<p>Stopped in at the HS yesterday for senior pictures (!!) and as we walked out we passed the College Counseling office. The admin was there, entering some stuff, but the actual college counselor doesn't work in the summer. Doesn't make appointments for the school year DURING the summer. 1 college counselor for 500+ students.</p>
<p>Our neighboring community has much larger class size but 15 college counselors! And they're open during the summer, when so many kids are are going on visits.</p>
<p>Does anyone have a summer-open college office at their HS? Do you find this beneficial or irrelevant? I'm feeling such aggravation about the HS altogether this just feels like icing on the cake. I'm giving thought to proposing that the office be open/useful to the students during the summer, but if most people think it's no big deal I'll chalk it up to my overall irritation. :-)</p>
<p>Ours are open all summer. It is nice to be able to contact them real time instead of making a list and needing to rush through things at the end of the summer. Also helps to straighten out schedules before the kids hit the door.</p>
<p>Our HS has 2,800 students, 8 counselors, and 0 college counselors. None are available during the summer. The office staff is there. We didn’t deal with the GC a lot over college stuff other then the sending of forms, LOR’s, etc. The school sends kids to top colleges and is widely considered the best in the county so I don’t think the kids are hurting. To clarify, we didn’t use a private college counselor nor did any other parents we know.</p>
<p>The only staff at our HS during the summer is the Superintendant staff and the custodians. GC comes in a week in advance like the teachers. Our guidance counselor also handles college stuff, transcripts, etc.</p>
<p>The one they have now is good. When S10 graduated, she was a joke. She actually said it wasn’t her job and she wouldn’t ‘spoon feed’ the kids. She was fired. You don’t tell a room full of senior parents who happen to be school board members too those things.</p>
<p>I have a close friend who is the college counselor for a private high school. It is a 10 month position. Her contract runs from the from mid-August to mid-June. But she has been known to come in occasionally over the summer for requested meetings with parents and students, and I know she goes back early to get herself set up and ready to go when school starts.</p>
<p>My kids’ HS counseling office is not open during the summer. They don’t have a college counselor per se, just the regular guidance counselors. The transcript office is not open, either. The counselors come back, and the transcript office opens, the week before school starts. D has already applied to one school and will apply to another next week, but she can’t get her transcripts sent until late next month. I didn’t think this was unusual, though. My rising senior D’s counselor wasn’t of much use during the school year, so I can’t imagine we’re missing much by him not being there in the summer. As long as he’s around to fill out the counselor recommendation in the fall, he will have fulfilled my not-very-high expectations.</p>
<p>My S went to public high school with 1600 kids and 4 counselors. The counselors do double duty (advising for hs and college). I made a point of contacting S’s counselor several times during the year and it always seemed to help. </p>
<p>They don’t come back to work until the first week of Aug but if I emailed her, she always responded. Last summer we were on vacation before she stopped working for the summer and she voicemailed me a change to S’s schedule. Recently we had an issue with S’s college not getting his final transcript and she went on the Common App and submitted it herself. </p>
<p>Our district is having budge issues (as many are) and we don’t even had a very big summer school (only for Seniors who are’t graduating due to needing to retake a req class). So right now we’re glad we even have couselors.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to try to make friends with whatever counselor you have or possibly another counselor in the office (I’ve done that). I realize that may not work in every situation. Good luck!</p>
<p>Public, suburban HS, 1500( approximate) students. 5 guidance counselors, one secretary, one data clerk, 2 registrars. The GCs are assigned to to particular students freshman year and work with the same students all 4 years on classes and college counseling. The registrars deal with the transcripts, paperwork, sending teacher and counselor recs, etc. The guidance office is open all but 2 weeks of the summer. Rising seniors are highly encouraged to make private one on one summer appointments with their GC. During this meeting the kids are expected to bring an up to date resume, and a list of potential colleges, if they have a list yet. GC uses the meeting info, resume transcript and info from the three previous years to write recommendations for each student. The guidance department uses the slower summer hours to concentrate on these meetings and on writing recommendations.</p>
<p>Our offices (with the exception of the Super’s office, athletic office and custodial staff) close from mid-June to mid-August so the 10 month contracts like the teachers.</p>
<p>eastcoascrazy, sounds like our kids go to the same school!</p>
<p>Our GC’s implore rising seniors to schedule summer appointments so they can get started writing their counselor letters before the fall rush.</p>
<p>Our state flagship has an early priority deadline, and the kids ranks aren’t finalized by the county until shortly before the deadline! Practically the entire graduating class applies, so the office goes absolutely insane getting all the letters and transcripts together in time for that.</p>
<p>our school district is growing too fast and can not keep up with staff and classroom space for the kids. In the past 3 years that we have been here, two new elementaries have opened and another new one is being built. A second 6th/7th building is opening this fall and a second 8th/9th building and second high school will open in the next year or two. </p>
<p>All of that to say that there are not enough cousnselors for the students and none that specialize in college stuff. All of the counselors take the summer off. While I did not find my D’s counselor extraordinary by any means, she always did answer emails over the summer when she was on her two month vacation. She didn’t have to do that and I am happy she did.</p>
<p>Again, a reminder that your kids’ GC’s are not “taking the summer off” or “on a two month vacation.” They do not get paid for working those months. In most cases they are only paid to work for 10 months. </p>
<p>Some of them work other jobs in the summer to make money. Others take classes. Some chose this line of work so they can have summer with their families. I can guarantee you that very few of them are sitting on a beach somewhere for 2 months.</p>