<p>I don’t think that is the case at all!!! I don’t think the CC dictates to any of the kids where they should apply. I don’t think she even makes recommendations quite in the way that you are insinuating! She works with the kids to come up with a list tailored to them, using a process very similar to what we use here on CC to help students posting their lists. All the steps that people list here as good ideas, she uses - including questionnaires, interviews, Parents’ brag sheet/rec. She relies heavily, she says, on what teachers say about the student and what the parents say in their letter to come up with things to put in her letter.
They do “dictate” that most everyone apply to big state U, but it is done in this way - probably 50% of the class ends up going to one of our 2 flagship state unis, another 10-20% go to one of the other state unis, and another 10-20% go to an immediate neighbor state school (often because one or more parents is an alum). So, since the biggest single group in the class has one app to fill out, they pull all the seniors out of class one morning, sit them down, and help them fill out those apps. If a student does not want to apply to these schools, they can work on their essays during that morning, but a lot of kids, like my D, are struck wordless by sitting in the theater facing an empty page, and end up filling out the state school app because it is much easier than writing an essay!</p>
<p>My GC never “dictated” where to apply - she would just honestly tell you what she felt your chances were at a specific school. Obviously, if you’re ranked low in your class and your SATs and grades aren’t amazing, it’s going to be a super super reach for you to get into, say, an Ivy…and she would tell you that. She would recommend looking at some lower-tiered schools, probably. Outside of making sure we had a reasonable safety on the list, she didn’t mandate our college application list at all.</p>
<p>My S’s GC also did not dictate schools, but rather, tried to be very pragmatic and made sure the students had realistic choices, yet still encouraged applying to reaches - within reason. She was VERY concerned about my S choosing a school 1500 miles from home even though a good match for him (but with good reason since we were also looking at issues relating to his AS) and had strongly suggested a small local LAC with good LD services, but at the same time she understood and respected his decisions, and sought his - and even my advice - on what to include in her recommendations and how to best highlight his strengths (especially concerning disclosure issues for the schools where we did disclose)</p>