<p>my guidance dept might as well not exist. the other day my counsuler came up to me in the hall and asked me where i was considering applying to college…and was shocked when i informed him that i had already done all 9 of my applications. by the way this was in february.</p>
<p>couldn’t even answer the poll - depends entirely upon the individual you get as counselor. After extremely poor response from one counselor - no call backs, no meetings, no sense that the guy even knew son’s name, we switched to one a friend recommended and wahoo - what a difference. Actual advising went on. And, son had best two terms ever. Advising matters! Be proactive - get a good counselor.</p>
<p>I know my guidance counselor is one of high calibur. She is an incredibly intelligent, strong, and confident woman. I admire her very much.</p>
<p>The only downside is that she is so well-respected and connected to so many of the major functions of the high school, it’s hard to get her attention sometimes. </p>
<p>Still, she knows her stuff. Our guidance department overall is very top notch. Every graduating class from our high school has an extremely high percentage of students going on to Ivy League and top tier colleges. It also helps our school has a reputation nationwide.</p>
<p>OK, this gets a bit confusing. Daughter’s high school is split - 9-10 at one campus, 11-12 at another campus. So her counselor changed in 11th grade. Now there are three counselors for just over 1200 students. Each junior had an appointment to meet with their counselor. Daughter’s assigned counselor had a planned absence - tried to reschedule, but daughter had to meet with substitute. So daughter went to see counselor on another matter and finally met her - turns out she’s quite knowledgable and helpful! </p>
<p>Honestly, I can’t imagine why colleges put so much emphasis on the GC recommendation. Except for private schools, there is no way a GC can possibly know enough about a student to write a good recommendation.</p>
<p>I adore my guidance counselor, and everyone in the counseling/college centers for that matter. However, I can’t say they know very much about the application or college search process at all…they have even given me some wrong information on a few occasions!</p>
<p>We have been so fortunate. First, our PHS GC load is reasonable (1/50 seniors - of course, they have Freshmen-Junior also, but the "heavy lifting seems to be with the Seniors). Second, the are knowledgeable and responsive. Third, they advocate for the students. Fourth, they “guide” exactly as they are supposed to. Having spent time on cc, I haven’t heard of any GC office which offers more or better than we have. Hence, I am even more appreciative.</p>
<p>We LOVE our guidance counselor. I am not speaking of the guidance office but more of our particular beloved GC (he is one of three in the combined MS/HS). And our love of him is not really for the reasons you might be guessing such as help with the college process itself which was not that much. </p>
<p>The middle and high school combined has about 750 kids. I am guessing that the GC is assigned 250 kids from grades 7-12. The GC stays with the child for all six years. Perhaps the GC (just doing the math) has 40 seniors and not all are heading to college. Here is how our GC has been terrific…</p>
<p>First he KNOWS my kids very very well. He has been with them for years. My kids have frequent contact and we have had a bunch of contact over the years. He has advocated for my kids in many instances to meet their learning needs/accommodations. He is someone who tries to make anything work as he thinks outside the box and just cares so much about kids that he is not willing to let obstacles stand in the way. He will go out on a limb if need be. He takes an interest in the kids and tries to keep tabs with what is going on in their life. He comes to their athletic and performance events. He stops them at school to talk. They stop by his office to talk. He returns our phone calls within 24 hours, usually the same day. He never acts rushed. He follows up on things. </p>
<p>Fast forward to the college process. No, he did not assist us in selecting colleges. In fact, I think he refrains from suggesting colleges to students. We did the entire process ourselves. Perhaps those needing more help got it, I am not sure. I think the process part was all in our own laps but that was fine with us. We did not look to him to help select the schools or do the applications. He has too much on his plate with all kinds of student issues. He DID meet with us as a family in spring of junior year to discuss my child’s college plans and any related issues. If something needed following up, he took care of it. He went out of his way to meet with adcom reps of colleges my D applied to who either visited our HS or were at a regional college fair to chat about my D. If information was needed that only a counselor could call about, he did it. My child did all the application stuff on her own with my guidance. </p>
<p>The GC…now here is where he was a BIG help…wrote a very personalized two page narrative report for each of my kids’ applications. It was clear he knew my kids. His letter brought tears to my eyes. When the child completed each app, one at a time, she would tell the GC we were ready to mail in our package and then she would go to his office and help him put HIS package to the school in order and make sure everything was set and he would mail his out the same day we mailed the child’s application. Once he called my D’s adcom after an EA deferral, even though our school is an unknown rural public and had never had a student to go this college. He chose to advocate for her anyway. He had such confidence in the kids, that was another plus. He was like their cheerleader/support person. We may have done the college search and application process on our own but he was invaluable in terms of support and interest in the kids’ process and outcome and in writing a personalized outstanding letter on their behalf for each school. </p>
<p>As far as the department goes, I think they need to do a better job. Most families have NO clue how to go about the college process. I think the department should hold sessions for kids and their parents early on to go over every step of the process. Somebody needs to. I get concerned (as do my kids) about the kids whose parents are not actively involved and the school really does not do that much in guiding the process. I did not mind cause I liked doing it myself. But again, our particular GC is such a great person who has been invaluable to have in my kids’ court throughout their middle and high school years. He was the one constant, and his biggest attribute is that he CARES about kids! The logistical help is less important to me. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>soozie - you almost made me take back my “haven’t heard of any better” comment. But actually you helped me realize part of what works in our GC as well. Altho our GC does not start w. the student in MS, she does in 9th - so four years of getting to know/follow. The personalized narrative is there too. And, as our GC said to us parents early in the process - their goal is to “paint a picture of your student as s/he is on her best day.” And that is what they go ahead and do. </p>
<p>And while I am joining you in our individual GC love fests, my S’s GC went out of her way to guide me as I worked to help my step-grandson, who lived hundreds of miles away, went obviously to a different high school, in his college search. She suggested out-of-the-box alternatives for him, steered me to Admissions Counselors within his targeted state U that I could speak to, gave me ideas of how to approach her… </p>
<p>The above all to flesh out for the “poll” about what really makes an outstanding GC/department.</p>
<p>JMMom, your GC sounds TERRIFIC. I think the world of ours too but as I said, it is not for all the reasons that people might have thought of. He really did not have to do with selecting schools or the applications themselves. He also is not THAT THAT up on the whole elite college admissions stuff to the degree that I think I am knowledgeable. We have had about two kids per year go to top colleges so it is not like he deals with this type of admission on a regular basis. For instance, I showed him books such as The Gatekeepers that he would not have heard of. Another example along these lines were that while I appreciate how much he truly believes in my girls, I don’t think he truly knew that in today’s situation with elite colleges, even the most qualified kids can be denied. He felt my D would get into all her schools (well, she nearly did, so I guess he was not so far off the mark). But to this day he bemoans that he will never ever get over that she was not admitted to Yale and I keep telling him that I DO believe it because I knew going into it that there is an element of a lottery nature to it and kids that are kept out are not that different than those taken. Times have changed. He would not be aware of things like last year’s so called Yale Massacre and all that jazz. That’s ok because we did not depend on him for the inside stuff or help with the colleges per se. His value to us has been more OVER the years on an ongoing basis, as the person in the school that helped my kids’ with their overall learning plans. And then the other value is in how well he knew the girls, took an interest in them and has supported them and then with colleges, was able to write very specifically about them in such a wonderful way. I do read many posts on the boards that say their GC does not know them. That is the opposite of my kids’ cases. My D who is now at Brown, STILL keeps in contact with her GC via email (and I know he does this with others besides my D, so it is not a special case) and she went in to see him when she was home briefly on winter break. I know he sends birthday cards to former students in college and follows up with them after they graduate because he WANTS to. His walls in his office are covered with photos with his “kids” and pennants from their schools and notes of appreciation, etc. I see my D’s gift of a mug from Brown when she decided to go there, right on his desk. </p>
<p>He always wanted to come to their games and shows. It is so nice having someone in the school who cares about the kids on an ongoing basis. My younger child, over the years when there was some issue that had to be worked out with a teacher, asked her GC to sit in on the meeting, as she felt supported by his being there. </p>
<p>I guess what I am saying is that it is not so much help with colleges that we got but that we got a person who cared about my kids, us, and who knew them well. He may not be well versed on the types of schools my kids applied to…one to highly selective colleges and one to highly seletive specialty programs…but what mattered was he was interested and was always there when we needed him. That is what has meant the most. To have someone in your court, is a very nice thing at school. We will miss him once this second child graduates but we know we will stay in touch.</p>
<p>my counselor is just awful… its just unbelievable!
first off, she told me i couldnt do full IB which is the most rigorous schedule. i really regret that, it<code>ll definately hurt me in admissions to top colleges. she thinks im really stupid, even though shes never looked at my report card. i just hate her so much!
she also loses peoples application forms. i know this one senior who had his application lost by the GC 3 times! and then, she send applications to different colleges. this one grl got her applications and all sent to a different college. last yr, this guy also got his stanford application sent to a safety school… i dunno if it hurt his chances or not, but he got rejected. he got accepted to stanfod tho…
and the thing is, our school is so small! only about 40 ppl per grade. and she can never do anything with the juniors because</code>shes busy with the seniors`, even tho theres only like 30 seniors this yr.</p>
<p>When I contacted the guidance counselor earlier this year to inquire about resources to help my d with her study skills (she was struggling with the reading and homework requirements of AP classes) the counselor asked if she might be doing drugs or had boyfriend problems. This counselor was new and had never met my kid. When I replied no, she said, “well if she were having emotional problems or substance abuse problems, or if she needs a schedule change, I can help. Otherwise, you can try the NHS tutors.” What? Heavy student load is no excuse.</p>
<p>I work at a large public HS, and am good friends with one of the GC’s. Like soozivt’s school, we only had about 2-3 kids going to top tier schools each year. The GC would freely admit that they were not up to speed on the process 2 years ago. Ironically, CC was the catalyst that turned the tide. A parent forwarded a link to her, and she spent the majority of her summer researching this site, reading the recommended books, and communicating with the upper tiers. She also joined forces with a GC from one of the private schools in the area (which has a very high acceptance rate to the top schools) and shared info and resources. She’s convinced the district to expand on the SAT prep classes and parent education. So far this year, we’ve had 3 kids accepted ED/EA to Duke/Yale and another 9(including my son) in the RD process for the upper tiers and competetive LAC’s. When my son decided to apply to Duke, she sent me here right away. I never even had to register because the majority of my questions had been answered before I even knew what to ask. Between her and the CC community, I feel extremely educated on the process, and comfortable with my son’s selection of reaches/matches and most importantly, his safeties (already accepted to 2). However, if the GC had not done her homework on her own time, none of these changes would have happened. Thanks <em>L</em> if you’re lurking!</p>
<p>lucksymom - Another GC to elevate to the pantheon. It is one of life’s unfairnesses that we draw the gems and cal0302 and japstudent are stuck with, well, Un-Guidance counselors.</p>
<p>One of our counselors told my friend that she was ranked first in the class. A couple months later they found out they made a mistake and she was actually ranked tenth. She had to write letters to all the colleges she applied to and explain. Plus, she went from thinking she could be valedictorian to being ranked tenth.</p>
<p>I really like my counselor, he’s really easy to talk to, and he’s pretty knowledgable, but with close to 500 students each, they don’t have the time to individually help every student. There is a seperate college counselor, but our only interaction was though the scheduling meetings for next year’s classes throughout the years, and the same goes for most other juniors as well. Most seniors know her better, but again, she can’t devote the time to that many students.</p>
<p>My counselor is the most useless sack of overpaid arse. She doesn’t help me with anything. I transfered here this year, and she ignored everything I asked her about, and when I tried something, she just told me to ‘go to the principal’ or ‘the person downstairs takes care of this’. And my principal is even worse, so any ‘major’ issue a student has here, they have to go to the district to solve, which I am going to do in the coming months. Eugh. By the way, we’re supposed to be the best public school in the state. Hah.</p>
<p>my counselor is ok. I never ask her for any advice or college questions ( i go here and to my terachers for that). but she’s nice and doesn’t screw up my schedule. that’s about all I think a public counselor should do (unless they revamp thiis so one person isn’t trying to tkae care of 500 students).</p>
<p>I like my guidance counselor. I was thinking about self-studying some APs earlier in the year and she was going to find out what schools offered which and would schedule me there and blah blah blah! She does her job and even cares about how my life is going! :o She liked to hear about how my ECs were and my stress-levels and yadada.</p>
<p>I approached this Senior year with a lot of trepidation. My kids go to a very large high school and the counselors are assigned in huge groups according to your last name, so they obviously can’t know each kid individually.</p>
<p>I actually am responsible for two kids who are Seniors…my d and a “s” who has been living with us a relatively short time. One kid was NOT on track to even graduate and now, thanks to their counselor’s encouragement and involvement and interest over the last couple of years, that kid will do so this May and is applying to community college programs. The other, a 4.0 student and highly ranked in their class, has received prompt attention and, I assume, good recs that were based upon a “resume’” that the counselor had each senior write to describe their activities, as well as upon an individual interview. These are two different couselors (two different student last names), and both, I feel, did a good job with two very different situations. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to handle such a large student load with priorities at such extremes! My hat is off to them!</p>
<p>The counselors at my school are very lazy. Although my counselor does call the admissions office to chat with the admissions officer who is reviewing my application, he often forgets to send in most of my supplemental material. For instance, I worked so hard to get a regional politician to write me a letter of reccomendation. After the letter was sent to my counselor, he just filed it away, without sending it to any of my schools.</p>