nvra2ndchance

I never got one encouraging word from mine. in fact, when even asked about UVA, she said "even 4.0 students don't make it there" in a condescending tone so that i wouldnt even think of applying.

dammit. i hate the career counselors and the guidance ones. at least my regular guidance will give me a great recommendation.

prankityclankity

Ugh! What a b*tch!

I have the same problem. I was trying to fix the courses for my junior year and my gcoun. said my course load was too heavy! The only advanced classes I have are AP US History and honors Chemestry. The rest are standard. I guess that course load is pretty when you consider I go to a rural high school with only 3 APs. But anyway, I can't take Economics now. Psh.

alyssieann

I asked my counseler about taking AP Bio and AP Physics, and all she said was, "well what's your GPA?" And I told her (4.72 W), and she said, "I'm sure you'll be able to manage that."

Just based off of my GPA...a freaking number.

jimbob1225

yeah theres 2 college counselors at our school. one of them is pessimistic and discouraging ,the other is encouraging, helpful, and willing to support you while still making sure you have a safety or two

ucsd_ucla_dad

I didn't put up with the HS counselors my daughters were assigned since they knew less about academics and college than I did. They spent much of their time trying to keep the bottom-end kids in school and really didn't know what to do for the high-end kids other than discourage them. Mine were given the same line of "too tough a course" load as well but I just insisted they let her take them anyway. She ended up taking 6 APs her junior year (the only Junior there to do that) and ended up with a 5.0 on them. She took 5 APs the senior year and ran out of any more to take so didnt take a 6th class. She also did well on the AP tests so she obviously learned the material.

Again, many of the counselors spend most of their time with the bottom to middle students and therefore aren't looking at the individual when it comes to the high-end. This may (hopefully) be different at a higher-end HS.

Use your own common sense and advice of more experienced people when making course and college decisions. Don't be afraid to push the counselors and escalate to the Principal if need be so you can state your case on why they should let you take more classes. It would be ridiculous to have them tell a top student the load would be 'too high'.

x3rose

yeah, well when i first approached ANY teacher/counselor at my school, they said my courseload was too heavy (i was planning on 6 APs)... mainly b/c no one else had done it before (my high school is relatively new, this coming year is going to be the fifth year). although my counselor is really good (she knows a lot), she has to deal with other students like what ucsd_ucla_dad stated. in that case, i take my counseling problems and college/school questions to a teacher at my school that knows a LOT about admissions. try to find a teacher or mentor either in or out of school to ask questions to. it's much more beneficial since he/she doesn't have to deal with 800 or so students and knows you personally and better. plus, you can get a good recommendation from them for college.

jimbob1225

yeah here's a funny story:

i wanted to take 5 APs junior year. i knew i had to do that to be competitive for college, and i also really loved the classes i would take. the principal and the college counselors tried to stop me but I fought and won. i kept a 3.8 GPA. i met my college counselor and she said "you have an excellent academic record. colleges look for 9-11 APs by graduation. you're going to need to add AP X to your prospective senior schedule, by the way." i was shocked and angered...why did she try to stop me at first if she knew I was going to need those APs to achieve my goals? what a b1tch.

Caro

The job doesn't pay enough to get decent counselors.

bcon1388

they give you advice but you don't have to listen to them
apply to whatever schools YOU want to

excel

high schools couselors = high school dropouts

citygirlsmom

to the op- you have THREE counselors? wow....

ChickenSoup88

We've got two counselors, and I think people either love one and hate the other or vice versa. What my counselor does, or so I've heard, is during those college meetings, she tends to give a list of about 5 or so generic colleges to people who are unsure of where they are applying. So when I had my meeting, I said almost right from the start, "I'm applying to Columbia ED." She didn't try to bother with "Well, lets look at St. Whoever in Minnesota..." and when I had to do scheduling for senior year, she realized that I needed a very rigorous coarseload and didn't try to stop me from taking an AP-loaded schedule.

CheshireStripes

Agreed - I've been discouraged by my counselor many times. The school has about 6 counselors and our last names determine which counselor we have. The spring of my freshman year, while picking out courses for sophomore year, I decided to take on Spanish in addition to Italian. I was discouraged due to the caliber of people who would be in the class. I would have to start with a Spanish 1 average class - I had no problem with this. The only person who encouraged me was my English teacher. I was also told that not having a lunch period with my "heavy courseload" would not be a good idea. I didn't really see a problem and forced my counselor into letting me take Spanish. This year I aced the class and did well in all of my other classes.

Again, I finally had enough with my orchestra class, but I was told that it wouldn't be a good idea to drop it. I was told that colleges look for something like orchestra or band. I didn't really CARE what colleges wanted at that point, I was sick and tired of my class and playing an instrument never brought me joy. Plus, I've played it for 7 years with private instruction, that has to count for something! Anyway, after 2 or 3 meetings with my counselor, he let me drop orchestra and I am now signed up for AP psychology. But before I could drop it I had to get a note from my mom to allow me to drop the course. Honestly, she said that was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard and was glad that I'd finally decided to do something on my own.

Bottom line - you have to fight for what you want. I have a feeling that I'm going to have problems later on with the choices that my counselor wants me to make, but I'm going to stick to my own decisions. They're only there to "guide" you, which isn't happening, anyway. What they say is not the last word - you can do what you want.

precocious

my counselor isn't neccesarily "bad", but he doesn't really advise me on a personal level, at such a big school (we're a class of 450ish). half the stuff i know about college admissions is from CC, and not from him. without the information i've learned here, i wouldn't have dreamed of applying to some of the schools i am or even about scholarships, early decision, sat iis, and the like. .

mr_chipset

I only found out who my college counselor is by the end of 9th grade.