<p>^^Still better than nothing, which is the case in many other schools.</p>
<p>I am the mother of an 11th grader for whom official college counseling is about to kick in at Andover. I have a somewhat different view on college counseling: the advice students need to prepare themselves for good outcomes should be coming all along as part of their high school experience, and I like the idea of official college counseling kicking in when it does. Here’s why:</p>
<p>If kids get (1) good advice on choosing the right classes from their academic advisor, (2) pursue extracurriculars they are interested in, and (3) take PSAT, SAT, and what subject tests to take after particular classes (which my daughter seemed to find out in 10th grade, not sure if from teachers/other students/academic advisor), that’s plenty. These things don’t require involvement with the college counseling office. At these schools, college prep is intrinsic to the academic program. </p>
<p>I like the focus being on high school for at least a couple of years before officially engaging with college counseling and getting the message, OK, now it’s time to focus on things beyond…</p>
<p>I am re-posting the comments I made in another thread. Feel free to disagree (or agree).
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<p>What you say doesn’t correspond to what I see at Andover, maybe it’s the situation elsewhere. I see the plethora of adults who are in contact with my daughter as all helping her have a successful high school career, where she learns and is challenged and does things she is interested in. The next stage is to match up her talents and interests with appropriate schools. If a student needs more specific nudging and guidance to get it right, then Andover probably isn’t the right place for her. </p>
<p>And I really don’t get the vibe that the school recruits students with special hooks just so that their matriculation stats will look good. I think they recruit smart violinists so that they will have an orchestra that sounds good, and smart runners so that they will have a good track team, and smart kids in general so that their classes can have stimulating discussions and operate at a high level. The good college matriculation follows but isn’t the driving motivation. But again, this is just my impression of one school.</p>
<p>Sorry for not being clear on the context of those comments. I was talking about the lack of individual “customized” support up till college conseling starting in the junior year. If your child is getting all the support she needs at her school, good for her! What I see in some schools however is that they pretty much keep the college admission consideration out of the picture in the first two years, and let the young teens swim all by their interests - as a result some can be too inactive while others “over active”. The support systems are helpful mostly only to kids who have clear directions and actively seek help, while many kids in their early high school years need more guidance in setting directions, defining goals and reaching focus. The first two years are actually pretty important for a good college outcome. By the junior year, the workload is too high to tap into “new areas” that can potentially make a student stand out in her own way, so the college outcome becomes an “inevitable” outcome partly based on what you have laid foundation for in the first two years. This is partly my observation and partly a summary of some other CC parents’ complaints.</p>
<p>Erlanger: Can you clarify your post - are you saying that you didn’t find it beneficial to get some of the SAT subejct tests out of the way in 10th grade, or were you saying you wish she had?</p>
<p>I think College counselling beginning JR. year is too late. Example–my D didn’t get any input in course selection as a sophomore (other than honors vs. reg choice). I wish she had better information (is that too much to ask a very expensive college prep school?) so she could have picked classes with an eye towards what colleges want to see by the time she is beginning her fall of senior year–frankly sr. year classes are too late and don’t help much of anything (other than schools don’t want to see kids slack off). So in our case, with SAT IIs for example, my D will have to fit them all in jr. year to have what she needs for colleges. Some folks may think that is fine, others may think it is a lot to ask a jr. given PSATs/SATs/APs/ACTs plus school workload, sports, etc. My point is that I only wish I had more information from the school earlier so we could have made more educated decisions that included her sophomore course selection in this regard.</p>
<p>Thanks erlanger, these sort of things are helpful knowing going in.</p>
<p>@erlanger
I only really know one school, but your Ds experience is not our experience. There was always lots of information about what colleges expected, and when to take tests. My D knocked off the Bio SATII freshman year, the college advising office communicates at least once a year about expectations and courseload. Academic advisors are well versed on what colleges are looking for and advise on activities and course selection accordingly. I wonder if your issues are more specific to the your Ds school, and less of a general problem at BS. Like lemonade1 I am happy with the level of college advising for underclassmen, and glad it does not get too formal until junior year.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong. I think my child’s school is great in many aspects, but I see very little college admission related guidance in the first two years. As a matter of fact, when I talked to the advisor about the sophomore year course selection. Barely did I utter the word college, she acted so surprised that it made me feel like I was crazy talking about college so early! It was funny but I was a little ****ed off nonethless by her being out of touch and frankly hipocrisy (I couldn’t be the first parent ever who mentioned that evil word. LOL)</p>
<p>Does every BS junior take the PSAT???</p>
<p>I’ve been happy with the college counseling office at our daughter’s school so far. They hold a Saturday morning meeting for parents of freshmen and sophomores, to acquaint them with the process. I’ve attended both, and each session has ended with a question-and-answer period for parents. There’s information available on the school’s website. Sophomores take the PSAT for practice. In February of Junior year, there is a weekend devoted to preparing the parents of the juniors for the grueling process of college admission.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want my child’s high school career to be shaped with an eye to “what the colleges want to see.” I rather think the college prep curriculum should do that. The small classes in a private school mean that teachers are writing recommendations about students they know well. I think that makes a difference. A friend told me her daughter’s public high school relied upon a questionnaire filled out by the parents to write the school’s recommendation. </p>
<p>This is an interesting question-and-answer session: [Q</a>. and A.: College Admissions - NYTimes.com](<a href=“Q. and A.: College Admissions - The New York Times”>Q. and A.: College Admissions - The New York Times).</p>
<p>It looks like most BS parents on CC are satisfied with their kids schools’ college counseling. If so, I’ll rest my complaint and my “constructive suggestions”. I personally, like many of you - I believe - know enough about the college admission process to not bother the school until college conseling formally kicks in in the junior year. We can be the intial low level college counselor with no problem - only if our kids take us as seriously as they do their teachers! :)</p>
<p>Dandrew–you are not alone! And I will add is that in my experience parents cannot rely on the schools to be their kids advocate . . .</p>
<p>I have to agree with DAndrew and erlanger. It’s really up to the parents and the kids themselves to make sure the right things are being done. </p>
<p>Madaket - the PSAT was required for all juniors at Exeter - maybe not “required” but it was assumed they would take it and they were automatically signed up. The sophomores took it too - for practice.</p>