<p>I agree that circulating a good essay could be good for learning. But my son poured his heart out in the essay and would be devistated if it became public. He is the type of person that likes to keep his feelings to himself.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>The GC should have asked if she could circulate his essay with his name and the college name whited out.>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>Well...that would depend on the topic. DD's essay was about a very unique situation at her school...in which she was the ONLY one doing what was described. Even with her name whited out, everyone would have known it was her essay. Speaking of which...her GC actually didn't LIKE her essay...but in her acceptance letters, adcoms actually commented on her essay in a very positive way. Ditto my son's. The GC didn't know what he was talking about (he's the music major), but the adcoms and applied faculty at several places commented on the essay. Bottom line...GCs might not be the "go to" source for a good/medium/bad essay.</p>
<p>I agree that whiting out the college would not have worked. My son is also using some of the same formatting for his other why college essays. What if another student had a copy of his essay, and used his ideas and submitted it to the same colleges as my son?</p>
<p>You're correct. I retract my suggestion. The GC should find her own exemplary essays and leave her own students to their blood, sweat and tears this year.
They recognize each other too easily. Sorry.</p>
<p>I was proud one year that an English teacher held onto my D's project for an academic assignment...but she waited to "show it off" to the NEXT year's class.
Not that this should even be done in your school. Hers was just a project; this is for college admissions, so stakes much higher for you.</p>
<p>Maybe it's because I am a special education teacher where confidentiality is the law, and a certified behavior analyst where confidentiality falls under the guidelines of ethical behavior, but quite frankly I am appalled by a GC revealing info to another student. I also think it was a bad idea for a GC to ask to share an essay (what if another student was applying to the same school and used some of the ideas in the essay)</p>
<p>I would be curious to find out if there are any guidance counselors out there who could comment on this confidentiality issue. I personally assumed that any info my son's GC has would remain confidential.</p>
<p>Last year I asked my son's GC if she would keep private about his college selections. Her response was not OK, but that many kids from the school get accepted to the same colleges and that I was being ridiculus.</p>
<p>The GC has a lot of confidence, and does not like it when anyone questions her policies - she thinks the parents are totally clueless. I disagree with a lot of her advice (I've read CC for 3 years), but I rarely challenge her. She still needs to write a great recommendation.</p>
<p>However, when she wanted to pass around my son's essay, I thought an e-mail was necessary. She honestly doesn't understand my position.</p>
<p>I think some of these counselors need a refresher course from the school district legal counsel on privacy laws.</p>
<p>Hmm... I don't see the big deal. Don't many schools use Naviance, which tracks this information anyways. While it doesn't explicitly attach a name to each "dot" on the graphs, I could tell you most of the students graphed for any school.</p>
<p>it wasn't a scatterplot. He pulled my old file and showed it to a student.</p>
<p>This is a very gross generalization I know.....BUT in my experience both at my own high school and now my children's HS, GC's are a touchy group. They tend to be rather nice, empathetic, people persons who like to be helpful, but along with that personality can come an over-sensitive emotional nature. (Teachers and) GC's who want to be needed and loved sometimes don't respond well to kids who are self-sufficient and successful because the students' independence is interpreted as equivalent to not liking the adult. If MrxPenguin was just such a strong individual, then his very personality may have irritated the GC. So now if MrxPenguin "dares" to address this breach of privacy, thereby again demonstrating his maturity and self-confidence, it will make matters much worse with the GC. I agree with curmudgeon here. The OP will still need to obtain HS transcripts on occasion, etc. I don't think this is worth doing anything about.</p>
<p>At D's high school they block out single person statistics. They only show SATs and GPAs of 2 or more students.</p>