I come from a school in NYC with 775 seniors. Although we have many Guidance Counsellors, we only have one College Advisor who is in charge of writing recommendations and organizing all of the college applications for those 775 seniors. Our Guidance Counselors don’t have anything to do with the college process at my school.
Because of this, he has allowed us to apply to an unlimited amount of public colleges, but only 6 private colleges. Now I know most of you will say that 6 is enough, but that’s just not part of my admissions strategy.
So, does my school legally have the right to limit the amount of colleges I apply to?
<p>if u really had ur heart set on applying to more than six privates have a talk with him and im sure that he wouldnt mind spending a little extra time for an outstanding student</p>
<p>"that's just not part of my admissions strategy." = you aren't going to get in. You cannot possibly love more than 6 private colleges, applying to that many is a waste of money, and the more Ivies you apply to, the less chance you have of getting into any of them. Yes, it sucks that your counselor is doing that, but 6 is plenty.</p>
<p>^I knew someone was going to say that. But I'm only applying to two Ivies and the rest I genuinely do love and I want to have my options open. Money isn't an issue.</p>
<p>And the college advisor doesn't get to know us at all. He makes us fill out a questionaire, then reads our essays, takes everything home during the holiday season and pops out 775 recommendations.</p>
<p>And to the rest of your post about me not getting in is complete ignorance. And mathematically speaking, the more Ivies you apply to, the better your chances become of getting into atleast one. But thanks for your concern, I definitely know where it's coming from.</p>
<p>I don't know about your applications, but the counselor recommendations were all pretty much the same for mine. My counselor probably used the same essay for all except my first choice in which I asked her to say it was my first choice, so she probably wrote one rec and threw in that sentence for the other. I can't imagine the rec's are what's behind your advisor's limit.</p>
<p>I agree, just tell her to use the same letter for all and apply to as many as you want. Yes, you can love more than 6 schools. And yes it can raise your chances that you will get into one, especially if you are shooting at top 20 schools. And yes, you can get admitted to more than one and maybe all. My D got into 15, including HYP, all top schools. You just have to find a way to show your love for each school. And yes, she was disappointed to have to turn down each of the 14 she didn't accept, because each had an aspect she loved. You own your college admissions process, not your counselor, and you have to live with the results, not her.</p>
<p>You can apply to unlimited CUNY and SUNY schools because everything is basically on one application.</p>
<p>Do the math. You have one GC, 775 students who can apply to 7 schools each . He she must put together 5425 packages with</p>
<p>5425 GC recommendations (even if she make copies, the copies still have to be made and each rec should have an original signature) remember some are common application other schools require their own form</p>
<p>5425 school Transcripts</p>
<p>5425 School Profiles,</p>
<p>Stuff 5425 envelopes</p>
<p>keep track of who is applying to what school. </p>
<p>who has rolling admissions deadlines to be met
Ed deadlines to be met
Coordinate the different RD and ED II deadlines</p>
<p>all between the hours of 8:30 and 3 pm from October to about January and and if s/he works for a NYC public school this is probably happening with no help and the college process is not the only part of the job that needs to be done. </p>
<p>So if he/she doesn't get around to doing someone's stuff because you feel that you are entitled to apply to extra schools whose package do they not do.</p>
<p>Your GC or college advisor may have the option of setting parameters on how many transcripts, rec letters, etc. are "officially" issued, but students have options too. You can always get a rec letter from others, i.e. teachers, employers, community service supervisors, others in the community who know you well, etc. Prioritize the colleges you really want to attend and make sure that the official transcript goes to those schools first.</p>
<p>The GC doesn't have to put packages together. In fact, I wouldn't allow it for my child. There is far too much chance for a screw up with that many students. All the GC should mail is reqs. and those can be copies. You can provide the stamped and addressed envelopes.</p>
<p>Recs, transcripts, secondary school reports...</p>
<p>You might not have the choice whether to "allow it" or not. Maybe the school doesn't want your kid to see the recs. </p>
<p>Do you go to Stuy, thisshhh? I always found it ridiculous why they couldn't hire more gcs. You can apply to multiple UCs too if those are in your radar, but other than that, it's a bit hopeless to get your gc to allow you to apply to more schools.</p>
<p>I think the problem might be with the transcripts because during the year they actually CHARGE us money to have a printout of our transcripts. So maybe he's limiting the amount of schools because of printing the trans'. I dunno. But still, is this legal? I know he can screw up my rec etc, but does my school have the LEGAL right to limit the # I apply to?</p>
<p>Are any of the school you want to apply to part of the Common App? If so, your GC and teachers can write their recs once and copy and mail them to all the Common App schools</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think the problem might be with the transcripts because during the year they actually CHARGE us money to have a printout of our transcripts. So maybe he's limiting the amount of schools because of printing the trans'. I dunno. But still, is this legal? I know he can screw up my rec etc, but does my school have the LEGAL right to limit the # I apply to?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It is not a matter of legalities, but a matter of large schools that do not have a lot of resources. If there are 775 seniors you probably have over 3000 students overall. They can only get so much done during the course of the day especially with limited funding (most likely the reason that you are paying for transcripts paper and ink). They are probably using the most fair and equitable system possible in order to ensure everyone gets what they need. If they do extra apps for you then who do they say no to (and ya know how NYer's like to be on the news with a lawsuit in the making)? Is it fair to turn down the next kid? the process can easily take on a life of its own because they are not obligated to write recs and can virtually live by the letter of their contracts.</p>
<p>Some days it boggles my mind as to how many days you are off in the public school (I need to work for them in my next life) Think about this, school starts I think Sept 6, In October, you are out of school 3-4 days for the jewish holidays, November, you ae out, veteran's day thanksgiving, Christmas and in betveen you got half days, open school nites, parent teacher confrences, staff development days and all the college stuff still needs to be processed.</p>
<p>Compound this with the fact that the schools are still not fully staffed as there are a lot of openings to be filled, teachers are still without a contract and it is an election year for mayor (so Mike's not going to negotiate with any one until the new year) . Not a pretty picture so you would really be on the down side of the power dynamic with a work slow down or people out sick.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If they do extra apps for you then who do they say no to (and ya know how NYer's like to be on the news with a lawsuit in the making)?
[/quote]
Actually, a student threatened to sue Brooklyn's Boys and Girls High School because their counselor only allowed top 5 students to apply to Harvard. Later city officials decided that citywide rules allowed students to apply anywhere they wished.</p>
<p>I don't know of any schools that absolutely demand the GC rec be on a form. They can copy all of them. I seriously doubt they write more than one per student regardless of where they apply.</p>