<p>My GCs are horrible. Not once have they mentioned anything about college, and im a Junior. The only thing they talk about is the new SATs.</p>
<p>i attend a private high school. my counselors are really really involved in the college admissions process. we just finished up a two-week unit on college careers today. even though i<code>m just a sophomore, they</code>re making us write our college resumes already. it`s quite stressing, actually.</p>
<p>private school kids are not smarter. most do have guidance and assistance throughout the process though. my school has about 500 students, and we have 4 counselors, which is pretty good, i guess.</p>
<p>oh yeah, i forgot to add-in something: that message was specifically for lkf725.</p>
<p>they<code>re making us write our college resumes already. it</code>s quite stressing, actually.</p>
<p>I wish they'd do that kinda stuff at my school...id love an early start</p>
<p>kchen...yes, I thought that private school counselors would have lighter case loads. Another thing I thought of was that private school counselors who are accustomed to alot of applications to elite colleges probably know more about how those colleges work, and thus can be more helpful to students. You are lucky that your counselor is making you begin your college resume already. It will be easier to update it all throughout high school, and you will readily see any shortcomings you may have while you still have time to correct them. That was something I, as a parent, had to do for my public hs student.</p>
<p>lkf725 - i am definitely grateful for the early start on my college journey. i know it will be so much easier in my junior and senior years.</p>
<p>i never knew that many public high schools had a lack of counselors. with more students attending public high schools than private high schools, i wonder how the counselors can handle this, especially the schools that have thousands of students and only one counselor.</p>
<p>our counselors rotated and knew nothing about applying to colleges other than the University of Wyoming. I ended up at Dartmouth- and to this day I'm not sure they've heard of it. When I was first applying to schools, they had not heard of Dartmouth or Georgetown...crazy.</p>
<p>my councellors really nice and tries to help me in every way but she has the bare minimum knowledge about colleges. I asked her whether she can sign me up for a AP exam that I was going to self study and she told me this: Colleges don't give out credits if you don't take the AP classes. and she only seems to be an expert on the state colleges. I had a very tough time persuading her to allow me to take AP courses and this is just nuts. My school is also extremely big (2000 kids in my year) and I wonder how I'll get her to send all my app. and recs SAFELY IN TIME to all colleges. reading some of the earlier posts man it really sucks if the colleges receive the app. forms like 2 weeks late thinking that you are a master of procrastination.</p>
<p>My counselors were AMAZING. I go to a public high school of 2000, and they have helped me in every way possible. I've sent my transcript to probably 20-25 schools/scholarships, and they've been so patient. They called up various schools (i.e. Georgetown and Notre Dame) to check on my application status, and they've done everything they can.</p>
<p>wow, lucky^, two of mine have been "lost in the mail"</p>
<p>Dont expect a public ( or even private school) college advisor to be too vested toward getting into a favorite choice.
My experience is that they want every kid to gain admission without too much focus on winning stragegies or even compliance with common sense. For child number one I learned about this collegeconfidential website too late. A student with top everything about whom the guidance counselor wrote a " messy salad of laudatory unfocused remarks" . This student did not get into any of the anticipated top tier schools. The applications were made without determination of what majors schools may be looking for, etc. </p>
<p>This knowledge on collegeconfidential.com supplements the gaps which I believe exist in even the best high schools.
I wish I knew that certain advisors call schools, are proactive in gaining admission. I think many public school advisors will make those calls if you ask them to specifically, but do not do so on their own.</p>
<p>In short.. take nothing for granted in terms of them knowing what is needed or what to do. Rely upon them as much as you would rely upon a gardener to plan the landscaping for your new house. Really helpful but dont let them do it on their own without input!</p>
<p>As a junior at a small public high school, I would describe my guidance counselor as "average" but personally I am very unsatisfied. She </p>
<p>did not know what TASP was, </p>
<p>only talks about instate colleges (not a bad thing in itself, but evidence of her limited worldview),</p>
<p>is frequently out to lunch- lunch being basically the only opportunity I have to talk to her-,</p>
<p>meh, maybe I expect too much. One last complaint:</p>
<p>Last summer I participated in Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics at University of North Carolina- Charlotte. SVSM is a state-wide program unique (I think) to NC. The public colleges host students who learn about a specific topic and write papers/do experiments etc for four weeks.</p>
<p>I have made a point to meet with my guidance counselor to ask her questions. I don't think she's doing a good job, but I still think that relationship is important. Lately I've been talking to her about summer programs. As I said, I did SVSM- LAST summer. Yet every time I spoke with her she asked me if I had applied to SVSM! (You can only go once) She didn't know what TASP was, had never heard of the Summer Science Program, drew a blank when I asked her about MIT's Women in Technology Program, and so on. I MISSED THE APPLICATION DATE OF NASASHARP, a summer program that looks awesome, BECAUSE I NEVER HEARD ABOUT IT. (I'm not furious; I just want to emphasize this) </p>
<p>so basically I’ve been researching summer opportunities on my own these past few months. The same goes for colleges. I’m not going to push this lady- if she’s comfortable, fine. I’ll do it myself. And talk to other people, utilize CC of course :), etc.</p>
<p>I go to a large suburban high school, and I would have to say that in my experience, counselors are what you make of them. My counselor has to deal with 500 students, so of course she's busy and also by nature somewhat flighty. At the beginning of the year, I wanted to apply to the U.S. Senate Youth Program, and she knew nothing about it. I needed a counselor nomination, so I pushed her to do the things I needed, and she was great about it. Because of my insistence, she later nominated me for a leadership program that has been very beneficial to me. And since then, whenever I've needed her to nominate me for something, all I have to do is bring her the proper papers and she does it right then, that same hour. She's written amazing letters of recommendation for me, and I don't even need to schedule an appointment with her anymore, I can just pop in any time. You can't give up and blame your counselor's office for it. Take advantage of the fact that they see 10,000 students like you a day and stand out by being persistent but polite.</p>
<p>I go to a large suburban high school, and I would have to say that in my experience, counselors are what you make of them. My counselor has to deal with 500 students, so of course she's busy and also by nature somewhat flighty. At the beginning of the year, I wanted to apply to the U.S. Senate Youth Program, and she knew nothing about it. I needed a counselor nomination, so I pushed her to do the things I needed, and she was great about it. Because of my insistence, she later nominated me for a leadership program that has been very beneficial to me. And since then, whenever I've needed her to nominate me for something, all I have to do is bring her the proper papers and she does it right then, that same hour. She's written amazing letters of recommendation for me, and I don't even need to schedule an appointment with her anymore, I can just pop in any time. You can't give up and blame your counselor's office for it. Take advantage of the fact that they see 10,000 students like you a day and stand out by being persistent but polite.</p>
<p>My guidance counselor is EXTREMELY efficient; however, most of the other guidance counselors at my school are very slow at getting transcripts sent. My guidance counselor is very nice, but I don't think he could ever be useful at suggesting colleges, etc because he talks to everyone as if they're stupid (not in a jerky way though). Not that I'd want to talk to him for that stuff anyway.</p>
<p>In a school of only about 1,200 kids, we have one guidance counselor who specializes in college admissions. My counselor is very blunt. She can be very helpful, but she often discourages kids from applying to any reach schools. I guess it's because she's tired of hearing hundreds of Asian kids every year asking what their chances of getting into Harvard/Yale/Princeton are.</p>
<p>Often times she would tell a student not to apply to a certain school, saying that he or she has no chance of getting in. In one of few examples, a guy whose grades were subpar was discouraged from applying to UCLA, but was admitted and is now doing pretty well.</p>
<p>My counselor's not much of an idealist. As more of a realist, she'd rather have kids apply to safeties or matches.</p>
<p>hahaha my counselor is HORRIBLE. she's really mean & it is SOOOOO hard to get in touch with her. to see her, you are supposed to sign a clipboard in the counseling office & then she's supposed to call you in, but it never happens. she has even forgotten to do/send in counselor recommendations before. it is so frustrating.</p>
<p>I'm lucky to have one of the only really caring counselors at the office. I remember I came to her crying and she mothered me all the way (which was probably what I needed)...</p>
<p>She's a great help with my college search. So enthusiastic lol. She has those brochures of a couple of the major cities. I wouldn't have ever considered the cities if she didn't tell me she had info on them.</p>
<p>I'm just glad I don't have the others...<em>cringes</em>....some of them are so cold! brrr.</p>
<p>My counseling office is amazing. Of course, I have been an office aid in their office for the last two years and my dad is a teacher, so I may be biased...</p>
<p>My junior counselor has been absolutely wonderful -- she is extremely focused on getting students to start preparing for college when they should, in junior year. I applied for a large national scholarship open only to juniors and she helped me almost every day (revisions, remembering awards, deadlines) with suggestions for the 20+ page application. This year she still helps me revise any essay I bring to her even though I'm a senior.</p>
<p>My senior counselor is also very good, but very busy. She's got probably 35 years of experience and knows what she's doing. Everything about my experiences with counselor have been smooth and rewarding -- a definite plus to my school. The department as a whole though is serious about college preparation, beginning with the 8th grade at the junior high. Probably once a month kids meet with a special college advisor (really just an assigned teacher) to get apps, advice on writing, etc..</p>