<p>Does anyone know if counselors can see your application on the common app? Or certain parts of it?</p>
<p>I'm planning on making my essays pretty personal so I wouldn't feel completely comfortable with my counselor seeing them. But more importantly, I want to know if counselors can see which colleges you apply to (in case I apply to mega reach schools, I don't want my counselor calling me down advising me to not, since she is known to do that). Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I know counselors can see all the schools you’re applying too (and anyone who writes you a recommendation letter). They don’t see anything beyond that though (so you’re safe with your essays).</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure violet is correct. One question though, if you’re uncomfortable with your counselor reading your essays, why are you submitting them for a complete stranger (that will be deciding if you are right for their college no less) to read? If it’s that personal or includes info that you aren’t comfortable sharing, I would recommend revising your essay.</p>
<p>Btw, most every counselor would advise against applying to mega reach schools if you don’t have the stats (I don’t know where you stand, but I’m just saying). The valedictorian applying to Harvard isn’t unheard of, but if you’re in the middle of the class, poor GPA, no/ few ECs then your counselor will probably tell you not to just so you don’t get your feelings hurt/ dreams crushed. That’s what they do; however, they can’t stop you from applying, so if you really want to you can.</p>
<p>You do not want to be writing an essay so personal that you can’t show it to someone for help with editing it. And trust me, even the best writers need editing, which means all HS students do. If you read CC long enough, EVERYONE says they have great essays. If you read notes from the people who actually read the essays, most of them say only 5-10% are even decent, not even in the great category. Which means that either CC participants make up the vast majority of the 5-10% and it’s non-CCers who submit all the bad essays, or the people on CC are deluded about how good their essays really are. I would vote for the latter, based on personal experience with my daughter, who truly is a gifted writer, but managed to turn out an awful lot of drivel for some of her first draft college essays.</p>
<p>As for hiding which schools you are applying to, that’s not possible either, because all schools will need official transcripts at some point in the application process, and that requires revealing which schools you applied to. Few GCs will ban you from applying to mega-reach schools, but they might highly discourage it, only because they know you’re wasting your application fee and they have your parents wallets in mind. If you insist, there’s no way to stop you, but remember the adults at your schools have done this hundreds of times - you are doing it once, so they might know a little bit more than you. Listen to them, you might learn something, and they might make it possible to go someplace great by improving your essay or moving you off HYPSM to a school you’ve never heard of that would be perfect for you.</p>
<p>@Violet1996 Thank you.</p>
<p>@Kitten23‌ I go to a small school and everyone knows everyone pretty well. I’m fine with close friends reading it, and with total strangers reading it, but my counselor is too much of an acquaintance that it just feels weird.
Basically, I like keeping my interests to myself. I don’t know…I feel like certain people that kind of know you, but don’t know you THAT well, often paint a sort of portrait of you in their minds of who they think you are, and many times it looks nothing like you, so when they find out something new about you, it can be kind of awkward, like “Huh…I didn’t know you were like THIS.” I don’t know…maybe it’s because I’m a major introvert.
If I absolutely HAD to, I would let her read it; I’d just prefer to not show it to her at all to avoid any awkward confrontation later on.</p>
<p>My SAT and GPA are in fact in the 75th percentile for Harvard; however, I’m more of a Liberal Arts gal and have no interest in Harvard. Call me too pessimistic, but I just consider anything with an acceptance rate below 20% a reach, mostly because it boils down to luck. Perhaps my counselor won’t discourage me from applying, but, like I said before, I like keeping my interests to myself and this includes the colleges I’m applying to.</p>
<p>@MrMom62‌
Thanks for the concern, but where did I say I wasn’t going to let ANYONE read it? I plan to have people I can trust edit it, just not my counselor, for reasons stated above.</p>
<p>As an introvert it may feel weird, but keep in mind that you GC writes you a letter of recommendation. Wouldn’t you want your GC to know you truly well? And as an added bonus, a better knowledge of you = better advice.</p>
<p>Considering your GC knows the admissions process better than anyone that you are likely encounter, to not use their expertise in reviewing your essay is handicapping yourself unnecessarily. And trust me, they have seen far stranger things than you will ever even consider writing. They can also advise you if your essay is a really, really bad idea that will torpedo any chance you have of getting in no matter how well you write it. </p>
<p>Go back to the CC threads in the Fall of 2013 where people are constantly asking about this topic or that topic and my friends think this is so awesome because it makes me so unique and there is usually a chorus of “NOOOOOOOOO! Bad idea!!!” Do not rely on friends or family to read your essay, they know even less than you do about what will work.</p>