<p>Public School: around 2800 kids and 10 guidance counselors -> 1:280 ratio. We also have various other positions, though, like social workers, our college counselors, financial aid counselors, etc., so it all works out. </p>
<p>I think all of our counselors know the kids pretty well, but the biggest problem is that none of them were, eh, particularly ambitious in high school, so if you want to take AP's and honors classes, it's your responsibility to request to do so. </p>
<p>Also, one of our counselors is fluent in Korean, and a couple are fluent in Spanish, which helps a lot because we have a lot of Spanish-speaking and Korean-speaking parents who have no other way to communicate with the school.</p>
<p>2:2500, and they also handle scheduling issues, general problems, etc.</p>
<p>They were, however, fairly good at getting to know people, esp. honors kids. Though I got a new one my senior year, so that didn't help at all. The people who did the most college counseling, though, were the IB advisors. So pretty much, if you weren't in honors, you didn't get much help at all, unless you had a good teacher who addressed the issue.</p>
<p>When my mom talked to the school (especially saying they should let people know about out of state things), they said that most kids don't go to college, or if they do, they go to the community college across the street or the nearby state school. Very few go out of state (or even to a private university), even out of the honors kids.</p>
<p>So yeah, my mom did all the research and helped me though the process. Otherwise it would have been A LOT more stressful and confusing.</p>
<p>yeah a year ago, before the reorganization of guidance department, there were only 4 counselors for 3200 hkids, so it was comparable to your situation, BookAddict.</p>
<p>Private school. 600 students, 2 university counselors. However, only 150 of those are seniors, so 1:75 for seniors. </p>
<p>Furthermore, its a Canadian school, and the university selection process in Canada is so straightforward (completely automated, your marks are automatically entered into a universal application system, and then you list schools to apply to. No SATs, few additional pieces of info, no recommendations, etc.), that those counselors tend to spend most of their time on the ~40 students that apply seriously outside of Canada. So it's all good.</p>
<p>This is in addition to other advisors for courses, among other things.</p>
<p>I don't see what the big deal is - I went to a public school with a little over 1700 students and had one guidance counselor that no one really knew. We had two vice principals and her - they divided up the recommendations, and very very few of them were actually personal. I don't know what they wrote about me (I spoke to the man who wrote mine once in my four years there - when I was giving him my forms), but I got into some good colleges, so I don't really care. Honestly, my school's admin's staff was incompetent - the students who got into good schools definitely didn't do it with their help.</p>
<p>1:~350 or so. 4 counselors for ~1500 students.</p>
<p>And might I mention that I have had a different counselor every year? So now my counselor only has known me since September...who KNOWS what she wrote on my recs.</p>
<p>Until I read this thread, I had no idea how fortunate we are. My sons' very competitive private school has 5 counselors for 100 students...1:20 ratio.</p>
<p>Public School: 1 counselor for our class of 355....majority are probably going to community college though. I would say about 60 are going to 4-year colleges...</p>
<p>She's pretty good though. She has a tough job, but she takes the time to get to know you. I definitely think we need at least another counselor though..</p>
<p>Public high school. 4 guidance counselors for about 750 students. 190 are seniors. Only 3 of the GCs have senior students...so that is about 64 seniors per GC. (the 4th gc works only with 9th graders) There is also a registrar who takes care of all the transcripts, files and letters of recommendation. In fact, that registrar does all the mailing. There is also a GC department secretary who handles any correspondences between students, colleges, teachers, and the guidance office. Oh...and there is a school to career counselor (separate person) who handles all students who are looking for vocational schools or job placements.</p>