<p>@SevenDad: Thanks, and I thought maybe I would pass your advice along to the travelling duo. But I think at this point maybe they are feeling desperation and I had better keep quiet. They were supposed to fly out of LaGuardia last night and the flight was cancelled. Then they were going to try to fly to NC this evening, and travel agent said another storm was coming and they may get stuck yet again. So, they are giving up and coming home (Colorado). I wish not, but as I am not there I sadly don’t have much control over the decision making. Turns out UNC was closed today due to the weather, so their scheduled tour would not have happened anyway. The best laid plans…argh! Hopefully we can try to get out there again either in this summer or fall.</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend any books or online articles dealing with prep school college counselors and how they work? Everyone I know says they “have an agenda” when you meet with them (and I personally got that feeling during our meeting), but I have no idea what this process looks like from that end. I’d like to understand the process better so I don’t feel like ours is trying to force us into a certain outcome (or if they are, I’d like to understand more about it – like do they intentionally limit the number of applicants to certain colleges, thus ensuring a good % of acceptances, but then denying many kids the chance to apply?) Anyway, sorry for rambling… Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.</p>
<p>MamaBear, you can get more useful ideas from reading the regular cc pages than from many high school college counselors who quite often have other duties as well. DS remarked to me recently that at his school, they were recommending the same couple summer programs to everyone. They did not suggest that he take SAT II tests when he should have freshman or sophomore year. Now he’s been off those topics for a while and has to go back and study them in order to do well on the tests. 
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<p>MamaBear, look at a few posts up and there is a thread that kind of deals with that question that Choatie mom linked. It is a very long thread, but I found it helpful. My instincts tell me that the process can be somewhat political but I am sure that it varies from school to school. </p>
<p>@ MamaB
I haven’t gotten a “political” vibe from college counseling. They looked at my kid’s stats with her, and compared them to the Naviance graphs, and asked her where was her first choice. Kid definitely chose it herself and it is a reach for anyone. </p>
<p>The complicating factor at Exeter is that if a student is accepted to a highly selective college early (and an early application is encouraged), no further applications are allowed to be sent out by the counselors. None. So knowing that policy and planning ahead avoids unhappiness. They say it’s because kids who are accepted early free up more space for their classmates at other schools, and schools know the Exeter policy and realize it’s much more like an ED application because no other applications can be sent out if the student is accepted.</p>
<p>Hard to say if that’s a contributing factor, but their matriculation data is strong, and applying to your dream school early can save a lot of additional application work if you are fortunate enough to be accepted. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses. @HarvestMoon1 – I did read that thread when it was linked last week but thanks so much for pointing it out. It’s kind of worrisome that they may shift kids around in a way that might not be in the best interest of an individual kid. It’s tough to have to figure out the political landscape when all a parent wants is what’s best for their child.</p>
<p>@MamaBear, do the college counselors put on informational programs for parents? I’ve attended a few at D’s school and have gained some useful information there, most of it inadvertently or unwittingly provided. ;)) One of the cc’s admitted that they do have phone conversations with regional reps in which they outline the various profiles of the kids and (unspoken implication) lobby for some. (You can imagine how the parents jumped on that and how quickly the counselor tried to retreat from it!) The sense I got was that the conversations are generally initiated by the college and are usually aimed at answering specific questions about an individual application. But the conversations do happen.</p>
<p>I’d like to have a clearer picture of how it all works from the college counselor’s end too. Neither D nor I can get a read on what’s realistic or how they regard her as a candidate. It’s all been very carefully neutral so far. She has no sense at all where she fits into the class or whether high scores/stats even mean anything. (Naviance suggests that it’s not all that important.)</p>
<p>@3girls – laughing that your counselors “inadvertently or unwittingly” provided info. It feels the same here. The meetings are very general, with no new information passed about. Ours just tell us not to worry, which only seems to fuel more worry and anxiety among the parents I have spoken with. Getting an honest answer to a direct question is not easy – it’s mostly generalities and IMO a big attempt to lower expectations. I can understand that part of it, but would prefer a more open and transparent process. (Another good prep school here provided their parents with a huge list of colleges that are likely based on GPAs from that school – that’s seen as a good and useful tool for making one’s own list. Wish we had something like that!)</p>
<p>After submitting the parent response form to CK’s counselor last month, we got a personal response and have been kept up-to-date with the meetings between CK and her. At College Info Weekend last month, the counselor held a session for the parents of her counselees that was very direct and informative (her style is extremely direct), and she will be scheduling one-on-ones with each set of parents to discuss progress so far, the college list, expectations on both sides, concerns, etc. Kiddo has also shared in detail his meetings with her and these have included her unvarnished opinion of his list, probabilities of acceptance, other schools to consider, etc. We don’t feel in the dark at all, but CK is not guessing about where he wants to go or what he wants to do with his life and that helps direct this process immensely which is one thing his counselor has conveyed that she appreciates.</p>
<p>If you are not getting what you want, have you indicated this to the counselor/counseling office?</p>
<p>Quick note after a day touring schools…A) Boarding school kids certainly have a leg up on your average LPS student at least when it comes to navigation/transition…just used to living on their own/dealing with roommates/time management, familiar with the application process, etc.; B) Small LACs might seem to some BS students as not really any better/bigger than their BS wrt to facilities, programs, etc. </p>
<p>Well, tomorrow we launch our 6 colleges in 5 days tour of NY/New England! The schools range in competitiveness (safeties are 2 of the 3 earliest visits!), location, size. Will post an update once we are finished.</p>
<p>MamaBear16, I have great respect for the prep school college counselors. They are on the front lines, so to speak. This article from the Atlantic dates to 2001, but the writer did serve time as both a prep school teacher and college counselor: <a href=“http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2001/09/flanagan.htm[/url]”>http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2001/09/flanagan.htm</a>.</p>
<p>Another article precisely on point, even though it’s more than a decade old: <a href=“http://www.parentsassociation.com/college/delusions.html[/url]”>http://www.parentsassociation.com/college/delusions.html</a></p>
<p>I’ve seen this article mentioned by others in the last five years. It’s worth reading, too: <a href=“http://www.parentsassociation.com/college/failed_rite.html[/url]”>http://www.parentsassociation.com/college/failed_rite.html</a>.</p>
<p>For those of you who remember Apollo6 please place her in your prayers. Her son, class of 15, passed away this week while away at UWC.</p>
<p>I love The Onion:
How The College Admissions Process Works
<a href=“How The College Admissions Process Works”>http://www.theonion.com/articles/how-the-college-admissions-process-works,35625/</a>
</p>
<p>Found this elsewhere on CC and thought it an interesting read and of possible interest to those of you at the early stages of the college process.
<a href=“Duke Students”>Duke Students;
<p>Yep, they’re discussing this on the college parent’s forum.</p>
<p>On the College Admissions forum, I’m seeing various similar laments of:
</p>
<p>FYI, if anyone is looking for a good southern LAC to put on their own kid’s “learn more about” list…Rhodes in Memphis impressed my wife and daughter on a recent visit.</p>
<p>Tufts has a very informative admissions blog as well - at this time last year, the author took the time to highlight the kids that stood out to him - and were rejected- so the thousands of “nos” would understand that he was touched by many of them. Made me proud to be a Jumbo. </p>
<p>@SevenDad, I am a big fan of LACs. If you are looking for southern schools, check out Davidson too. </p>