<p>Here’s something my son’s school did that really threw me for a loop…and I didn’t learn about it until a dean of admissions told me about it – in mid-March!</p>
<p>The school didn’t provide a transcript. They just sent copies of the report cards. Comments and all. In a way, it’s actually a very candid insight for the schools. The teacher comments come from every subject, including electives and PE. And they are written for the parents as the audience, not gussied up for a boarding school application. And that would be fine if (a) that’s what was in everyone else’s application, and (b) we had known what the Admissions Committees would be looking at so that we would have the option of taking a moment to address anything we might have felt needed to be explained or clarified.</p>
<p>The bottom line, though, is that sharing these comments with the boarding schools was weird. Had the teachers themselves understood that these middle school comments would be seen by others and reviewed critically, I’m fairly certain the teachers would have taken more care and put more thought into them. I know some of the teachers looked like idiots with their comments (bad spelling; baby-talk encouragement, etc.) and that didn’t foster a sense of confidence that my son’s school was very challenging. But the dean pointed me to a comment made by for one of his 6-week PE rotations. The rotation was lacrosse and since the PE teachers didn’t know anything about the game, I was the rules instructor and taught the kids drills. And he didn’t respond well to dad being at school. He hated that unit. And the comment reflected it; but it was coach-to-coach, not coach to boarding school. At the time I regarded the candor as a courtesy. I doubt the coach, knowing that it would be weighed as part of his applications, would have shared so generously.</p>
<p>I firmly believe that no one thing – besides, say, a drug bust – kills an application. But it was a shame to see an extra straw or two needlessly loaded onto the camel’s back.</p>
<p>Anyway, be sure to find out what your child’s school is sending. The recommendations are confidential. But there’s no reason why you can’t obtain a copy of the same transcript that they are sending to the boarding schools. Having that information may help you (as the parent) or your child better shape the applications to complement, offset, clarify or emphasize points that come out in the transcripts.</p>