<p>Wow, that’s snarky.</p>
<p>I was not amused.</p>
<p>If that’s how they really feel about the kids and their families they should be looking for new jobs.</p>
<p>Oh come on, college counselors are human beings too. As long as they are able to behave professionally when dealing with the students and their families are they really to be condemned for sharing their personal thoughts with each other?</p>
<p>I’ve seen plenty of posts on cc wherein some student (or parent of a student) with mediocre stats feels entitled to be admitted to an “elite” school with substantial financial aide because the kid is so special that the grades/scores just don’t reflect how brilliant he/she is. The responses are not gentle.</p>
<p>But we are not paid to be college counselors. I know my character flaws, so I never tried to be a teacher. I also know I am 7 inches too short to be a model.</p>
<p>Personally I’d just put this down to black humour. Most people in most jobs will crack jokes related to their jobs, and this is even more the case in customer-facing environments. I’ve worked in more than one place where quotes from those we serve are written down for the amusement of colleagues, and high schoolers are particularly prone to being so unintentionally funny. </p>
<p>So long as they’re giving good advice to their students and keeping a professional face when it matters, I really don’t see the problem in enjoying the lighter side of the job. </p>
<p>Oldfort, do you know any surgeons or ER doctors or nurses? If you think the things college consultants have to say about their “clients” are bad, I hope you never overhear the things doctors and residents laugh about among themselves. I suspect most people would be more than shocked at the “character flaws” revealed ;)</p>
<p>CCers have a tendency to get upset when they’re reminded that admissions counselors have opinions and personalities.</p>
<p>I know my kids shared a lot of their personal information with their college counselors, maybe they were unrealistic about their dreams of getting into certain colleges, but I know they would be very hurt if they knew their counselors were making fun of them.</p>
<p>I make fun of my clients all the time, but I wouldn’t share it on CC or publish it for the world to see.</p>
<p>I suspect that if you shared it anonymously on a forum for your colleagues, your clients would never suspect that they were the subject of your fun. No harm, no foul, don’t you think?</p>
<p>Nothing in writing is anonymous, including CC.</p>
<p>I suppose that’s true if say, the NSA wanted to find our thoughts on the college admissions process, we’d have no hope of anonymity. Still, I’m pretty confident that the kids who were the subjects of the posters’ amusement/irritation are not at all likely to ever see the “lines they never said” and realize that they were the subjects.</p>
<p>Tumblr link deletd by moderator - not allowed on CC.</p>
<p>Let’s just say I saw all of these posts on a professional mailing list in real time a few weeks ago, and they were not that funny, then. I thought they were mean spirited. It was gallows humor. So, now I wonder who shared this chain of responses with the Washington Post? idiotic. The internet is not always anonymous. And I work in this industry. </p>
<p>I wonder how many people who posted on that mail chain thought their response would be shared with a bigger audience. </p>
<p>
I don’t see it as a big deal. We all have our “frustrations” when dealing with clients, be they students, retail customers, consulting clients, etc. Just today, I was in my office trying to help a particularly difficult student and all I could think was “omg, how will he EVER survive this program?” If that’s worth getting fired over, fire away. Being an adjunct professor is not the life of glory they made it out to be ;). Right now I need the patience of a saint.</p>
<p>Great lines! Notice these were NOT said. Professionals have to have some fun- I’m sure the upset posters would also be appalled at what happens in the teachers’ lounges if they can’t enjoy this article. Agree about medical conversations too. I don’t think counselors would be maliciously making fun of any given student, it is the concept that a person would have the beliefs, not the individual who had them. The one expressed comment was great- popularity versus being a scholar.</p>
<p>Sounds like someone has admissions problems. </p>
<p>Sadly some the greatest lines that never came out of some of these admissions officers. are some truths that could have helped kids and families.</p>
<p>I have a sharp tongue, so I am told, but I don’t sit around making fun of people who are truly needing help and direction. I’m frustrated at times, but for whatever reason it doesn’t feel right to make fun of such situations. I saw a stand up comedy on the poverty in Africa commercials and I didn’t think that was funny either. </p>