<p>There are good GC’s, Lousy ones, and many in between. My oldest, now a HS Senior has a wonderful GC, who unfortunately retired in June. We will soon see just how good the new GC is. The old GC told us she left detailed notes for the new GC on those kids who spent the time to allow her to get to know them - that will probably end up being about 5 or 6 of the 60 seniors he will deal with, and not necessarily the top students.</p>
<p>The old CG was honest about the implications of taking harder classes - the most selective schools want you to take a rigorous course load, but a B in the AP class will hurt both your weighted and unweighted GPA compared to an A in the honors class (A in honors = B+ in AP, not too much weight added). She helped those who asked figure out where they needed to be. Everyone else got teacher recommendations, and a bit of guidance if their schedules looked out of whack, but maybe not as much assistance because they didn’t seem to want it. With 50+ kids from each of 4 grades, she chose to focus on the kids who were actively working with her - help those who help themselves.</p>
<p>I don’t think she would have refused to send recommendations to any individual school, though she might discourage applications if they seem totally inappropriate. But the culture at our HS is a bit odd. The Pricipal stopped D in the cafeteria to let her know she is a National Achievement Semi Finalist - the office still needs to get the paperwork to her. She is ranked 51 out of 250, so just missed top 20%, yet we have NO National Merit Semi Finalits, and while they take PSAT both Sophomore and Junior years, they didn’t really do anything with the sophomore results to encourage those who might be close to work on bringing their scores up.</p>
<p>one of younger D’s friends has an older sister in college whose GC never suggested taking SAT II exams. When she found out friends in the next town over were taking them, she contronted GC who said she didn’t need them, because kids from our town don’t apply to schools that require them - this to the #3 ranked student! Yes, the kids need to research a bit to see what is required to the schools they want, but it’s a bit too late at the beginning of Senior Year to take the SAT II for US History when you took the class as a Sophomore!</p>