<p>i don't really remember how it was for me, however my sister is applying right now. she heard back from the one school in (gasp) a week, the other school in about a three weeks, and another school in about a month.. which makes me think her guidance counselor is on the ball. i know she told me she's been going there a lot during free periods.</p>
<p>How can a public school GC actually try and enforce application limits though? Isn't it up to the students how many schools they apply to? I understand if she would prefer or recommend 8 max, but to not send anything out past the 8th? That doesn't seem right.</p>
<p>This is not unusal as many schools can and do enforce application limits especially when there are limited resources to get the work done . Someone has to copy and seal all of the transcripts write the evaluations and keep track of schools. If a school only has one 1 gc for a couple of hundred kids, then whose application package is not pulled together because a GC is pulling information for one student who applies to 20 schools. Even when appling to SUNY you must pull together a transcript for each school even though you are applying to 4 schools on an application. So at out school for 100 students, if all apply to 8 schools that is 800 packages that need to be put together in addition to their regular caseload of work (remember the rest of the school does not stop running during application season). Even though this is part of their "job" (and you won't find it in thier union contract that it is part of their job), most GCs are unpaid for the extra time it takes to do this and many schools, especially those with a low income population don't have the resources to hire a person to help (I know at my D's school the PTA allocates 75,000 to have 2 people to come in and assist).</p>
<p>What I have found when you have a limited number of schools, it forces the student to do research and to choose their schools carefully. When my D had the 8 school limit after doing research, visiting and talking about the money, I suggested that she look at it from this perspective; choose your schools on the basis that if this is the only school you are admitted to would you be glad to go? Using that as a premise, she could not come up with 8 schools and she had very specific things in mind when it came to choosing a college as a result picked 7 schools and was accepted at all the schools she applied to.</p>
<p>sybbie, if your kid was accepted at all 7 seven schools, then either 1) your kid has incredible credentials; and/or your kid applied to 7 safety schools (why? if you're a shoo-in, one is enough). For many well-qualified kids aiming at top colleges, odds are unpredictable. Applying to 8 or more highly-selective colleges tips the odds a bit. High school GCs are completely unjustified in limiting apps. They can charge for preparing transcripts (they usually do), but it is not their place to limit students' choices.</p>
<p>My counselor hadn't heard of Harvey Mudd =)</p>
<p>the 8 school limit was just how it was (and still how it is) the school got approval from the administration and the school district to do so and the 8 school limit stands. Remember the school does ultimately decide how they are going to allocate their resources. As I stated earlier, if you are appying to 6 CUNYs, $ SUNYs and 6 privates, you have 16 applications out there. </p>
<p>Also keep in mind the cost of applying to college is not cheap, you must pay application fees, cost to have test scores released, mailings, etc. It can become a very expensive process.</p>
<p>This is not outside of the norm as most students only apply to 6 to 8 schools. I can understand why someone would have to cast a wide net especially if they were dependent on merit money or some sort of specialized program that is only offered at a certain number of schools, otherwise from what I have seen on the boards over the years, there are students who just apply to a range of schools where the schools could not be more different from each other (at some level this does display that the student/family did not really do a lot of research). Personally, I can't see how students apply to the whole list of ivies when they are all so different from one another but people do it every year.</p>
<p>That's just it, she did not apply to 8 highly selective schools nor she did not apply to 7 saftey schools but a comibination of reach, match and safety schools. </p>
<p>I think she put a lot of time in researching her schools,coupled with a lot of visits she knew what she wanted and what she didn't (there were schools that she did eliminate once she visited,had the opportunity to sit in on classes and spoke with other students). </p>
<p>She went in definitely knowing what she wanted she wanted: small to medium school, study abroad programs, emphasis on undergrad teaching (that in an of it self eliminated a lot of schools) so all of her schools really did have a lot of overlap. She also knew why she wanted to attend each school and why that school would be a good fit for her.</p>
<p>thought I'd throw this out there as well, since the topic is partly whether this is part of the GCs job or not....</p>
<p>at my school when we began this process, the head advisor not-so-subtly suggested that we make sure we remember to thank our interviewers, thank everyone at every college we visit, and of course, thank our teachers who write a letter of rec (with a monetary gift certificate highly suggested) implying that we ought to consider thanking our GC for all of their work too. </p>
<p>I have written letters of thank yous and purchased several gift certificates to the local coffee house....</p>
<p>and i sent in many applications requiring my GCs help- because don't forget that all of the full-ride scholarships need an ADDITIONAL letter of rec, some of the letters very specific, and most want another transcript, etc.- so all in all my GC has sent in probably 20+ applications in all for me...and we still like each other - now that is success!</p>
<p>Now I thought most schools nowadays have a strict policy on giving presents to teachers/administrators. I know my D's school district does. </p>
<p>My D said she does not know of anyone in her class giving any type of present to a G.C. or teacher for writing recommendations.</p>
<p>S gave an inexpensive gift to his GC because the GC had worked hard to tweak his schedule over three years and to get everything done so he could graduate early. I think it was a mug, but don't remember clearly (Gc said "You shouldn't have" but appeared pleased). For the teachers, S wrote thank you cards.</p>
<p>I replied a LONG time ago on this thread...but here is my feeling about HS guidance counselors. The bottom line is that the application process is the STUDENT'S, not the GC's. In my opinion, it is up to the student to make sure that all documents, etc, get sent in a timely fashion. Yes, this might mean hounding the guidance office. It also means checking WITH your colleges to be certain that all materials have been received. Our kids got (frequent) postcards with lists of missing documentation for their aps. They copied them and took them to the guidance office. When we got two from one school (clearly, the "stuff" had NOT been sent), we sent letters to Guidance and copied them to the principal. The "stuff" got sent. Guidance offices (in public schools) typically have too many students assigned to each GC...thus the restrictions on numbers of aps at some schools, or the inefficiencies at others. </p>
<p>Re: gifts...DS's GC did NOTHING to help him...nada. She didn't even get a note of thanks. She actually told him "you shouldn't bother applying to BU...you'll NEVER get accepted there." When he did, he presented her a copy of his letter of acceptance AND his merit award. She was incompetent, not overworked...incompetent.</p>
<p>DD's GC was fine and did get the "stuff" done on time. He too queried her on her school choices saying she was "reaching too high". Well...she's at her first choice school. He got a nice thank you note from DD.</p>
<p>We did give small gifts to the teachers who mentored both kids in high school, but not until AFTER graduation. In both cases, it was the music teachers, and in both cases we got gift cards to restaurants they liked. In DS's case (he's the music major), this was very important to do as the music teacher went way above and beyond all expectations for four full years. When the GC said she couldn't help DS with schools (other than to be discouraging), the music teacher stepped in.</p>
<p>My son drops in to say hi to his GC, give him an update on his college progress and thank him again for all his help. That may be the best gift of all. He said that Mr N was always glad to see him and give him 15 minutes of his time. BTW, he does the same with many of his favorite teachers as well.</p>
<p>Unfortunately his GC retired at the end of last school year. He was a great guy and very helpful to our son and others under his guidance. Fortunately the many things he implementated to streamline the college app process have been retained.</p>
<p>A friend of mine missed the ED deadline because his GC forgot that enevelopes typically should have stamps on them. He still got in RD though</p>
<p>We solved the address/postage issue by GIVING the guidance department stamped and addressed envelopes for their mailings.</p>
<p>S's HS has a gift limit of $50 per teacher/staff person, per family, per year. His GC has met with him many times, gone all-out to get good info for a rec. (brag sheet from parents, 3 info sheets from teachers, spending time with S). He's met with me once, would meet, I'm sure, as often as I asked. Quickly answers e-mailed questions, and on our first round of college visits, found students (recent grads of our HS) at several of the schools who were willing to meet with us during our visit; really helpful!! This is a GC at a public school who probably has about 100 students going to college and another 50 who he's helping to map out a post-high school plan.</p>
<p>I very much will want to give him a gift at the end of the year. Yes, he's doing his job, but not everyone does it so well. I know he doesn't expect it, but it will be my pleasure. I also brought in locally made chocolates for the teachers who did recs (after I knew the recs were sent). It's certainly not necessary, but I think it's ok if a parent or kid wants to do it. The one teacher rec we did see would probably glow in the dark!! Am I grateful? YES!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I very much will want to give him a gift at the end of the year.
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</p>
<p>A highly complimentary letter addressed to the head of the guidance department (with a copy to the principal and one to the counselor) is always the right size and color. ;)</p>
<p>Marion</p>
<p>NICE IDEA!!!</p>
<p>my gc is the best...very helpful!</p>
<p>I go to an international school in the US, so for essays our college counselor just tells people to write about how international they are, nevermind the fact that half of them have never lived outside of metropolitan DC, let alone in another country. Personally, I'm a Swedish foreign service brat, but I really hope there's more to me than which countries I've lived in.</p>
<p>Edit: I don't want to come across as condescending; moving all over the world isn't in any way preferable to staying in one place... but "My Oh-So-International Background" is such a trite essay topic.</p>
<p>My guidance office didn't really help at all except sending my transcripts and writing me one recommendation that I have never seen (so i don't know what she said about me) My gc DID believe I was suicidal though, so i don't think she would've written anything too nice... (she thought i was suicidal, but still forgot to call me back for counseling or whatever. I'm perfectly happy about living, thanks)</p>
<p>They never messed up sending any materials though, so I guess I'm somewhat lucky. They took only a day preparing my materials (transcripts) and were pretty nice about it (after sending like 5 transcripts, they charge students a dollar per transcripts though)</p>
<p>But in any other areas (writing my application, choosing my school, etc) i never talked to my counselor about it and she didn't help me any.</p>
<p>not very helpful at all....they basically tell you you can get in anywhere.</p>