<p>I don't think the school counselor meant anything negative, but she threw in the word "quirky" along with other adjectives meant to describe my son. I believe she was trying to say that he is unusual, but in a positive way. However, I'm concerned that it could be miscontrued. Any thoughts on this?</p>
<p>should be okay if it also includes other good stuff; many schools like quirky. :)</p>
<p>At least where I'm from, quirky has a very positive connotation.</p>
<p>The smarter a person is, in my experience, the more likely they are to be describable as "quirky".</p>
<p>I think it's probably fine, though I did read a book called Quirky Kids which was clearly about kids much quirkier than mine!</p>
<p>I think quirky is a great quality in a teenager...to me, it means that they think for themselves and follow their own path.<br>
Do you feel like it's an accurate description? Did you feel like the other adjectives were accurate?</p>
<p>I never heard it used in a negative way...</p>
<p>How are you even seeing the counselor's letter? At my daughter's school, that was top secret. The teachers' recs also.</p>
<p>siliconvalleymom: It would definitely be accurate to say that he thinks for himself and follows his own path. The other adjectives were not a problem.</p>
<p>I knew I could count on my C.C. friends to set me straight. Thanks y'all!</p>
<p>Colleges love quirky</p>
<p>I guess I'm not as sure as the rest of you. In the parent cafe there's an article about a girl with Aspergers where the word quirky is used and they infer the child will have a difficult path because of it. If I were given this letter for my input, I might ask the counselor what she means and maybe see if a synonym might work instead.</p>
<p>Bravo for your son, being quirky means not being a conformist. I'll bet she needed a way of saying he did things differently, maybe even breaking unspoken rules (some which may have been put in writing after the fact for future students) without sounding negative- it takes an independent self assured teenager to act outside peer norms. If asked how he was quirky I'll bet she could come up with some examples that prove he is an intelligent thinker, one who puts an unexpected twist on things. I'm sure the schools he is interested in, those that would be a good fit for him, value this trait.</p>
<p>Must be a Reedie</p>
<p>Cool</a> Colleges: For the Hyper ... - Google Book Search</p>
<p>I think quirky is good!</p>
<p>I like the word 'quirky', and would think that admissions folks are smart enough to see how it is used in context in the GC's recommendation. </p>
<p>However,perhaps OP is concerned because she remembers 'quirky' being used as a label:
You</a> and Your Quirky Kid | Newsweek Health for Life | Newsweek.com,
or "Quirky Kids: Understanding and Helping Your Child Who Doesn't Fit In—When to Worry and When Not to Worry." by Perri Klass</p>
<p>In the context of college admissions "quirky" is always used as a positive quality.</p>
<p>I continue to have a hard time agreeing here. Is it a NY thing? Everyone I've queried sees it as not being something they would see as a necessary positive. So I went to dictionary.com and look up synonyms:</p>
<p>Synonyms of quirky
bizarre, cranky, curious, erratic, freakish, idiosyncratic, odd, outlandish, peculiar, quaint, queer, singular</p>
<p>Help me understand what I'm missing.</p>
<p>It should be a positive thing, but a little voice inside me says that "quirky" may be becoming a code word for "probably has Asperger's syndrome but has never been diagnosed."</p>
<p>I agree with everyone that quirky is not a negative and generally would be someone who is not a conformist. I think it's always interesting to see the adjectives teachers use to describe our kids because we aren't often able to see them in the context of a large group of other kids other than our the friends of our children. "All-American", "quirky", "athletic", "studious"....they are just generalizations to put a context around someone in a particular setting...think about a work environment "detail oriented", "driven", "operational minded" are all ways of putting a context around someone relative to others in a company. I would imagine admissions uses these contextual remarks as clues to how a particular person might fit into the larger environment. I remember the first time someone in the school said that my S1 was "laid back" and I was so shocked because I'm definitely an A-type...don't know why I was shocked because the more I thought about it I realized he is "laid back." He picked a school where the kids are....smart but definitely laid back...and he's happy as a pig in mud.</p>
<p>I work at Carleton (although not in Admissions), and they <em>like</em> quirky!</p>
<p>My daughter is definitely quirky, and I encourage her to embrace that in her applications. It makes her stand out as an individual.</p>