We did not use an outside college counselor. I did a lot of research and got great info here on CC and certain FB groups, so I was the de facto college counselor. We did use an essay review service once though. Luckily D22 and I have a great relationship and this worked well.
Her results were better than we anticipated (she is my first to go to college and I’m not originally from the US, so had to catch up quickly). We chased money and, for a while, had a sports recruiting component, which made it more complicated. But all worked out in the end. We are thankful for that.
I know a lot of kids who use college counselors and I know a fair number of private college counselors. I can’t tell you how many times college counselors suggest certain schools and the kids or parents say no. I know one college counselor in our town who always advises against applying to all Ivies but still has clients who insist on doing it. Not sure why people hire college counselors if they aren’t going to listen to them.
Same here. S22’s school has a college counselor, but I felt like we (my wife and me) knew what we were looking for in schools for him. With College Confidential, Reddit, Unigo, Common Data Sets, college rankings, and college websites, there is a wealth of information out there.
And yes, we’re lucky S22 trusts us and listens to us.
Looking for some advice from other parents… My DC is between three schools: VT, UVA, and William and Mary. This DC has been programming since middle school; a DC who thrives in small classes and mentorship. The big schools feel “too big.” The concern is … is William and Mary going to be “techie” enough. This is a kid who has won tech competitions at National Levels. Does anyone have insight into CS at William and Mary. Will it be techie enough for him? Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can offer on the topic. (BTW, the DC isn’t interested in engineering, but CS artificial intelligence.)
@homerdog Wow. All you have to do is hang out on this board long enough and you’ll see what happens to the kids who insist on applying to all Ivies. It’s a sudden jolt of reality and they feel totally lost and rejected. They’re completely bewildered that their high stats and accomplishments weren’t enough and they feel like they have been personally rejected. It’s distressing to see.
I did a lot of research early on when suddenly DS showed a lot of interest in his CS class and was suddenly getting all A’s (unexpected at the time). I knew his personality and quickly zeroed in on the Cal Polys. I started doing a lot of research on CP SLO (some of it on here) and slowly began to understand how their selection process worked (and probably still works based on DS’s acceptance while many other high stats kids haven’t been accepted to date) Luckily DS was interested in doing most of the things that were required by the MCA calculator for SLO, but I definitely kept an eye on it as he was selecting courses each year to make sure he maximized the categories. I also became intimate with the UC A-G requirements by HS web site so that I could correctly categorize his HS computer science classes into their correct letter category which also helped with the MCA calculations. I believe that really paid off.
Attend accepted students day on April 9! Best way to know if W&M is “it” is to talk to current students and faculty. D22 is going as a chem major. She applied ED1 after a campus tour led by a physics student and really felt it was her vibe. It was our thought that undergrads would not have to step over grad students to get access to professors and gain meaningful research experience.
No college counselor or essay coach or anything else. I acted as college counselor and D22 was engaged in the process throughout (I mean there was some absolutely awful procrastination and paralysis when it came to writing essays but that would have been true regardless and she pulled it out in the end). It worked out for us.
I agree 100%. I felt that I knew my kids better than a college counselor would. There were many, many conversations in the car and around the dinner table that a college counselor would not have been privy to. Much like what @s318830 is doing with their second child, I assessed things early and, long before the application process began, helped my children envision themselves at what I felt were “likely” schools.
That said, it takes a certain type of parent who is able to do the *research and willing to battle it out with their child and my spouse is not that type of parent. I say that endearingly because it is easy to forget the nagging, anxiety and frustrations that parents and students go through when applying to colleges. Some people find it easier avoid those confrontations and pay to have their children work with someone else.
Need inputs to help make a final decision. Vandy or Gatech, for CS.
DS is a comp sci kid, but likes other things in life too. We visited gatech, loved the campus and the CS facilities. But Vandy is not easy to pass up either. Haven’t visited yet, just got in 2 days back.
I probably shouldn’t weigh in on this because my experience with W&M is dated and limited, but I have a cousin whose son went there and now works for NOAA, so pretty techy.
Can I DM you too about research in high school ? DS26 is really passionate about sciences and would love to get involved in some kind of research in a couple of years, we don’t know where to even begin with that.
Just to add to @songbirdmama’s advice above. William & Mary hosts virtual STEM panels which may be of interest to your son. There are a few available dates in April.
My son also fell in love with William & Mary after a visit and tour. He was accepted ED1 and will be a physics major. He chose William & Mary over Georgia Tech and other schools with more of a techie culture. He liked the idea of being around people with different academic interests. (And really liked the idea of being at school where the male to female ratio isn’t 2:1 )
I don’t think a college counselor would have helped to get into ivy or top tier or UC’s.
imho, College counselor would give the peace of mind for the parents & family.
Dealing with teenagers on the academic or ECs or anything will be challenging for some parents. We hired the counselor on freshmen and been relaxing. The college searching/admission has been breeze for us. They layout the goals, to-do-list & meetings periodically.
In 2019, the same counselor helped for our D19 (Georgia Tech, BME).
As a parent we always think really high of our kids. We thought he would get into Cornell/CMU and we applied EDI & II. Even with the following stats, our college counselor lowered our expectations. So no big upset on the ED rejections.
My S22 stats -
UW 4.0 / 12+ APs / senior year 5 APs / 3 dual credits
SAT 1550/ACT 35
Varsity Sport Captain/Solid leadership/very good ECs+CS related ECs/Volunteering etc
Accepted: Georgia Tech (cs), UMICH (cs), UIUC (cs), UCSD (cs)
Wait-listed: UCB EECS, UCLA
Rejected: Cornell CS & CMU CS
We had peace of mind during the admission/searching process for our D19 and now for S22 too.
On the other hand, my DS22 profile/stats are almost identical to yours and he has been waitlisted at all the places your son got in (except for UCSD - did not apply). So maybe there is something to the coaches after all. We didn’t think he needed one and thought he would have lots of options but was mostly shut out.
If you’re into this sort of thing, I highly recommend this video from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In it, you’ll hear these leaders be blunt–that it’s better for colleges to have a wider array of students on campus than they used to, which means those who could count on getting in previously need to know that just isn’t true anymore and its not going to change. Colleges are looking to build a class for themselves and shape their institutions for the future, not identify top applicants (whatever top means to you/them).
I am likely going the College counselor route with my daughter because after this cycle I’m not sure how to guide her. My son got into his dream school on Saturday but the UCs have been a field of wreckage. We came into the process with blinders on and were duly blindsided. My daughter’s dream school is UCLA. She attends a charter with a focus on the arts and the students carry 4 conservatory classes on top of regular academic schedule. They don’t like the kids to have more than 3 weighted classes per semester. My daughter is carrying four this year, plus 4 writing classes, and is loaded up next year with six and her GC is a little frantic. But I’ve seen the stats and my daughter is doing well and still has plenty of down time. Next year it may be different but I don’t know if we can take our foot off the gas and just point to demonstrated passion in her conservatory. Not sure it is enough. I will be hanging around here till then, reading and gathering information. This board is great for that.
I agree. Being inclusive is important because the best impact is made when you have a group of diverse opinions and points of view. When I am talking about “diversity” I am not talking about ethnic groups, I am including all types of people.
I wonder if there are counselors that specialize for certain schools? Rather than a generic counselor, is there one who knows the ins and outs of UCLA admissions?
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