<p>Has your guidance counselor (or counselors) have been helpful? If so how? What exactly are they meant to help you with? Are they in charge of your transcript, gpa, etc? I'm so clueless.</p>
<p>I just briefly met my guidance counselor last week and so far she seems nice.</p>
<p>Mine is horrible.</p>
<p>All of the ones at my school on a consistent basis lie to students to get out of changing schedules or in order to not have to tell the student that they don't think the student is up to par to take a certain class. (Sorry, did that make sense. I'm tired)</p>
<p>I've been lied to so many times. I can't stand her.</p>
<p>Mine was okay. Not particularly helpful and I always resented the fact that one year he told me that I should take math instead of band. But he was a nice guy overall and I didn't dislike him. I really only talked to him a couple times overall.</p>
<p>My friend had a horrible one though who forced her to take a math class that she did not need to graduate and that she had already failed once before. Math was NOT my friend's forte (obv) and she wanted to take something else that would be useful instead of a class she was just going to fail again. Finally at semester my friend got her dad to go in and chew the lady out so that my friend could switch into a different class. The whole situation was ridiculous. There didn't even need to be a conflict.</p>
<p>Most of them are completely useless in my school. Honestly the knowledge I gained from CC far exceeds that of my grade counselor. She knows nothing about the importance of getting into decent colleges and she does NOT know what she's doing. (not to mention her frequent mental breakdowns after seeing a plethora of students waiting to see her outside her office for course changes)</p>
<p>Mine is nice, but entirely useless. You see, NO ONE from my school goes to places like the Ivy League schools. No one has gone to a Top 20 in about the last 20 years or so. It is a perfectly mediocre school which is content on staying that way indefinetely. So consequently, she (and the other counselors) know very little about anything besides getting kids into the local state schools, and consequently, I would have been completely screwed if I hadn't found CC. With CC, I'm only mostly screwed.</p>
<p>Currently, my counselor is refusing to check the "Most Difficult" courseload level on my application despite the fact that I've taken advanced classes since 10th grade, doubled up on science classes during 11th grade (which no one here EVER does, because everyone goes to state schools) while taking all advanced classes, took calculus over the summer to catch up with a curriculum that stuck me in the regular class track in SEVENTH GRADE, and am currently taking the most difficult schedule of anyone in my school. Perhaps I am a bit angry at her right now and am letting this affect my judgement, especially because the next month will now have to be spent convincing her to give me that magical checkmark which I've worked for for the past 3 years. Perhaps. Just a tiny bit. :)</p>
<p>Honestly, though, even kids who are fortunate enough to go to Ivy-feeder schools (which on CC, there are quite a few of) with 20 APs and specialized counselors would never say, "OMG, ILUVMYGUIDANCECOUNSELOR LONGTIME! HEZ/SHEZ SOGRATE!" (in CC terms, of course, which translates to a 5-paragraph essay). "Meh, he/she's okay" is about as good as you'll get. Very few high school students appreciate what they have, educationally and in all other respects.</p>
<p>wanted me to apply to rutgers because NYU was too ambitious of a safety...of course, her opinion was always worthless so this one instance is just a microcosm.</p>
<p>My guidance counselor is very nice about changing my schedule (which I've done numerous times), and I believe I can look forward to a good letter of recommendation from her. And yeah, the guidance office mails out transcripts after you fill out the proper forms, and your counselor can tell you your GPA/rank at a given time.</p>
<p>In freshman year, she told me not to think about college until junior year. Now I can finally bug her about college, but I think I already learned everything I need to know from CC... Especially the "admissions-is-a-crapshoot" spiel. I've read it zillions of times on CC, and I can do without getting it in person. :)</p>
<p>My counselor hasn't really been helpful, but he's nice, and he'll put it in a good word for me. He didn't really tell me anything I don't already know. However, I did tell him all about the IB program one day. He didn't really know what it was, and then I explained it. That was pointless, but it kept me from having to go back to Accounting.</p>
<p>I usually ask my counselor, and then come to CC, and get the right answer here. </p>
<p>AP Students at my school are pretty much free to do what they want. If I told her that I wanted to stop going to 4th period, dropped it, and then napped everyday at lunch, she wouldn't say anything. It's that ridiculous.</p>
<p>She has absolutely no idea about the colleges I'm applying to. I asked her for a letter of recommendation (1 of her 2 responsibilites, the other is schedule changing. Not making schedules, just signing the paperwork for changing courses) and she said, "Just write one, bring it in, and I'll sign it." My jaw literally hit the floor. She continued, "I just wouldn't know what to write."</p>
<p>She's the second most senior campus administrator. Dreadful.</p>
<p>I asked her if I should take AP Psych or AP Physics. Her answer was Psych, because Physics is too hard...
I took Physics.</p>
<p>I'm the editor of my paper, and I just published a story about how horrible the counseling system is at my school.</p>
<p>My previous counselor was stupid. She had no clue what she was doing and didn't even know how to do schedules. Then, she refused to allow me to a drop a course i hated, because she was friends w/ the teacher who taught that class.</p>
<p>Now, i have a new one. Hopefully, she's better.</p>
<p>Mine isn't extremely helpful. I hardly see her aside from class changes or putting in college classes. Thankfully, there's a college center at my school. I'm practically in there on a daily basis scouring for new college-related information. Most of the student helpers are useless unless I actually wanted to go to an in-state school (Which I'd kill myself if I had to stay in California, haha), so I stick with talking to the ones who are over it. </p>
<p>Plus, my college counselor's really convincing; if you come to her asking about what to do, and you don't do it, she'll practically haunt you down until you do it. Which is why I'm still in APUSH. Which works out, because the teacher there happens to be my favorite!</p>
<p>Oh, man, don't even get me started. She's terrible. </p>
<p>I'll control my rant, and just say this:</p>
<p>She lost my AP Euro test twice.</p>
<p>She procrastinated on filling out a kid's recommendation for the U of M. He was perfectly qualified for the institution, and would have likely gotten in if he had had his application in early (and, as I understand it, he gave her the rec early in the year), but he was waitlisted and is now attending the local CC.</p>
<p>She's very nice and pretty knowledgeable, but I sometimes have to correct her. I think she just rushes through things too quickly, and that's why she always makes mistakes.</p>
<p>I used to have a TERRRRRIBLE counselor, but somehow got a new one this year [HUH new couselor every year of high school now... how are they supposed to get to know me exactly?!]. So far I like her a lot, but I dunno how much she actually knows about like... stuff. lol.</p>
<p>Uhg, I forgot to mention how bad she is with colleges. She doesn't know anything.</p>
<p>Mine is very nice, but has this idea that I will have no problem getting into any school I want to. Ironically, she printed off information on ivy league schools from the main part of this site, thus how I found CC.</p>
<p>Other than that though, she pretty much just tells me to wait and not to worry while nothing gets down. Right now she wants me to wait while she gets around to signing me up for my SAT in November. (Need it to apply to state magnet) Don't I have to sign my self up online? Our school doesn't administer the SAT anyway.</p>
<p>And she keeps forgetting my schedule and keep trying to sign me up for stupid classes. My principal has to micro-manage everything so he has to personally approve my schedule.</p>
<p>Oh, and my story (from last year):</p>
<p>Me: "So I'm having trouble with AP _______ online."
Her: "What with"
Me: "Mostly the crazy tests."
Her: "So why don't you use your book?"
Me: "We aren't allowed to."
Her: "Well no one will know. I use my books on my online graduate courses. Pssh... 'No books allowed' You know what? Maybe I'm just that smart."</p>
<p>^ The online class I was going to take required your tests were proctored!</p>
<p>My counselor is nice as well, but not very helpful. Fairly incompetent and definitely not one of those "prep school all supportive informative" counselors.</p>
<p>It is what it is, though...some have it worse than I do.</p>
<p>It's going to bite when I have to get recomendations from mine. We have a mutual hatred of each other, or so it seems.</p>
<p>Suffering from boredom so im bumping the thread....My guidance counselor is racist and talks down to those who arent lighter than cafe au lait which includes me.</p>