<p>well, I'm one of them, and I didn't have a 4.0 :-P</p>
<p>congrats cubed!</p>
<p>thanks :)</p>
<p>and my GC doubted I'd make it, so, if we'd had a rule like that, I might not have been able to apply!</p>
<p>(actually, I wanted to turn down Dartmouth for Rice, but my parents wouldn't allow me to, so it was almost 11)</p>
<p>my friend wanted to turn down stanford for dartmouth but her parents wouldnt let her :( she liked the social atmosphere better at dartmouth but her parents mailed her deposit</p>
<p>My GC gets miffed if you want to apply to an Ivy. I heard it's because when he has to apply to other jobs, his percentage of getting kids into college will go down if too many kids try to apply to reach schools they probably won't get admitted to.</p>
<p>Still, applications are for ANYONE who wishes to apply and that's the way it should be! There are higher-tiered Ivys and there are those that are easier to get into. I think it's reasonable that someone ranked lower than <50% won't get into HYP etc., but there ARE some Ivys that do admit a few students who are ranked <50% in their class! At least, that's what Princeton Review says :P</p>
<p>i think its stupid to hold the GC responsible for not getting kids into colleges... they're not gonna accept u cuz u had a kissass GC.. its the kids themselves that matter</p>
<p>Last year the GC at my S's rural school told S's friend not to apply to Georgetown,his dream school.He did and was accepted, much to the GC's surprise. We've had kids accepted to Harvard,UPenn,Cornell,JHU,NYU and other top tier schools.The thought of a GC discouraging kids is horrible. The GC should advise kids to apply to their dream schools,several match and several safeties.If he or she does that,all the students would be "going to college" and the GC's job of getting them into college would be a sure thing and who knows,maybe a few dreams will be realized!</p>
<p>Published: October 16, 2004 </p>
<p>Robert Stolarik for The New York Times </p>
<p>Kimberly Cummins, right, a senior at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, said she was told she could not apply to Harvard. Her sister, Kelia, left, a law student, took the matter up with city and education officials. </p>
<p>With an 86.6 average that ranks her 11th in her class at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, Kimberly Cummins knows that she is not a shoo-in at Harvard, which she hopes to attend next year. But Miss Cummins, who is on the school yearbook staff, spent two years on the varsity track team and is enrolled in four Advanced Placement courses, thinks she has a shot. </p>
<p>What she was not prepared for, she said, was for officials at the high school to tell her that she could not even try, that only the top five students in the school could submit applications to Ivy League schools and that no one was permitted to apply to any school under early-decision or early-action rules, under which applications to many colleges are due by Nov. 1. </p>
<p>What school officials apparently were not prepared for was for Miss Cummins's older sister, Kelia, a law student at New York University, to take up her case. They did not expect Kelia Cummins to raise such a ruckus by calling elected officials, lawyers, judges and advocacy groups that top city education officials would be forced to publicly clarify the college application rules. </p>
<p>Late yesterday, Eric Nadelstern, a veteran superintendent who oversees Boys and Girls High School, said the matter had been resolved. Miss Cummins will be able to apply to Harvard by the early-action deadline. And, he said, the school's principal, Spencer Holder, will follow citywide rules allowing students to apply where they want. </p>
<p>"The principal, who is a new interim acting principal, is clear that students at this school, as throughout the city, have the right and opportunity to apply to whichever colleges they choose to apply to," Mr. Nadelstern said. "And the school is obligated to support that application." </p>
<p>Mr. Nadelstern said that college counselors were still expected to meet with students and to help them set reasonable expectations. "Speaking to students about which schools are realistic, based on their high school record, doesn't preclude the student or family option to apply to that school anyway," he said. </p>
<p>In Kimberly Cummins's case, he added, "We're going to keep our fingers crossed that she gets in." </p>
<p>Miss Cummins was pleased with the decision, "I know it may not be a sure thing," she said. "But the thing I strongly feel about is I should not be denied the right to apply to any school." </p>
<p>The case at Boys and Girls High School, which serves 4,700 students in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, underscored what education officials acknowledge to be woefully inadequate college advising services in the city's public schools. </p>
<p>In low-performing schools with few graduates, there can be limited information and advice for college-bound students. In high-performing schools, where most students apply to college, the counselors are often swamped, and some schools limit the number of applications students can submit because the counselors cannot handle all of the paperwork that accompanies each form. </p>
<p>In an interview, Mr. Holder, the principal at Boys and Girls, said that the complaints by Miss Cummins and her sister arose out of a misunderstanding and that the school never told her she could not apply to Harvard. "Our students are allowed to apply to wherever they want," he said. </p>
<p>Mr. Holder and his assistant principal for guidance, Cheryl Lewis, said the school worked hard to meet the college counseling needs of its students. The school's 400 seniors would begin working with college counselors next week. </p>
<p>"We just got over making sure everybody got registered for the SAT," Mr. Holder said. "Now we are going to start getting them lined up in terms of where they are going to apply." </p>
<p>But even with four guidance counselors working with the seniors, it would be virtually impossible for students to meet the Nov. 1 deadline for early-decision applications. For most schools, the regular application deadline is Jan. 1. </p>
<p>Frank Mickens, who retired last month as principal of Boys and Girls and long enjoyed a reputation as a no-nonsense administrator, said that school officials were obligated to discourage students from applying to colleges out of their reach. </p>
<p>"This school has never, ever during 18 years I was there, denied kids opportunities," he said. "We had to consult with parents and say this is what we recommend based on our contacts and college fairs." </p>
<p>Even among the best students, he said, only some would be eligible for Ivy League schools. "Don't you think we have contact with the Ivy League schools? Is our experience working with colleges and universities around the country worth anything?" </p>
<p>Kelia Cummins said she thought her sister should be permitted to apply to as many top schools as she wanted. And she made it a mission to persuade school officials. She called the principal and the 311 hotline, contacted a federal judge who is a Boys and Girls alumnus, reached out to law partners at a prestigious Manhattan firm, enlisted N.Y.U. classmates to make a blizzard of phone calls. She also contacted the public advocate, two City Council members and Advocates for Children, a nonprofit group that monitors city schools. </p>
<p>Kelia Cummins graduated from Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and earned her bachelor's degree and a master's degree in public health at George Washington University before enrolling at New York University Law School, where she is the editor of The Review of Law and Social Change. </p>
<p>She said that she was pleased that her sister would be able to apply to Harvard, but that there was a larger point. "The problem is bigger than Kimberly," she said. "We want to make sure that other students like her are not disadvantaged in the future."</p>
<p>I would like to know the admissions outcome.</p>
<p>My school doesn't care whether or not you're among the top 5, but if you don't rank in the top 20% they do not encourage you to apply to top colleges. The guidance counselor doesn't really write stellar recommendations for anyone... it's (basically) all the same.
Irrelevant, but: My USH teacher handed me recommendations to bring to the GC earlier this year for the current seniors, and they were all the exact same thing... the only thing that was different was the name of the student. Now I know who NOT to get a rec from. :) </p>
<p>My school is having/has had several university representatives visit, and if you do not rank in the top 20%, you're not allowed to meet the representatives. I guess it makes sense though... meeting reps for top colleges and not having the grades and rank can be very intimidating.</p>
<p>I dont understand what you guys are talking about and where you are coming from.... my cousellor is SOOOOOOO nice... one of my friend gave her 10 colleges (they were all top 50 universities) for EA in october 2 days before they were due and SHE DID IT FOR HIM!!!! I have 20 applications in total, a bunch of ivies and basically all top schools, and my counsellor was sooo supportive. she told me to ask her for help anytime. i could ask her for advice on how to boost my application... blah blah... and to keep her updated on my progress... like i told her about my interview with yale and she was sooo encouraging... telling me my applications has a good chance but just keep believing and the best will come. She is seriously SOOOOOO nice.</p>
<p>and btw i go to a public school with roughly 1600ish kids, and we only have THREE counsellors... they are so overburdened with work, but still so nice</p>
<p>wow! kudos to ur gc!!! :)
i dun even have a gc in my jc.... but then again i doubt most international schools have gcs.... :(</p>
<p>i think that not allowing people who dont have a chance to get into ivies to apply is a good idea.
When trying to figure out my chances at the schools i was applying to, i always had to factor in how many people applied there who didnt have a chance of being admitted. Stanford, Harvard Yale and Princeton Im sure draw a significant number of apps from people who would be lucky to be accepted at their state university just because of the prestige factor. If GCs can diminish this amount of illegitmate apps, it would make determining chances for people with a legitimate shot much easier.</p>