<p>I met independently with son’s GC sophomore year, because she was new to the school and he had been shuffled around between a few different GCs during freshman year. (large-ish public high school, she was probably assigned at least 200 - 250 kids at different grade levels). Son joined us for the 2nd half of the meeting. My goal was to make sure she knew a little about him, but also to start getting a directional list of colleges to consider.</p>
<p>The first part worked - she knew him better than I thought. Props to her. But the second part was an epic fail…she had me nearly in tears thinking my son wasn’t going to get into any college, ever! He was a typically lazy “B” student freshman year, but not a failure at all. And she was very discouraging about his ability to move up to honors or AP tiers. </p>
<p>Again my son and i met with her junior year to finalize a list of colleges to visit… I found she only had knowledge of schools within about a 100 mile radius where probably 30 - 40% of the kids from our school attend. Anything outside of that, she just said it would be a reach for my son (not kidding). </p>
<p>As time went on I only contacted her on periodic logistical matters - I tried to let my son handle most of them, but found I had to follow up.</p>
<p>When he went over his final application list with her at the beginning of senior year (I didn’t attend), he was told that he was reaching too high and needed more safeties. Thankfully I did my own research and studied the naviance graphs, etc… long story short son was admitted to 10 of 12 schools he applied to, 6 with merit money. (still waiting on one more… my bet is he gets in!) Reaching too high my A$$! </p>
<p>So advice to OP or any others reading this thread… GCs are overworked. They are not always well informed about the vast number of school choices available to kids who aren’t in the median. Do your own research, the internet is awesome. You do need to make sure they know your child, because their recommendation is considered by colleges… but I have to hope it’s not weighted that highly, at least at a large public school. You also need to double check and make sure they submit all of the required paperwork at application time. But other than that, at a public HS, don’t expect more.</p>