<p>Young GC’s are at a disadvantage. No better way to truely understand it than going through it with your own child.</p>
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<p>Or, they focus on the handful of schools that are relevant to 95% of the students. While I would have liked our GC to have been able to speak knowledgeably about the schools to which my kids applied, her expertise was in the state flagships, directionals, and the non-selective private schools in the state, as well as a few of the neighboring state flagships. And only those elite privates that were nearby - NU and Notre Dame, Wash U and <em>maybe</em> U of Chicago. Why <em>would</em> she spend her time getting to know northeast LAC’s when that’s not relevant to most of the kids in her charge, who either have zero interest or zero funds to leave the state? Heck, if I were a counselor, I wouldn’t spend my time focusing on that 5%.</p>
<p>True, Pizzagirl. There is only so much time in the day.</p>
<p>I would have liked if she was knowledgable about the 95% of schools applied to by students in our area. I think ours probably was knowledgable about maybe 50% of the local schools. </p>
<p>And some were her “favorites”. She always encouraged students to apply there, regardless of what the acceptance rate was, or how many students fit the profile. </p>
<p>When you have limited time, you can’t be all things to all people.</p>
<p>Well, and enough students needed scholarship help that it was probably better she focus on getting scholarships / financial aid info to kids who otherwise wouldn’t be able to go to college.</p>
<p>Why do some counselors spend a lot of effort on that 5%, Pizzagirl? Because in some communities it’s still seen as a sign of achievement for high school to get one of their graduates placed in a very fine, well regarded college that is far from home. It’s the old ‘local boy/girl does good’ story. Something that harkens to the ‘Go east young man’ days, and it reflects well on the high school.</p>
<p>Almost zero information about financial aid and scholarships was presented by our counseling staff. The basics - here is a FAFSA. You have to fill it out. Not a lot about the CSS Profile. </p>
<p>No time spent on outside scholarship finding - only some basic scholarships offered by boosters in the school. Kids are referred to look on Fastweb.com</p>
<p>Our counseling staff does NOT want to talk about individual family financial aid for confidentiality reasons. I understand it, but unless you are smart enough and proactive enough, you might not figure it out in order to take advantage of it.</p>
<p>Every school handles it differently. I am always surprised when I hear how much is given to students at other schools through their counseling department.</p>
<p>Our GC is generally too busy dealing with teen pregnancy, teen suicides, drug referrals and failing students to investigate schools outside of the Midwest, and we are a middle/working class town public school. I don’t expect her to know about the schools on DS list. What I do expect is for her to actually write a decent GC sheet (though she doesn’t know him well), to take the time to ask his teachers for input, to send materials in a timely manner to the colleges and to communicate whehter things get sent. Several students almost missed merit money at the flagship because she didn’t get the materials to them before the deadline and a parent offered to drive to Bloomington to deliver the GC reports for 20 kids. That is unacceptable.</p>
<p>SamuraiLandShark - your friends neice should look into University of Redlands, when last I checked they ignored grades from freshman year. As long as core competencies are met, this should help your friends neice.</p>
<p>Thanks bchan for info about Redlands. It’s a great school! Unfortunately it is a core class. She is going to have to make it up. She is going to have to do it, quick!</p>