Please note that guidance counselors vary greatly in their energy, passion, knowledge, and willingness to help the students.
Do not just rely on the information you get from your child’s guidance counselor. Verify with another source you trust. Is there a student from this same school that graduated in the last two years that you know and can ask college questions?
Some counselors are overloaded with too many students and don’t have time to go the extra mile. Some are only knowledgeable about the college path that 90 percent of your high school seniors take. So if that path is local community college for two years, then transfer to local four year college, that might be how your counselor pushes your child.
Ask other parents who are sending their kids to college if the counselor is trustworthy and diligent. There are strict deadlines for college admission paperwork and the guidance counselor recommendation letter. Find out now how your school requires you to place a request for transcripts and letters. Is there a Fee? Some schools place a restriction on how many colleges you can apply to, since every application increases their workload. How far in advance do you have to make a request?
You don’t want to get your counselor mad at you, so always be kind and generous with gratitude.
There is something called a brag sheet, and you can use it to help teachers and guidance counselors when you ask them to write recommendation letters. It helps to tell them details about the student, their academic stats plus extracurricular activities and any awards. You list accomplishments and interests, along with future plans for career. You should get your child working on the brag sheet now. List things starting with ninth grade.
You should get your child thinking now about which teachers to ask. With so many seniors, the teachers will have lots of letters to write. You want to give them four weeks notice before your college application deadline. You want the teacher that “gets” your child, the one who understands them and appreciates their academic interests. It can even be a class your child did not make the best grade in, but put forth great effort, made great improvement in during the junior year, or just the class where they were super passionate and added great discussions during the class.
Keep asking questions in this forum, this is a great resource. There is hope, there are options, and there is still time to make college happen for your child.
For every fee you learn about, always ask if there is a waiver. And you may still have time to document the ADHD and receive accommodations. This could increase the SAT score to make your child eligible for more scholarships. Let your child think about this, but she needs to decide quickly. You must have a doctor’s diagnosis and there is a process that takes some time and diligence to get approval . I would let your child decide, but you need to tell her the Math Score needs to come up some to get the best chance for scholarships.