<p>With all the advances in technology, and mechanisms as simple as email and Facebook, I am surprised that our high school makes no effort to get feedback from recent graduates about how they like their colleges. Through Naviance, we know a lot about the GPAs and boards of the kids who enroll at schools, but it would be great to know if they then hated it and transferred out or loved it beyond their dreams, despite it being their safety. I am seeking to persuade the school to do so. Does anyone get this sort of information from their high school?</p>
<p>Just on an ad hoc basis. Many of our grads come back for visits at least once during their college career and let us know what they think of their colleges.</p>
<p>There was a survey company that called my son after his freshman year of college. They said they’d been hired by his high school to collect data. They asked him several questions that primarily pertained to how well his high school had prepared him for college.</p>
<p>We have an evening event where college freshman from a variety of schools are invited to talk to kids and parents. Also, I know my ds has kept up with kids via FB on his own.</p>
<p>Ours invites former students to come back for a question and answer session during Christmas. Mostly new freshman return, and the kids tend to address most of their questions to them since they know them the best. But I really appreciate the few upperclassmen who return. There’s a real change in perspective. They are the only ones I hear saying distribution requirements are a good thing. Last year one told about changing his major because of a science class he was dreading having to take. He loved it.</p>
<p>Who would do it? That is asking an awful lot from the office personnel and I think there may be confidentiality issues depending upon how the information was gathered. </p>
<p>Particularly at public schools and even more particularly in my state, CA, asking an already overworked and underpaid staff to do one more time-consuming thing just because “it would be nice to know” would likely come across as presumptuous and maybe a bit imperious even if you didn’t mean it to.</p>
<p>If someone independently wanted to make the effort of obtaining contact info via fb or something I can see where that would be somewhat helpful but if someone wanted to see this done with school involvement I would suggest that they go to the office with deference and volunteering to take the project on themselves.</p>
<p>Historymom, I agree it is always important in communications with schools, as with CC postings or anything else, not be presumptuous or imperious or even just impolite.
I also agree that any student who does not wish their destination disclosed should have their wishes respected.
Obviously, different schools have different budget and staffing issues–as noted by other posters, some schools are already doing this, even paying outside firms to do so-- but I agree that a volunteer with a Facebook page could accomplish quite a bit with the school’s endorsement.
Where such student feedback can be most helpful, of course, is with out of state colleges with few recent attendees; for example, NY students may already hear a lot about Syracuse, or even Penn State, but are unlikely to hear much about Roanoke; Kalamazoo; or Puget Sound, all well-regarded small colleges.</p>
<p>historymom, our school has e-mail info for the kids who are in the college who took college prep classes. They send out a mass e-mail, and I think create an event on Facebook as well. Ours is just held during the library during the day. The staff has no idea what college students will show up when, but there are always plenty of them. The teachers in senior English classes bring their students to the library that day. Parents are welcome to drop in. It’s always been incredibly loosely organized and incredibly successful. I think the college students really look forward to coming back and sharing their experiences. We do get fewer upperclassmen. The students that come range from those who stay in-state to those in LACs and Ivies. They don’t just talk about their colleges specifically, but what prepared them well in HS, what they wish they would have done differently, how they have made the adjustment, etc. There are lots of questions from the current HSers, so they usually open each hour with a brief intro of who is there and what college they attend, and then open it up for questions.</p>
<p>A couple of their AP teachers have asked my kids to come talk to their classes when they’re in town, but there’s nothing formal through the school.</p>
<p>As with Posts #4 & 5, our HS has a night in early Jan when a panel of kids comes back and speaks to parents and students. They make a point of including kids from state schools, private schools, reaches and a variety of geographic areas. They also include a couple of kids who are attending local colleges and living at home. It’s organized by the PTA, but I’m sure there’s some input from the guidance dept…</p>
<p>Our school changed it’s finals policy after surveying recent graduates. It used to be that if you had and A in the first three quarters of school and (I think) an A going into the last semester, you didn’t have to take the final. The top students told the school that they felt unprepared for the big college tests because they were not used to be tested on a whole years worth of material. So now not only do all the students have finals in all classes (including gym), they also have midterms.</p>
<p>They also have some freshman come back at their Christmas break and talk to the seniors in early January. They might have other college kids (soph., juniors, seniors) there too but I’m not sure about that.</p>
<p>My local (public) high school invites former grads to come back and discuss their college experiences in October when many of them have a semester break. The student government kids organize it through email and Facebook. Alums also stop by the school on an ad hoc basis when they’re in town and will often talk to their old teachers as well as younger HS kids. It’s a good way to get information on a colleges that a HSer might not otherwise obtain.</p>