Guidance slow to send Docs

My problem is not my Son identifying what his accomplishes are, or getting Ref Letters… it’s getting Guidance to write their Ref Letter and send the OFFICIAL Transcripts to the colleges! Guidance presents again and again (verbally and documented) the ‘Value of Applying as early as possible’, where this was August 1st when Common App & Internal sites opened… then tell Parent that the earliest they will send out required documents is Oct 1-15?
Of my Son’s 8 colleges… 5 have said they would review his App NOW but it is not complete (i.e. missing Transcript and Ref Letters)? Have escalated all the way to the State DOE but they take between 90-180 days to address… which is too later anyway.
When normally does Guidance send info out for any of you?

@College2018Hopeful I hear your frustration but your school’s guidance department dates sound about right. Our school doesn’t accept requests to send info until the last week of September. Required transcripts and info doesn’t begin to get sent until October around the same time as your school.

Why are you in such a hurry? Does he have deadlines that he won’t meet if the guidance office sends materials in October?

FWIW, our high school has similar timing and it didn’t affect my daughter adversely. Rolling application schools reviewed her app as soon as the material was received. It was fine. You need to relax.

Our guidance department prioritizes students who have firm early deadlines for ED/EA. I don’t think they send anything at all before 9/30 unless there is an unusually dearly deadline. The more time they spend dealing with parents, the less time they have to work on the application materials. We have 500 seniors, 6 counselors and one person responsible for coordinating the transcripts.

If your son really has a school that says that chances of getting in are greatly improved if he submits everything no later than September, then he should go to the guidance office with written information from the college to see if he can get that application prioritized.

Rolling admissions schools are not going to be rejecting applicants who get their materials in by mid-October.

It is very common. Most colleges will still accept the docs even after the deadline for things (they know the letters & transcripts sometimes lag). I feel like UMichigan maybe is very strict from past years? Be sure HIS components (app, supplements, test scores, fees) arrive by any application or scholarship deadline. Communicate clearly (but very politely) to the GC office and letter writers what the deadlines are. Okay to follow up a couple times. But you need their good will. School has only been in session a couple of weeks. Chill unless there is a scholarship, ED, or EA deadline. And even then, remember that the college has thousands of apps to review. They don’t pounce on your kid’s the second it arrives. It will get reviewed.

I agree.

Each and every application is of incredible importance to the kid submitting it, but there are only so many hours in the day. Guidance/ college placement counselors are doing their best to get each packet to all the places it needs to be before the deadlines.

But so many kids are applying to 8-10 schools-- some more-- and each school needs a whole packet. The packets aren’t all the same. And there’s an entire Senior class to process.

ED and EA apps must have the first priorities because their deadlines come first.

Then too, there are college fairs to prep, college rep visits to coordinate, a whole class to educate as to the process, and a whole list more.

Our College Placement office is among the busiest in the school. The people there work incredibly hard-- it’s rare to see them take lunch away from their desks this time of year. They get to school early and leave late, just so each kid will have his/her applications where they need to be before they need to be there.

Your state department of education is NOT going to address this issue…at all.

Your son has an application submitted to the school. Unless the school is missing some hard deadline, just be patient…it will all get sent by mid October at the latest…according to your son’s school.

Your expectations are very unreasonable.

Our hs had over 600 graduating Srs and about 7 or 8 counselors who also handled other grades. Their letters of recommendation were always the last to go out. Transcripts were handled differently and seemed to always go out within a day or two of being requested. At our school they did say nothing would go out until you had met with your counselor after the first week of school. At that meeting the student told them what and where they planned on applying to and if any had REALLY early requirements. Other than that the office promised everything would be submitted by the deadline which you put in Naviance (must be 2 weeks in the future) or no later than just before Thanksgiving break. I know we had our first acceptance letter Sept 13 (that one didn’t require a GC letter) last year and all in by Oct 15. The Honors college acceptances were later. In TX Oct 1 is a little late (only by a week or two) but on the East coast that seems reasonable.

Remember…on the east coast…some schools have only been in session for three weeks.

This poster seems to be looking at a number of NJ public colleges…so maybe a NJ resident?

Please…agreed…relax. These documents WILL get sent.

Thanks to all for the feedback.

As to the note that ‘State not responding’… the issue was escalated as an ethical violation of ‘no response to a registered request’ and it was responded to. The ‘request process’ itself I agree is a ‘district issue’ and I agree that would not represent an ethics violation.

As to ‘unrealistic expectations’… you might be right if he was simply submitting an application for entrance, as is the case with many students. He is not, as the Honors College/Programs have difference selection/review criteria, much more demanding and specific and many Merit Scholarship reviews do as well, some even able to preview before acceptance. As to the raw data held by Guidance, the Transcripts reflect Junior data only. GPA/Ranking… same. Guidance does not need to even include Sr Courses selected, as per statements by multiple Admissions Teams. ALL of the schools contacted also willing to accept the Sr schedule as unofficial from the student. Reference Letters in this situation were completed months ago and sit.

As to Guidance effort required… Electronic submissions to colleges via Naviance and Parachute take a combined approx. of 3 minutes to choose, address and send said documents so that is not unrealistic to request. I work with both so I know the process and effort required.

All required docs could have been sent when initially requested back in July, during the quite period for Guidance as they were fully staffed during that time, as per State law. All target colleges, even reach schools such as Princeton, Columbia, and MIT, accept student data well before applications have been received, similar to how they do with SAT/ACT scores from early Junior’s.

Is Guidance overworked… probably. Does Guidance have other responsibilities, of course. I am cognizant of their workload… based just on the number of students per Counselor BUT… That again is why starting the process, for early adopter students who have valid needs, in the summer makes sense. Win-Win and currently in place in many states, again as per NACAC conference.

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