<p>Would it be possible for my guidance counselor to ask Harvard to give him my regional admissions officer's e-mail? I would of course not contact him/her- just asking since I think I stumbled across a similar thread mentioning that this is a possibility and I can't find it. </p>
<p>I’m pretty sure they keep that firewalled for a reason.</p>
<p>I should have played around with different keywords on Google before posting, my bad…“If you have specific questions, need additional information, or would like to speak with the Admissions Officer who covers your area, we hope you will contact us.” (<a href=“School Counselors | Harvard”>https://college.harvard.edu/school-counselors</a>)</p>
<p>FWIW: Your guidance counselor should know the name and contact info for the Harvard Regional Admissions Officer that covers your HS. Ask your GC for this information; depending upon your reason for wanting the contact info, your GC may (or may not) give it to you.</p>
<p>“I would of course not contact him/her”</p>
<p>What’s the use of an email address if you’re not going to contact the person?</p>
<p>I explicitly asked whether “my” AO’s contact info could be given to my GC, not to me, so that he could ask him/her about some things which are quite specific to me as an applicant. Thanks for the replies anyway, appreciate them! </p>
<p>^^ If Harvard has accepted a student from your high school in the past, or has even considered a student from your high school, in all likelihood your GC has already spoken on the phone or has returned emails from Harvard’s regional AO. At my son and daughter’s public high school, Harvard’s regional AO would call the guidance office several times a year with questions about various students, so I’m guessing your GC has the AO’s contact formation. After all, it’s part of the GC’s job to regularly communicate with various college admissions offices.</p>
<p>I’m an international applicant from a school which during its 17 years of existence has sent one student to Oxford and one to Berkeley, with that being it in terms of acceptances to selective universities, so my GC does not, needless to say, have a clue on who my regional AO is, let alone know him/her personally. Although I obviously would have preferred to have it the other way around.</p>
<p>@Gibby With all due respect, your kids went to Stuyvesant where it normal for the GC’s to have a rapport with AO’s at top schools. This does not happen at most middle to lower tier public schools. The GC’s are overworked and quite frankly spending a good amount of their time dealing with social issues (bullying, teen pregnancies, drug use, fights, sexual harassment, etc.) Many of them barely know the kids they are responsible for because they are so busy putting out fires. “Regularly communicating with admissions officers” is a luxury many simply cannot afford.</p>
<p>@Falcon1, regardless of the HS and college, regional Admissions Officers often call GC’s with questions about students. You can find many examples of that happening from postings on CC:
<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?5/37945”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?5/37945</a>
<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?5/51030”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?5/51030</a></p>
<p>I could list more examples, but I think you get the point. Even at middle to lower tier high schools, it’s normal for GC’s to be in contact with AO’s – most of the time, it’s the AO that initiates the call.</p>
<p>I would venture that no one from Harvard has called my kids’ high school in at least five years except maybe in the case of my daughter who was the only person accepted in at least the last seven (probably not even then since she was highly sought after). When we met with her GC who was the head of the dept. and a 30 year veteran to discuss her college plans, he had no idea who the contact at Harvard was and even told my daughter that even though she was the “best in his career”, she should only apply to few of the top Ivies because “they talk amongst each other”. We just had to sit there and smile. This is not at a podunk high school btw. </p>
<p>I have a niece who is a GC at a very large public high school in the Northeast and it is exactly as I described it. Budget cutbacks have left most schools understaffed and they aren’t dialing up college offices chatting about candidates (AO’s don’t have time for this either). I am not saying that AO’s do not call schools, of course they do, but this “regular contact” that you say occurs is simply not true (especially, with top tier colleges and mid to lower HS’s).</p>
<p>I agree with Falcon1 on this question. Our local HS is ranked the best in our state, but still sends only 1-2 to HYPS per year. When I asked my kids’ GC about any relationships they have with elite admissions officers, I was told they have none at all. Surely some HSs (Stuyvesant, Thomas Jefferson, elite privates) are different, but for the great majority of HSs, I’m sure the GCs are clueless in this regard.</p>