hey! my name’s ari, and I’m a grade 12 student from canada
so i’ve started on my common app (since i really want to go to an american university), submitting my essays and activities, but i have a bit of a problem. i go to a very small school, where the staff and students have a really close relationship, and for some of the essays, i want to write about some really personal things and experiences. and then there are some of my out-of-school activities that i’d prefer not to elaborate on to my guidance counselor/academic advisor.
so i know that i need to provide his contact information for the application so that he can send in a report, but can he see the rest of the application? or is it hidden to him?
Your guidance counselor can’t read the Common App unless you give him your login info. At my school our counselor recommended we let her look at our app so she could proofread it, but if you don’t want to you don’t have to!
@HRSMom for the essays, its not exactly that i don’t want him to see, it’s just that i’d feel awkward to be completely honest, by writing personal things and having him read them. and then with activities, the deal is that one of my school’s goals is to be really involved in the student’s lives as a whole, like, our advisors know everything about us, we discuss our personal lives and decisions extensively with the teachers we’re close to, and that’s expected in the school environment. now last year, while i was in a pretty high up leadership position, the admin team at my school (which includes the “guidance counselor”, who’s actually the vice principal of academics) and my family had multiple falling outs for reasons i won’t get into. in fact, it was mostly him and the other vice principal against us, so after that, my parents had me “separate” more from the school in that sense. now, it’d be pretty awkward for him to sit down and see all the big ECs ive been doing outside the school, since he’s supposed to be involved in all that but we’ve pushed the school away. same goes for the essays.
so thats just why id prefer he not read my app, even though we’re fine now and he likes me, im just not really comfortable with that.
You should have an adult read your app… Students are not the best judge a lot of times regarding what is too personal, and also whether they are effectively communicating what they mean to get across. It also helps to have another set of eyes proofreading. If it is too personal for anyone at your school to read, or you think they would not agree or be offended, I really have to wonder if you are using the best judgement in choosing your subject.
@intparent oh yeah, of course i’ll have a bunch of other adults read over my essays : ) someone who’s helping me with applications is actually the one who suggested the one personal topic
Well, that is good. I still think you should be carefully considering if your topic makes a college admissions officer want to have you on campus. Anything that gives a whiff of not getting along with people at your school will not help your case.
Also, are you aware that colleges sometimes contact the GC to ask questions about the applicant? And that can include questions about your ECs. I’d suggest that you would be well served to fill your GC in on the outside activities you have been doing so they don’t tell a college that it doesn’t sound right to them…
That’s all fine then. They won’t read it. I just didn’t want you to be mentioning any bad blood in your essay! Sounds like you are not though. Good luck!
@intparent the personal thing is nothing that would hint at what happened with the GC, it just about my experience with my mom, who’s got a chronic illness, how it affected me growing up, and how its turned my family into one of the biggest parkinson’s advocates in the country.
yeah, ill talk about all the stuff with him at some point : ( he already knows some of it, since he knows why i’ve been missing some school, but ahhhh it’s just gonna be awkward. thank you so much though!