Seeking answers due to my panic attack this morning!
How do we get my kiddo’s ACT scores reported to the various colleges? Went on Common App site but can’t figure it out. Think my nerves are in the way!
There is a testing section on the common app. It asks which tests you would like to report, and you then enter the scores. Some schools will also require an official report sent from the testing agency. Take a deep breath. It will all be ok. 
2 Likes
On the Common App site, after logging in, select the Common App tab on the top of the screen, then select Testing in the left navigation and complete the testing info on that screen.
3 Likes
Our school has a similar counselor packet with lots of questions for the student and several questions for parents.
6 counselors for 600 kids sounds heavenly. At D22’s school there is 1 counselor for 600 kids! (there is also 1 part time career coach for sr. and jr. class (1200 kids) but I’m not entirely clear on their role). There is zero college counseling (luckily I found CC 
This counselor couldn’t pick my kid out of a line up (nor most other kids except for the troublemakers). So I expect a very generic rec letter that will definitely not boost her chances.
And, no, I don’t blame the counselor, numbers are against her, she is too overloaded. This is a good suburban high school in a poor Southern state where expectations are that most college bound kids will go to the schools that are close by (and where most of the teachers went themselves), which includes the state flagship, an HBCU, a state directional and a community college. Everybody else is on their own.
I have a feeling this represents the minority of people on CC but the majority of people in the US 
9 Likes
Nope, but my kid goes to a small charter school. She is supposed to fill out a brag sheet but I haven’t seen it. Guidance Counselor is new this year too, but the old guidance counselor is still there in a different role.
2 Likes
This sounds like the same system at our school. Seems to work as our students get into a wide variety of colleges.
2 Likes
I’m with you there - 9 counselors for around 3000 kids at a suburban public school. FWIW, even with this less-than-ideal counselor situation, our school still sends a couple of kids each year to Ivies and a handful more to selective schools like Vandy/Rice/UChicago/Duke/etc. As someone else said, the Counselor Report on the Common App is mostly info about the school, and I don’t think AOs expect a heartfelt personal reflection about every student from the counselor at a huge public school.
2 Likes
This is exactly the situation for my D22. I smile when I read about long meetings and relationships with counselors. I think D22 has had two conversations with her counselor, one of which involved the counselor asking, “Are you sure you want to take this many AP classes?” (My kid has an unweighted 4.0, including in APs.) I sent the counselor an email once and she failed to respond at all until it was too late (post deadline).
My kid has a form to use to tell her counselor about herself and an app to use for requesting transcripts and reports. That’s it for personal attention. I think admissions officers should give extra points to kids who meet the qualifications without helpful counselors, rather than knock them for impersonal counselor reports, but I don’t know that it works that way in the real world.
3 Likes
deleted
I can’t locate the admission rate breakdowns by major that was being discussed - all I see at the link/sectionprovided is “number of awards conferred by program.”
Can you provide a screenshot of the CMU Chemistry undergraduate admission rate, as an example - that might help.
Nothing to be filled out here. Our school has 4 counselors for about 400 kids per grade. So maybe 100 seniors each year.
I do think the counselor would recognize my son, even though they haven’t had very much interaction at all. And she does generally reply to my and his emails promptly. Not always, but I give her some credit for that for sure. However, half the time the response doesn’t answer the question. She also said there was no reason to worry about sending a transcript until November since colleges don’t make decisions until after applications are received by Nov. 1.
2 Likes
D’s counselors said they won’t send transcripts until after first quarter grades are recorded.
Agree. I do wonder what admissions officers make of those letters. By total coincidence at one of our college tours my doctor and her S22 were in our tour group. He goes to a small very good private school with plenty of college counselors and support. Afterwards we chatted with the AO and described the likely difference in rec letters. The AO said that they are aware of these issues. This was at a small LAC.
At another event with a mid size T50 school somebody also asked about this and their AO specifically said to let her know that the counselor rec would likely be impersonal and generic due to counselor to student ratio so that they could take it into consideration.
1 Like
S22’s suburban public high school outside Boston has about 1,800 students and a counseling staff of 10, including a dedicated college counselor. I feel like S22’s counselor knows him pretty well despite his only having been at the school since 10th grade, when we moved back to the U.S. from overseas. S22 had to do a self-assessment and we did a parents’ brag sheet. He’s already requested his teacher recommendations and should be all set for his early applications (NYU ED and Fordham EA — think that might be all he does).
The school isn’t doing rankings this year or reporting GPAs — they say colleges will calculate GPAs from the transcripts.
1 Like
That seems reasonable. Our high school is semesters and the first semester ends mid January with final grades in by early February. So nothing on the transcript will change until then.
Our high school grades on a semester system too, but they are sending transcripts now and will send an updated transcript in late January.
They will also send Q1 grades to schools that require…. There’s a list of schools that ask for first quarter grades for ED. Although my son is still deciding on his ED choice, 2/3 possibilities do require Q1 grades. He’s working hard between now and Halloween!
1 Like
I think my kiddo’s GC has been pretty good - she met with him about college twice last year, yesterday and has a fourth college meeting set up with him next week. Considering the size of the school 1600+ I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the level of support (which I anticipated would be minimal). As to the counselor recommendations, I think they are mostly to put student performance into context and provide info about the school, generally. For some kids they may also have to provide an explanation for a dip in performance (if extenuating circumstances) etc.
3 Likes
@Search2022 My son is applying to two schools by November 1s (EA and possibly ED). I am pretty sure he wasn’t counting on having his Q1 grades sent to the colleges. Do you have a list of schools that look at Q1 grades? Thanks,
I’ll send you a PM!