<p>On this thread, though, the GC is all you get unless someone savvy clues you in. No easy answers. And, in theory, even a GC with a few hundred kids will know the ones who shine- and make their way to the office. After that, I agree the crapshoot starts there. There are kids who stand out in all respects and get generic recs from the GC at a good hs- and kids in rotten districts where the overworked counselor is clearly going to bat for him.</p>
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You’d think so, but it’s more like a general practitioner seeing the occasional patient with a rare disease. You hope that your GP is good enough to recognize when you need a specialist.</p>
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<p>If the average level of academic achievement in a school is low, the GC’s approach may be reasonable, although exceptional students should be advised differently. I don’t know which school NHCTM’s child attends. One of the two public high schools in New Haven, Wilbur Cross High School, had slightly more than half of students take the SAT, with average SAT scores in the low 400s on each section according to [Connecticut College and Career Readiness Toolkit Supplemental Data Wilbur Cross High
School.](<a href=“http://www.ctregents.org/files/pdfs/p20/093%20New%20Haven%20-%20Wilbur%20Cross.pdf”>http://www.ctregents.org/files/pdfs/p20/093%20New%20Haven%20-%20Wilbur%20Cross.pdf</a>) Thus most of its students are not good candidates for selective schools. Looking at the section “Remedial and Developmental Placement/Enrollment 2010” one sees that most matriculants from the school at Connecticut public colleges and universities need
both remedial English and remedial math.</p>
<p>It may be a reasonable approach. I can’ hardly fault GC’s for focusing on 80% of their “clients”, who are pursuing local schools and aren’t looking for the tippy-tops, instead of 20%.</p>
<p>On the other hand, don’t the students who get all A grades in the hardest courses become well known to the teachers and counselors? If so, wouldn’t the counselors know that such students may have more potential options than just the local community college?</p>
<p>Even if the counselor did not know the student that well individually, wouldn’t pulling up some basic information like course schedules and grades give the counselor some information on how to tailor college and career advice to the student? And if students are counseled in groups, the groups can be set up as groups of students with broadly similar course schedules and grades.</p>
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<p>My son’s GC was a true gem. He had maybe 400 students to represent, but my son dealt with him almost every week about some aspect of his customized 3-year graduation plan, which also included the GC proctoring mid-terms and finals for his online classes accredited from elsewhere. One thing that probably helped was that his GC was on the freshmen + juniors cycle so my son was the only one of his students graduating and applying to college during his final year. </p>
<p>This ongoing relationship did give his GC an opportunity to write a very specific and detailed letter of recommendation.</p>
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<p>Teachers, yes. Counselors, I"m not so sure. I don’t see how a generic “this student does well in most honors courses” really provides anything all that specific to go on. Especially if one is of the mindset that the local state u is fine for almost all purposes.</p>
<p>At my kids’ school, the GCs were just too overloaded to give much tailored advice to anybody.</p>
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<p>If the school is full of mediocre students (e.g. C/D students in not-so-rigorous courses) who might go to the community college, with a few somewhat better students (e.g. B students with moderately rigorous schedules) who typically go to the local state university, then wouldn’t the student with A grades in the hardest possible schedule stand out as being unusually to a counselor who takes even a glance at the student’s records before or during the counseling meeting? In that case, tailoring the college recommendations accordingly would be the obvious thing to do.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if the student with A grades in the hardest possible schedule does not stand out, that implies that there are enough others like that student that the counselor should have experience with such a student’s capabilities and tailor college recommendations accordingly.</p>
<p>“At my kids’ school, the GCs were just too overloaded to give much tailored advice to anybody.”</p>
<p>At my school, they threatened us with Middlebury unless we kept our grades up. (None of us knew what Middlebury was.)</p>
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<p>You would think so…but, no. D graduated in the top 10 of her HS class, hardest courses and it seemed as if many of her teachers had no idea who she was. Can’t tell you how many times I met teachers she had and when I mentioned her name I got a blank look. Funny thing is all of the kids knew her. She is not the “life of the party” but not quiet either. Lots of friends, active in school stuff. Never figured it out. I do know other people whose kids had similar experiences in the same HS.</p>
<p>The GC she had for the first 2 years was worthless. The GC she had the last two years was great. </p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with hiring a private college counselor, but it is unaffordable for a lot of people. And are there private college counselors in rural areas?</p>
<p>Wondering here, how we think those GCs “tailor” for each bright kid? Lordy, they can look at usnews? Even we (the broad CC “we”) can’t agree on where kids belong.</p>
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<li>or even we CC’ers who really do know a huge range of colleges. Isn’t it always going to boil down to what that GC knows about a selection of colleges? Same for private counselors.<br></li>
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<p>Back to their recs: the ones that are creepy admit they don’t know the kid. Part of “the process,” assuming you don’t have a genuine dolt for a GC, is to make yourself known to whatever parties will take part.</p>
<p>Anyone in this. Situation should try Questbridge, it’s an awesome program for students like the ones described above as high achieving but low income. Through this program I was accepted to Dartmouth College early decision with a FULL ride. It’s over for this year but you can never start to early on these things. The colleges partnered with this program are truly amazing (more than half of the Ivy League schools are partners).</p>
<p>Anyone here not familiar with QB can check their website. Strong program. Non-profit. Good kids.</p>
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<p>My thinking is / was more expansive than my kids’ GC’s thinking would ever be. I don’t mean that meanly, but it’s the truth. Part of it is that I grew up out east and so it’s not as “scary” to me as it is to some midwesterners who just fell off the turnip truck.</p>
<p>^ huh? I have lived in both the midwest and the east coast and I don’t get that remark at all.</p>
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<p>Worked out for my son. He’s attending Brown for about $5000 a year out of pocket, half of that related to costs for books, travel and misc. expenses. Cheaper than community college, considering what it costs to feed him when he’s home. ;)</p>
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<p>Well, that’s pretty insulting. I’m surprised at you, PG. You usually don’t display such coastal chauvinism. But maybe you just hide it well.</p>
<p>Let me assure anyone who’s wondering, quite a number of us Midwesterners have been around the block a time or two, as well. And having spent about equal parts of my adult life on the East Coast and in the Midwest, I’m quite certain I’ve encountered as many Easterners as Midwesterners who are clueless about and intimidated by this process.</p>
<p>I was actually driving some back road in CA once, behind a truck- and turnips were falling off the back of the truck.</p>
<p>Coastal chauvinism- but eastern humor. I’d guess somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon. I highly doubt it was mean to slam everyone. Just imo.</p>
<p>Lots of comments about community colleges here. In some states they are apparently seen as suitable only for students who can’t get in anywhere else, and for older students who have decided to get an education or a re-education. But in other places, a community college is thought of as a reasonable stepping stone for excellent students on the way to excellent colleges. The fact that places like Berkeley and Michigan get hundreds of community college transfers every year supports this. Not all of those transfers are late bloomers or “non-traditional.”</p>