<p>GCs for the most part have your best interest at heart. But they are also
looking to maximize their placement which may have a higher priority than
your best interest. Their logic would be something along the lines…hmmm
X got into MIT why do I need to push them for H when Z has been
rejected from all their earlies but has legacy for H.</p>
<p>You need to have a handle on the students your particular GC is accountable for
and know where you stand. Have a heart-to-heart and tell the GC the college
that really matters to you in strict confidence so they do not unknowingly mess
it up (Usually they are quite fair and will not knowingly mess things up).</p>
<p>Procrastination: You are right. If you are in the top 1/2 of one percent of your high school class and the national testing population, and also one (or preferably more) of the following, Harvard could qualify as a match: (a) the child of an alum (or two) with cumulative donations >$5 million over a 20-year period, (b) a recruited athlete, (c) a musician with an acceptance to Juilliard or Curtis, (d) the child of a head of state, cabinet officer of a geopolitically significant country, or national U.S. politician, (e) commercially published author, (f) Princess Amidala (or the equivalent), (g) leader of a broad-based social movement, (h) frontperson/songwriter for a platinum-selling rock band, or (i) some sort of certifiable genius.</p>
<p>Every year, there are probably somewhere between five and a dozen such people applying. It’s a reach for everyone else.</p>
<p>(More seriously, I remember reading a few years ago some interview with the Harvard Admissions dean where he said that every year there were 100 or so “WOW” (Walk On Water) applicants who were accepted with no significant discussion, and everyone else was a tough call from among a much larger pool of highly qualified applicants. I don’t think he was counting athletes in the WOW category. So, yeah, there are some people for whom Harvard isn’t really a reach. But not many.)</p>
<p>JHS’s post is right on. I would add here that sometimes there is some confusion about what “match” and “reach” mean. Some students with very high scores and grades may look at charts and assume that they are “matches” at Harvard or similar schools because they have grades and scores in the top end of admitted students. But, in fact, many students with those grades and scores don’t get admitted. So while you may have credentials that are a match with a top school, it’s still a reach because, unless you are one of the paragons JHS listed, you are still facing daunting odds in getting accepted.</p>
<p>I know one WOW kid. He’s won over 150K in scholarships (with much more to come this year) and is only applying to Harvard. He’s arguably the smartest (read: most innovative kid) in America, so if he thinks H is the best then it must be. :)</p>
<p>My GC was amazing and told me to apply even with my super low/not in the middle 50 percentile range test scores for Harvard students. However, there was another GC in the guidance department who told me that applying was a waste of money and that I would be automatically rejected. I did get in, so I would just say go ahead and apply.</p>
<p>yeah i kinda figured out it was time to take what my college counselor was saying with a grain of salt after i realized that he had recommended basically all the same schools to all of my friends, even though we want to major in completely different things. he basically takes out a book full of colleges from like 1995, asks what you want to major in, then scribbles down a few colleges and sends you on your way. luckily my college counselor and my guidance counselor are not the same person, lol, so i think i should be safe.</p>
<p>The college counselor at my DD’s school pretty much tells everyone they won’t get into the schools they’re applying to, even some that are matches or safeties! Fortunately, I know lots of kids who got into schools she told them they wouldn’t get into, so apparently her negativity is not dissuading the kids from applying to the schools they’re interested in. A number of kids in that school have private college counselors, and this woman wonders why.</p>
<p>I don’t talk to mine because he’s entirely incompetent…but I can imagine he’d say something sarcastic b/c whenever I have to see him he looks at my transcript and says “this disgusts me” cause I have a 4.0. I absolutely hate him..</p>
<p>ADVICE: don’t go by what you GC says…it’s not like it’s up to them where you apply, it’s your discretion</p>
<p>In retrospect, I think GCs are evaluated on their success in placing students in one of the studen’ts declared top 3 choices. At least at our HS. Thus, it is in the GC’s favor to argue down the students declared top 3 choices.</p>