would include, for music as an example, a recording, a music resume and letters of recommendation from music teachers or directors- up to two is fine.
So if there is a “passionate” interest outside of school, no need for GC or school teachers to provide info on it. Letters from outside the school can play a significant role in getting across not only talent but character, work ethic, generosity, intellectual interest etc. without any parental involvement at all 
My D’s GC asked every student for a letter (optional of course) from an EC outside of school, and attached it to his letter.
OP should provide whatever the high school is requesting. Different high schools ask for different things. Whatever you are asked to do, you do!
I loved being able to write the parent brag sheet. I felt it gave me a chance to share some insights into my son in a wording I thought would be good. I also thought it was cool that, when he looked over my parent brag sheet and I read his student brag sheet, they had similar themes but with different examples and wordings, even though we had not collaborated when writing them. (I did give him veto power over my answers before submitting it, but he liked it.) I felt the brag sheets would help the guidance counselor (and the admissions officer, if our answers were more or less quoted by the GC) to get to know him a little bit.
I just answered the questions the high school asked on the form. No more, no less.
In answer to the length question someone asked, my answers ranged from a few bulleted words or phrases to three or so narrative paragraphs, depending on the question.
I don’t know whether the brag sheet helped or not, but S got into his top choice college, so it can’t have hurt!