<p>Do any of your high schools ask teachers if they would chat with students about the colleges from which they recently graduated? I know it is not their obligation, and they are busy, but what a great way, for example to get information on how the kids and workload at your HS compare to those at a college you are considering.</p>
<p>Obviously “recently” is the key here. At D’s private school there are a lot of young teachers and a couple have graduated from schools D is interested in. While the school doesn’t set anything up, the teachers are certainly approachable and D has asked several about their experiences. They were refreshingly honest.</p>
<p>I think any young teacher would be happy to talk to a student about their college experience.</p>
<p>My S is attending his APUSH teacher’s alma mater after he had recommended it to him. I don’t know if we would have given it much thought if his teacher hadn’t suggested it and talked to him about it. He had graduated about 25 years earlier, but he was still a wealth of information.</p>
<p>During S’ freshman year, he happened to run into this teacher during homecoming weekend at the college and they had lunch together.</p>
<p>At one school I taught at, teachers were asked once a year (on a specific day) to wear their college sweatshirt to school. I enjoyed seeing all the colleges represented, but it was also enjoyable to talk to the students who were curious about my college and whom I never would have met otherwise.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I am certain that if the school district asked, teachers would be happy to do this and that kids and parents would really appreciate the information. At our HS, however, even the GCs do not publicize their alma maters, except sometimes in one on one conversations.</p>
<p>My D’s youngest high school teacher is at least 10 years out of college, and most of her teachers are closer to 20 years out. While I’m sure any of her teachers would be happy to discuss his or her college experience, they don’t seem recent enough to me. However, I have to say that at curriculum night, all of D’s teachers told us where they got their bachelors and masters degrees.</p>
<p>I would not limit it to a district’s HS teachers–perhaps your district has more recent grads teaching elementary and middle school</p>
<p>At the HS where I teach, guidance keeps a database of what colleges staff members attended, as well as any other school we know alot about (children’s school,for example).</p>
<p>Kids in my AP class have lots of questions about schools, admissions, etc, and we chat quite a bit during down time in lab.</p>
<p>I often suggest that high school students ask not only teachers about their alma maters but also any adult in their lives whom they like and respect (relatives, neighbors, friends’ parents, employers, coaches, etc.).</p>
<p>This is helpful for several reasons:</p>
<p>1) It may provide an inside scoop about a school already on the target-college list.</p>
<p>2) It can open minds to new college options.</p>
<p>3) It will prove that there are many roads to happiness and success … including attending little-known colleges or even no college at all.</p>
<p>MAdad, your guidance office seems very progressive. Do they also track which recent students are attending which colleges and get their feedback?
Sally, you make a fine suggestion. I think it is easier to ask teachers, however, if they have already agreed to be asked. I think a smart HS encourages teachers to mention their college when introducing themselves to their new classes.</p>
<p>Young teachers are not the only resource…older teachers who continue to keep their finger on the pulse of the major in which they graduated can be invaluable to students.</p>
<p>My daughter wanted to study graphic design, and with two accountants as parents she couldn’t really turn to us for help in evaluating art programs, or assessing the environment of many art schools. The art teacher with whom she took most of her classes during HS spent HOURS with her…on her own time…helping her narrow a list of schools to those she would be most happy at. Thanks to her efforts, we had a small list of schools to then visit and evaluate, and as a result she ended up at a school that so far (knock wood) she’s VERY happy at.</p>
<p>My son asked his teachers about colleges and universities, and they were more than willing to offer their opinion, because they had been to several schools for conferences, etc. They were his biggest cheerleaders (besides immediate family) when he made his decision, and they keep in touch with him. As a teacher, I have shown students resources online so they can research their options better. Often students will ask if I have toured this school or that one, because I, too, have college-bound teenagers.</p>
<p>My wife is a teacher who frequently is approached by students with questions about certain colleges or about the college admission/application process in general. While she is always willing to be helpful she does have to be careful not to wander into the realm of “advising” students, in which case she would incur the wrath of her school’s guidance department – actually one GC in particular. Another teacher in her department was reprimanded last year for offering college advice to students who had approached her instead of informing them that they needed to direct their questions to their guidance counselor. (This is a NYS public school btw)</p>
<p>hudson, that’s really unfortunate. My D’s best advisor during the college process was her AP Calc teacher-who has known her since 2nd grade. Very knowledgeable and interested in the process- a vibe she didn’t always get from guidance. And it wasn’t just because he’d known her for so long- he “advised” several students informally. Great guy.</p>
<p>Sabaray – I agree that it is unfortunate. At my daughter’s high school her GC was not particularly knowledgable but he was secure enough to admit what he didn’t know – which was basically any college not located in New York State or the greater Boston area. He encouraged her to talk to her teachers, other adults and recent grads. Some of the best advice she received came from a couple of her science teachers who had graduated from slective colleges.</p>
<p>These turf issues are stupid, but common.
As the son of a teacher, I am biased, but my experience has been that the overwhelming majoirty of teachers really enjoy helping students and talking about their own college. The guidance folks at our very highly regarded HS, however, blew off my suggestion that teachers be requested to volunteer to discuss their colleges. Worse yet, a close friend seriously interested in a college was not told by a counselor that a another counselor was a recent graduate of that college.</p>