Did you go Public With Your Private Counselor?

Pizzagirl
Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:59:35 +0000

Actually I think our GC’s face an uphill battle. It’s quite possible that they have more knowledge of schools outside our immediate area than I’m giving them credit for. But there is a culture around here, which is that you can get a perfectly fine education at U of I, and a decent enough one at the directional state schools (and hey, both of those things are true!) at a pretty good price, so this whole OMG-I’ve-gotta-get-to-a-top-school phenomenon just isn’t there. Which is not to say that there aren’t kids who get into top schools – but it’s more their individual family-driven than it is school-culture driven.

Plus, a lot of parents say that their pocketbook ends at the in-state cost of U of I, which precludes most privates. (And yes. We all know that if you get into Harvard, it could wind up being cheaper than U of I, blah blah blah. But that ain’t happening for most people.) And with the economy, a lot of people have been saying to their kids - go to the local comm college (which is apparently pretty decent) for 2 years, then transfer to U of I or maybe go to Wisconsin or Michigan.

Even though it would have benefited me if my kids’ GC’s had been all “let’s go talk about elite schools,” they would come across as rather tone-deaf to their constituencies if they didn’t have a primary focus on scholarships and state schools.