<p>In answer to a question above, about why colleges require a guidance counselor recommendation for kids from large public schools, I believe the answer is: 1) to uncover any disciplinary problems, and 2) to describe whether the student is taking the hardest classes that are available.</p>
<p>In my kid’s large public high school, I didn’t ask or expect anything out of the guidance counselor. I kept her informed, but I knew she was too busy with the problem kids to provide any help. I did everything I could to make her job easy so that there would not be any problems (stamped addressed envelopes and partially completed forms, etc. provided 2 months early).</p>
<p>I am undecided whether I will do a private counselor again with my younger kids. Of course I will be more experienced and hopefully less neurotic. Our private school counselor knows kids very well and is extremely involved in college admissions process, although as of now is not very experienced. It is a close call for me, I guess will decide when the time comes.</p>
<p>I have a number of private-school clients every year who already have a useful, knowledgeable college counselor at the school. Some families tell the counselor about my involvement and others don’t, but no one has ever mentioned to me that they got fewer services from the school as a result. At the prices the prep schools charge, they would face some very angry parents if they didn’t provide 100% of the services paid for! At the schools I’m talking about (St. Paul’s in NH; Latin School, Francis Parker, and U-High in Chicago; etc.), getting outside help is quite routine. Even the best private schools don’t offer the kind of intensive essay work I do with students.</p>
<p>I encourage all my prep-school clients to make full use of their school resources as well as working with me. Sometimes I get questions that a good GC can answer better than I can. For example, does Teacher X have a good track record of getting recommendees into my client’s target college? As Aniger noted, this is an art rather than a science, and different counselors will give different advice. Each decision is ultimately up to the student/family, so getting inputs from multiple sources can help them make the most well-informed decisions.</p>
<p>My son attended a small private HS. We did use a private counselor and we did let the GC know. The private counselor was actually the former HS principal (many years ago), so they knew him and had no problem working with him.</p>
<p>I do think the school GC slacked off a bit since she knew we were using someone else. Since we had been at the school for 11 years and know all the other families, it was easy to compare notes. We didn’t use the private counselor to get son in anywhere special, we simply had no clue where to steer him and he was overwhelmed with the process. Having a third party spend a fair amount of time with him really helped us all. I don’t know that I would do it again (if he wasn’t an only child). I think some kids benefit from having a private GC and some really don’t need the extra counseling.</p>
<p>Hanna’s exactly right. Only the HS guidance counselor knows the complete picture of what goes on in a particular school, for a given grade. Especially in schools where there is no naviance, only the GC’s know the results of past admissions cycles. Many, if not most, counselors ask parents to submit a “brag sheet” to help them round out their assessments. A parent can always request an appt with a counselor if there is concern that not enough information is available to give a thorough evaluation of a student. Obviously a private counselor will be able to provide a service to the client and is often <em>necessary</em> when there conflict between the student and the parent over deadlines, proofreading, etc. But you can’t just discount the value of the HS counselor; no one else can write: “Of the 323 students in our class, only Johnny X has taken advantage of all the resources we have here at Sweet Valley High.” “The AP Latin teacher in our HS accepts no less than perfection from her students and Jenny G’s 93 is the highest grade she’s ever given.” Etc, etc, etc.</p>
<p>At my high school the only parents that use a private counselor are the “high maintenance ones” whose kids are bright but not at the very top of the class. We don’t live in an area that has many private counselors so this is not mainstream.</p>
<p>I understand why people would be interested in getting one. I have watched my S fumble around with top tier, private school applications (we do offer some assistance) because I felt if he couldn’t handle the admissions part he probably shouldn’t be going to that high level of a university. On the other hand, I know he is competing with kids who had everything polished just right with lots of help. So I am sure our “hands off” policy is probably very naive. </p>
<p>I just wish colleges could be more transparent about exactly what they want so people wouldn’t feel compelled to try to unlock the “secrets” by paying for a private counselor. Our public school GC is great but does have 500 students she is responsible for–she can only do so much.</p>
<p>I have an article stashed in my files that I hand out to prospective counseling clients, if they want it, called, “What an Independent Counselor Can, Can’t, and Could (but Shouldn’t) Do.”</p>
<p>Among the bullet items under the “Can’t” heading they’ll find:</p>
<p>**-See the student in the context of his classmates, andin particular in relation to classmates who have applied to the same college(s).</p>
<p>-Have a clear sense of how that student is regarded by teachers, administrators, and other students and of how much the school will support this students candidacy to particular colleges.</p>
<p>-Be knowledgeable about a high schools relationship with a particular college and with the history of students that have been admitted and denied.**</p>
<p>So these are some of the reasons that communication between the private and school-based counselor can be helpful to all concerned. But, even so, the majority of my clients are still not comfortable telling their school counselor that they are receiving additional help.</p>
<p>My son goes to a smallish high school with about 200 students per class. They have 1 guidance counselor and 1 college counselor. I feel much better knowing that they have a dedicated college counselor. Hopefully she’ll still be there when my son needs her services…lol. His school is relatively new so doesn’t have any sort of rep as of yet with colleges. I don’t know how that will play out later on.</p>
<p>reeinaz … Having a dedicate college counselor is a big plus. I wish all high schools did–if, of course, their counseling loads are reasonable as well.</p>
<p>Re your son’s school being new: There are pros and cons to that. There may not be any established track record for the counselor, students, and parents to use as a guide, and the school may not have yet established a reputation (ideally, a good one) in admission offices. However, I’m a firm believer in what I call the “push pin” theory. That is, the colleges and universities that draw their students from across the country (and around the world) like to also draw them from a broad swath of high schools. Picture a giant map on the wall with a push pin stuck in it for every high school represented in the student body, with the goal being to get as many push pins as possible. So if your son’s high school is not already represented, some admission folks may be hot to add a new pushpin. (Admittedly, my theory is a bit of an oversimplification, and you’d need a gymnasium-sized wall to accommodate all the pushpins that some colleges would require, but I think you get the idea.)</p>
<p>Many “Independent Educational Consultants” are grossly overpaid for their work, especially in the NY metro area. For $1500 we received a very generic college list from our consultant. She listed schools that were really inappropriate for our s! When we asked her to modify the list & find schools to match his personality, she asked for an additional $300. Luckily, we found CC, as well as great advice from our accountant! Our s happened to like all the colleges recommended by our friend/accountant.</p>
<p>I agree with Hanna. Please tell your friends that they can get excellent advice for a tenth of what you paid. This sort of rip-off gives the independent counseling business a bad name and makes many families believe that private counseling is out of reach, even when it isn’t. </p>
<p>It’s also one of the reasons why school counselors tend to get their backs up if they learn that a student is receiving outside help.</p>