<p>There's an active discussion on the parent's board about admissions secrets where people have brought up several stories about the way college counselors operate at prep schools. Does anyone here have any stories?</p>
<p>can you link to the discussion?</p>
<p>Here's a link:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/635396-dirty-secrets-college-admissions.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/635396-dirty-secrets-college-admissions.html</a></p>
<p>I do know that at the top boarding schools, they will easily get 30-40 or more visits from the top LACS/Ivies/etc. every year on campus where students can meet with an admissions rep. These admissions reps have very good relationships with the college counselors.</p>
<p>I have experience with counseling at a few different boarding schools. The counselors at my son's MAPL school are so excellent it's hard for me to even describe. Extensive individual attention is paid to each student AND the family as a whole. Care is taken to find the right fit and every strategy is used for admission results. The counselors have great relationships with many admissions representatives and deans, and are honest with the families about the chances for admission to any particular school. Teacher recommendations are carefully reviewed and crafted to paint a picture of each student as a unique individual with specific strengths. They are not at all "canned". Problem areas are discussed and addressed honestly.</p>
<p>MOWC,</p>
<p>I'd be interested to hear about how the athletic recruiting integrated with the college counseling with WildChild, so I can start trying to put together our thinking for next year.</p>
<p>Probably good to share with the whole crew.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Here are a few things I remember from my experience - I read in my school paper that we had a few admission reps to tour our campus every year. They would follow students around to classes and then have meetings with school officials.</p>
<p>There was also a college kick-off weekend for parents to help them understand the process and how to help their kids through it. Counselors know a lot about the different colleges. </p>
<p>Teachers attend a class on how to write good recommendations. College counselors had us fill out questionnaires and asked more questions during our meetings to write a more personal letter. </p>
<p>Prep schools also do a good job of keeping in contact with alums. My school has graduates fill out surveys about the college they chose and offer contact information to seniors trying to choose a school.</p>
<p>Our experience with college counseling at a Top 3 New England boarding school was affected substantially by the fact that my son did not apply to a single college or university in the Northeast US. In fact, it was a topic of discussion among many faculty & advisors at his elite prep school. By the time my son began his senior year, he had already been accepted to an Honors College at a large state university & a four year out-of-state tuition scholarship soon followed. Prior to leaving for boarding school, he had already applied ED to his first choice school. Basically, he chose not to use the college counseling services of his school to determine to which universities he would apply. Nevertheless, he received invitations to apply to several Ivies. In calling to politely decline the offer to one elite Ivy, the power & prestige of his forthcoming degree was made clear.</p>
<p>Does a similar thing happen at the prep school level with the feeder schools? How much of an advantage is it to have a child coming out of a private school where the placement office is calling prep schools on behalf of their students?</p>
<p>My belief is that many of the elite New England prep schools--both boarding & day--have earned outstanding relations with the most elite colleges & universities in the Northeastern US. But, it is important to know, that getting into the best preps, as hard as it is, is easier than getting out with a degree. Although we only had contact with four of the eight Ivies, I have little doubt that my son would have been admitted to more than one if that was his true preference. Nevertheless, there were students in my son's graduating class who applied to several Ivies & were not admitted. I do not know what percent of his class applied to at least one Ivy (my son did not), but approximately 50% of his class was accepted to at least one Ivy & his class size was over 150 students.</p>
<p>As I think back, I am now somewhat astounded by the high quality of the safety back-up school that was offered to my son. Although it was not an Ivy League & although my son had his two schools selected--both of which admitted him--several students each year turn down Ivies to accept an offer from his safety back-up. My point in sharing this info. is two fold: One, if you really want to attend an elite college or university in the Northeast US, then the top prep schools are worth their weight in gold if a student performs well & stays out of trouble; and, Two, if you know that your child wants to attend a school outside of the Northeast US, attending an elite New England prep or boarding school may not be a significant help. In fact, due to grade deflation & non-honors/AP laden curriculum, it may hurt when applying to schools outside of the Northeast US which are accustomed to seeing near "straight A" averages.</p>
<p>Coldwind - I assume your son was performing at the top of his class at his BS? Any hooks of note?</p>
<p>In some areas, yes, in some areas, no. Although nominated for the cum laude society by some professors (usually reserved for the top 15% or fewer of each graduating class and different from graduating summa, magna or cum laude in that grades are not the sole determinative factor) he was ineligible because he had received a "C+" in Spanish, yet still got a 5 on his Spanish AP exam. He was well known at one of the Ivies because he spent two summers there & two of his professors offered to write recommendations for him. Leadership, acting & demonstrated passion.
The above post is important because it raises the reality of the ultra elite preps in that rarely, if ever, is one student accomplished in all areas. There is almost always someone better, someone who works harder, someone from a wealthy & powerful family with substantial legacy status, etc.
In my view, it is best to let each student follow their own interests & to avoid putting pressure on them. Things tend to work out well, or, at least, as they should.</p>
<p>"There is almost always someone better, someone who works harder, someone from a wealthy & powerful family with substantial legacy status, etc.
In my view, it is best to let each student follow their own interests & to avoid putting pressure on them. Things tend to work out well, or, at least, as they should."</p>
<p>So well said Cold Wind -- thanks for your insight.</p>
<p>How about international boarder apply for college outside US? How much BS college guidance can do for this?</p>
<p>Re: Athletic recruiting</p>
<p>It really is different from sport to sport, especially with team sports v.individual sports. My son's counselors (one in particular) tended to focus on basketball and wrestling, which were "college prep" sports at this particular school. My son's coach (individual sport) was a help, and I educated myself, too. My son wanted to use his sport to help with admission to a top academic school, and he wanted it to be D1, although we looked at some top D3 programs and I'm still not sure he wouldn't have been better off at one of them. We looked at the rosters and times of the freshmen and the high school times of all the athletes. We got some info on the coaches and the programs. We got some advice from the school, but did a lot of it on our own.</p>
<p>re: post 14</p>
<p>...and how useful is it if your American child wants to go to college overseas? I would be at a total loss alone and I don't think many public school guidance offices would be of much use either.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing MOWC. I got the feeling that was how it works with recruited athletes at preps. I get the feeling that it will be a DIY operation for us, primarily focusing on getting the schools to watch goaliegirl with support form coach. College counselors will hopefully be able to sell the school rigor (no grade inflation at her school) of her transcript, so we can do better on merit money. With an expected (been through the calculators) EFC barely in 5 digits, we'll probably need more than need-based aid at many schools.</p>
<p>The good news is that a couple of the D3 schools goaliegirl has interest in have a regular placement record with the school, so there will be some familiarity.</p>
<p>I know that my college counselor had some good information about Canadian and British schools. Outside of those, I think it will involve a lot more effort from the student.</p>
<p>Many prep school college advisors are well acquainted with the Scottish schools, such as Edinburgh & St. Andrews, and with McGill & Univ. of British Columbia in Canada, but don't expect much more regarding universities outside of the US.</p>
<p>I know at my son's school his coaches pride themselves on getting the kids lots of exposure to college coaches, but they are mostly D3 nescac schools (excellent schools academically, but my son wants a D1 school. I am well-versed in the whole athletic recruiting thing as we went through the process with my daughter. I know that his school does do an excellent job of placing the basketball players at Ivies, so they have a good working relationship with them. Other sports, I am not so sure.</p>