<p>Last night I went to "Junior Parents' Night" at the high school....supposedly the night where we would learn how to make our child's senior year successful and productive, when to take the various tests, all about the college application process, etc. etc. </p>
<p>All I can say is that I am thankful that I found College Confidential and all of you helpful people out there! The high school GCs (who I'm pretty sure DID NOT apply to any selective schools when they were struggling to get out of high school themselves) provided misinformation and incomplete information, sprinkled with poor grammar and sentence structure. I knew that my kids' 1st-year-out-of-school GC didn't know much, but I didn't know how worthless the whole staff was. </p>
<p>Quite frankly, because most of the kids go to UT and A&M, their focus is on those schools and other TX schools. Our counselors knew next to nothing about elite apps until they started a Career Center, with one counselor in charge, not dealing with anyone except college-bound seniors in their app process, and having to learn as much as possible. That helped. But, when funding ran out, that became part-time and the counselor then had to work with non-senior students as well.Yet, at Info night, the counselor in charge still talked about TX schools, because the vast majority was interested in that.</p>
<p>Rest assured, it's not just Texas. Here in CA the GCs provide a lot of information about local community colleges and the UCs. For anyplace else, you have to do most of the legwork yourself.</p>
<p>I so wish I had found this site before DS applied to universities. It all turned out fine, but just about everything I learned about the process I learned on my own from internet searches and books. The GCs at S's HS were focused on the requirements of one local LAC and our state system, which probably worked for 80% of the students. Even so, their info was neither timely, easily to follow, nor complete.</p>
<p>This is the reason I hang out here. I wish I knew then what I know now. So I'm paying it forward.</p>
<p>Yeah, they made the most passing of references to the SAT II Subject tests. They said, "Only a few schools like Brown require these." Duh...this is Texas....how about Rice?</p>
<p>Our GCs have given the kids the impression that only those in the top third of the class are "allowed" to take SAT IIs (this is BS, anybody who wants to pay the fee can walk in and take the exam and nobody can stop them).</p>
<p>Sounds just like our high school here in the Northeast! No one at our h.s. (teachers or GCs) tells the kids to take subject tests, and the GC, with many years of experience, was unfamiliar with some of the colleges my daughter was intereested in.</p>
<p>MotherOfTwo, I wonder if your D attends school with my son. When I told him to take SATIIs as a soph, after taking the related classes, he told me that no one in guidance recommended that anyone take SATIIs before senior year.</p>
<p>Could have been the college counselor at my daughters' high school as well (although he has many years of experience). When my daughter told him of her Ivy acceptance, he said "Did you get any academic scholarships?"</p>
<p>P.S. We didn't bother to go to "Junior Night" last week for D2. Just had her get the hand out with deadline dates.</p>
<p>My daughter is a junior in college now, but I am sure that the guidance dept at our hs is still the same. Probably not the same hs your son attends .... it seems that there are MANY high schools like this!</p>
<p>I know that the large public high schools have to provide information for a wide spectrum of stuents, but while we are all sitting there, they could provide so much more useful information. </p>
<p>For example, the kids get two excused absences per year for college visits. The GC said, "Call the attendance office to see what kind of documentation they need." So, instead of THEM making ONE CALL to the attendance office and telling us what kind of documentation we need, they tell 200 of us to call the attendance office to ask the same question. </p>
<p>Or, now about providing a list of state schools that AREN'T UT or A&M? No wonder we have so many kids going to community college. If they aren't in the top 10%, they probably think it's their only alternative.</p>
<p>And don't you love the misinformation about financial aid? Neighbor of mine was just told at junior parents night, "and for you single parents; don't worry about getting financial information on your ex. The schools are only interested in your ability to pay and they'll base their scholarships on your income only." This woman has a relatively low income and now has dollar signs in her eyes; she owns her home outright; kid has a fully funded 529 plan courtesy of the ex-husband's parents (who were worried about their son doing the right thing by his kid); ex pays child support and is capable of paying full tuition anywhere in the country.</p>
<p>And she's expecting a full ride based on need????</p>
<p>Each person on this thread - I daresay - could do at least as good a job as many of the counselors encountered by the kids. I do clearly see why some turn to private counselors as a resource given the inaccurate information received.</p>
<p>I remember the first piece of advice given by the college application advisor at our HS: Parents, don't worry about money, just let the kids apply to the schools they're interested in and the money part will work out. I had been on CC for about a year and nearly blew my top, my friends sitting nearby must have wondered what my problem was. Suffice to say, the session was poorly organized and gave very little valuable information.</p>
<p>
[quote]
For example, the kids get two excused absences per year for college visits. The GC said, "Call the attendance office to see what kind of documentation they need." So, instead of THEM making ONE CALL to the attendance office and telling us what kind of documentation we need, they tell 200 of us to call the attendance office to ask the same question.
[/quote]
This is the kind of incompetance that really drives me nuts. It stems from tenure. No accountability at all. In the business world, if someone gave a presentation & was unprepared to deliver even the most obvious information, he'd be fired.</p>
<p>Three cheers to CC. There are a lot of public high schools, and a few private high schools, where the counselors don't have reliable advice for students on how (or why) to apply to competitive colleges. A common belief here is that an out-of-state public university will generally be a better financial deal than ANY private college. That's good for the application pools of the Big Ten universities, but it misstates the financial trade-offs for many students quite a bit. Students here are also very unaware of the SAT II tests--even AP teachers don't know why a student would want to take an SAT II test in the same subject.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago I emailed my son's pre-Calc teacher, asking if she thought he'd be prepared for the Math Level 2 SAT subject test (or whatever the correct name is) by the end of the year. She had never heard of it and she's been a teacher for many many years. What kills me about this is that our school stresses AP tests like crazy so we can be on the Newsweek Top 100 schools list, but then they have no idea the SAT IIs even exist.</p>
<p>My son isn't Ivy material and probably won't even get into Rice. I guess this bothers me so much because, by choosing to stay ignorant in this area, they are limiting other kids' options. There are a lot of very bright kids at our high school and I just hate the thought of them not applying to certain schools senior year because they see the "SAT II" requirement and it is too late to take them.</p>
<p>Attending a high school’s college information or financial aid night isn't a total waste of time because you’ll experience, up close and personal, the brutality of truth. You’ll witness an eager speaker delivering an unforgiving blizzard of details on how to fill out forms and other mind-numbing paperwork. This person just so happens to be - brace yourself - a financial aid officer from a college. It’s the friendly fox lecturing the unsuspecting chickens. She’ll use the offensive 4-letter word - LOAN - like a blunt instrument, swinging it without mercy for two punishing hours. Your local high school neglected to warn you that tonight marks the date of your first nervous breakdown. If the local guidnace counselors lecture you, prepare for a snooze. Then you'll remember that this forum is a far better place.</p>