<p>Some high schools seem to provide amazing support for their juniors and seniors during their search and application process. Mock common app practice. Essay seminars. Dedicated collage admission counselors. Some require students to have a list of X colleges by a certain date. Others seem to be in touch with a good number of college admission people and personally state their case for a student. Others have bus trips to visit college campuses. In my district, the students are comparatively on their own.</p>
<p>What does your Guidance Office do that helps out with the process? Maybe your information can help other departments improve their programs.</p>
<p>Shrinkwrap, who will write the counselor’s evaluation/report and who is in charge of counseling as to where one might apply, answering questions about the process, and getting out the transcripts?</p>
<p>Our school is in between. Competent counselors who know the local schools well; anything outside the norm not so much. I knew more about selectivity of schools and acceptance of SATs/ACTs. They are very good at following up paperwork for recommendations, transcripts, NMF packages, etc. Very good at working the local scholarship angles.</p>
<p>“who is in charge of counseling as to where one might apply, answering questions about the process, and getting out the transcripts?”</p>
<p>Me!</p>
<p>But seriously, the school has had various stand ins over the last several years; folks who double at something else. Right now it is someone I think called the “Dean of students”, …There are only 76 students in my sons graduating class. Most go to cc, some to csu’s, occasionally UC’s and Christian schools. My D went to Duke three years ago, and aside from a friend of hers that went to Liberty, almost no one else even left the state. My D got national achievement recognition, and the principal stopped us in the carpool lane and said something like “that thing for black people”.The good news is, everybody knows each other really well, and my son has been at that school for 14 years.</p>
<p>My kids are at a public school where there are only a handful of counselors for a class of 500, and they are not merely college counselors, but also deal with at-risk students, behavioral problems and the like. They spent all their junior year making themselves stand out / known to their GC so they’d have a chance of a rec that went beyond the generic “So-and-so is a nice, hardworking kid” and then she up and has a baby, so now they have to do the same thing ASAP for the replacement, esp as they are going early decision! It’s all such nonsense.</p>
<p>Our public school GCs have the same workload Pizzagirl describes. They are so overworked and do an absolutely amazing job. We come up with the college lists but they’ve been great at writing my kids letters for summer programs, scholarships and college apps. They always get baked goodies and a thank you from my kids and really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Our public hs GCs are in the same boat - overworked. Responsible for college admissions, troubled/at-risk kids, behavioral problems, etc. Given all that, they do a good job. Both D and S had GC’s that truly cared, offered good advice, followed up on paperwork, etc. Honestly I don’t know how they accomplish all they do for so many kids.</p>
<p>Ours had 3 babies in 4 years; all during the Nov/Dec/Jan application season. She also told them, “Don’t worry about SAT II’s. No one cares.” (in response to a question–she didn’t even mention them on her own) Didn’t know what Profile (f/a) was. Told me school profiles were worthless, we didn’t have one, and she wasn’t writing one. Yep, has tenure. There for life. Thank goodness I’m on child #3 and done.</p>
<p>“my son has been at that school for 14 years.” - I’m going to assume it has all grades, not just a high school </p>
<p>Our GC office is busy with many things. I think it is hard for modest kids to get to know them very well. Of course having 4 different ones (for our section of the alphabet) over the 7 years that my kids were there did not help.</p>
<p>“Ours had 3 babies in 4 years; all during the Nov/Dec/Jan application season. She also told them, “Don’t worry about SAT II’s. No one cares.” (in response to a question–she didn’t even mention them on her own) Didn’t know what Profile (f/a) was. Told me school profiles were worthless, we didn’t have one, and she wasn’t writing one.”</p>
<p>So sryrstress, IYHO is this “good” or “not so good” GC??? (Fair warning … she would be a significant improvement over our public HS counselors.)</p>
<p>Counselors in my kids’s school have the mission the help kids apply to the following groups:</p>
<ol>
<li>Community colleges</li>
<li>California State University campuses</li>
<li>University of California campuses</li>
<li>Private colleges</li>
</ol>
<p>My son’s 12th grade counselor was helpful although she was not very familiar with private colleges (the school changed his counselor every year). The only thing I wanted to make sure was recommendations and other documents sent to the right place and met the deadlines. I only met her once for about 5 minutes but I felt that I took too much time from her. She is no longer with the school because of the budget cut. I feel sad.</p>
<p>Our GC doesn’t have national experience with colleges, and he’s been grateful for what he’s learned from us. But he has done two things that make up for everything:</p>
<p>1) He ALWAYS sends out forms, paperwork, transcripts properly and promptly. If a GC does nothing else, they have done a wonderful job - considering the horrible consequences if they don’t do this.</p>
<p>2) He has been there for a couple of crises where we don’t know who else could have helped our D, emotionally and practically. He is a prince, and we will always be grateful.</p>
<p>NewHope: if it wasn’t for the baby thing, I would think we were at the same school. When school received scores for the SAT IIs, the GC called to say that we had made a mistake and S took the wrong test. Same GC tells kids not to take more than 1 AP course a year (we only have 4) because colleges don’t really care about them. Meanwhile, 85% of our kids go to state colleges that would credit, saving families $$$. S has been taken to task for asking for the school profile, stating “all the colleges know us.” When S mentioned several LACs in the Midwest the teacher assured him that he wouldn’t be able to afford those schools. I will ask very little of the GC in this process.</p>
<p>D1 had different GC each year- no help at all, D2 had same one for 3 years and really nice, cooperative but public school overloaded and troubled kids needed help. it worked out ok- i was thankful she had the same one and he was very efficient.</p>
<p>Everything we have needed to learn and now know came through here at CC and through getting PMs from other parents with experience as well as reading The Admissions Mystique and The Gatekeepers.</p>
<p>Our kiddo’s GC right now is a substitute for the first one- who is out on a medical leave. The workload is about 50- students per GC…college apps only.</p>
<p>Kiddo put it this way --saying that
" Mr. So n so ( the sub) is better than Mrs. Such n such…He is easier to talk to and a little nicer…I don’t think Mrs. Such n such had much faith in me etc etc"…</p>
<p>That was confirmation because I am positive Mrs. Such n such is NOT a fan of kiddo nor us…</p>
<p>Kiddo asked her a direct question about scholarship apps somewhere and she said “she didn’t know”!
AND Mrs. Such n such has said some things (I won’t put here–she might see them if she is on CC and will know who I am)…so that when I told other parents–they were furious and told me to complain to the administration…which I did not do because Kiddo needs to get INTO college first and we still need any assistance/paper pushing that office is supposed to do.</p>
<p>I have met other parents who also had trouble with Mrs Such n such…and she is STILL there so evidently the school (private) doesn’t care/dismisses parental concerns</p>
<p>As for Mr. So n so— I recently spoke to him on the phone about a question/concern (first coversation–we haven’t met).
The guy seems to have his act together…I think this guy may be a real improvement. </p>
<p>Our kiddo is NOT a complainer and almost never makes any kind of critical comment so if kiddo feels Mr So n So is better–it’s real gut intuition speaking…</p>
<p>We have the best of the lot but unfortunately the director of guidance is scarily uninformed. She had never heard of my oldest’s college (Williams) and insisted my daughter had to be reading the financial aid award wrong if there weren’t loans. Everything I know I learned here at CC.</p>
<p>Has anyone else’s high school GG office required a boat-load of information? Lake Jr.'s GC office REQUIRES the student and parent to complete an 11-page set of forms. The document includes a questionnaire for parents to describe their child’s strengths and flaws. They seem to insist that the student waive his/her right to view teacher recommendations (in my day a great teacher of mine suggested that we never do this; that we always should retain our right to view recommendations, lest we unknowingly get an unpleasant evaluation that we were not expecting). Lake Jr.‘s school also requires that copies of letters of admission be forwarded directly to the school (presumably so they can brag about their role in a child’s success). There are several more requirements that I feel to be intrusions on the student’s and parents’ independence. This bureaucratic situation just turns me off. But some would probably say that you can’t argue with success, since this public high school is well regarded and consequently sends a lot of kids to “elite schools.” Talk about helicopter parents; this appears to be helicopter counseling akin to the old East German authoritarianism. Am I wrong to be bothered by it?</p>
</p>