Hello
Many times on this forum, I have read that students need to have their counsellor check the box on “the most rigorous course load” compared to their peers if they wish to apply to top institutions. Ok, now this might be a silly question, but is there literally a box that a counsellor checks that says this on a form letter ? Or does the counsellor mention it in narrative form when she is describing the student?
I ask because my junior year student now has her third counsellor in as many years. Her counsellor this year is fresh on the job. And when I asked her about whether my daughter’s course load to date qualified for the “most rigorous” qualification, she didn’t seem to have a clue what I was talking about. She simply assured me that her courses were among the most rigorous offered because they were AP courses, and that she was on track for her college applications.
Yes, I believe there is. It’s on the counselor portion of the Common App for sure and though I haven’t seen it with my own eyes, I believe it is also on the counselor portion of the Coalition App too.
If the counselor is that new and does not know much about the Common App, you may need to tell her that there is a box to check and that it would help the student with admissions if she is applying to selective colleges. My S19 had a new counselor for senior year who didn’t know him (not new to the school just to him). Since the school is so large and they don’t have many kids applying to selective and/or private colleges, I had to be specific about what was needed from her and when.
I asked my D21’s counselor the same question (also prompted by posts on CC). She explained that there is a multiple-choice question on the Secondary School Report. However counselors at our HS do not answer it. Instead they address a student’s course rigor through the narrative letter. Plus the colleges will use the HS profile and the student transcript to look at the student’s rigor in the context of the HS.
Oh, that’s interesting, cof22mom. I wonder if that is also the case with our school.
It is a terrible time to be trying to get answers from the counselors – they are slammed. Every year I wish more that my dd had agreed to go to a private school so we wouldn’t have to advocate/find out any scrap of info ourselves.
It also has ratings for “Academic achievement”, “Extracurricular accomplishments”, “Personal qualities and character”, and “OVERALL”, where the choices are “Below average”, “Average”, “Good (above average)”, “Very good (well above average)”, “Excellent (top 10%)”, “Outstanding (top 5%)”, “One of the top few I’ve encountered (top 1%)”. Obviously, a counselor report with ratings in the highest categories is more helpful, particularly at the most selective colleges.
And then there is the last question:
For the most selective colleges, obviously you want your counselor to recommend you “Enthusiastically”.
I ask because my junior year student now has her third counsellor in as many years. Her counsellor this year is fresh on the job.
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My kids had this same issue at our large public high school - new counselors frequently. However, the control of the school report and the infamous “box” was done by the college counselor, not the academic counselors who help with the schedules.
Many public schools do not have a separate academic counselor who helps with course selections…and a different college counselor who does college stuff. I’ve worked in public education for many years, and in all of my school districts, the students had only ONE school counselor who did it all.
Even at my very wealthy public high school, there was not a separate college counselor.
That is interesting, daffodilpetunia and thumper1. We actually do have a dedicated college counselor though I don’t think my daughter has ever darkened her door! Maybe this is the confusion and her GC doesn’t fill out the form. Good to know as we are meeting with her next week.
The “rigor” of YOUR kid’s HS might have been 7 AP courses. BUT the strength of the rigor is determined based on what each kid’s high school actually offers. Some high schools do not have 7 AP courses, or there are limits scheduling wise on how many a student can actually take.
So…just because it was “7 APs” at one HS does not mean that is the standard for all high schools.
My kids each took two AP courses, and both had “most rigorous” checked on their applications. Because for their high school…at the time…and the rest of their schedule…their schedules were deemed “most rigorous”.
Interesting Thumper1 and KimV2015. Whatever the “secret sauce” is, if there is one, I would like to know what it is. Our school has 15 APs and my daughter if all goes to plan will have taken 8 at most, 7 at min by the time she graduates. This is on par with or better than all except three of her fellow students (class of 300). These three are on track to have one or two more.
What I’ve learned here on CC is that some schools are very transparent about what it takes to get the “most rigorous” check mark, and some that aren’t.
D’s school had college counselors that disclosed specifics about rigor levels at our junior year meeting. Which really was too late for many students because the school was very strict about sequencing for honors/AP tracks. That said, when my D had a major scheduling challenge junior year, the academic dean intervened to be sure that she could substitute with the correct rigor. She was one of only 5 or 6 that got the “most rigorous” check box. I know at other area schools, 20% or more of the class got that checked off.