Any college admission counselors in A14?

heids4787 · December 2013

As a college admissions counselor, I am both intrigued and terrified of what I will be like as a parent when my LO starts the college search. I know I'm 18 years early, but I can't help thinking about it due to my profession. I still deal with parents of transfer students who call to do their dirty work. Your 24 years old! Stop having your mom fix everything for you!! I pray that I'll be a helpful, yet honest parent that won't sugarcoat the experience for my kids.

heids4787 · December 2013

I've worked at two mid-size state universities over the past few years(13-16k UG). Although the name of the school has changed, the run-ins with the parents has not, LOL.

zoopsiedaisy · December 2013

I was briefly at a community college and blown away at how many parents came with their kids to schedule and were the ones who had picked the classes. They were also the ones to get mad when their kids couldn't get classes because they were there two weeks before classes started and the good times were full. It's scary to think of how dependent these people are!! Of many ages too!

heids4787 · December 2013

heids4787 said:
As a college admissions counselor, I am both intrigued and terrified of what I will be like as a parent when my LO starts the college search. I know I'm 18 years early, but I can't help thinking about it due to my profession. I still deal with parents of transfer students who call to do their dirty work. Your 24 years old! Stop having your mom fix everything for you!! I pray that I'll be a helpful, yet honest parent that won't sugarcoat the experience for my kids.

Ugh. Because I'm crazy I have to fix my grammatical error: "YOU'RE 24..." There. Much better :-)

JulianneJacks · December 2013

Your child will be lucky to have a parent in the know. I'm shocked about how little guidance counselors know about different college opportunities. I think that part of it is because they don't want to encourage kids to apply to too many schools because it's too much work for them, the guidance counselor not the student. When I was in high school the college admissions officer at my private high school recommended we apply to around 6 to 12 schools if you didn't get into one ED or EA. Many kids in high school are being told to only apply to 3 or 4. There are a lot of schools that will waive the application fee if you apply online so applying to a lot of schools doesn't have to cost a fortune. We plan on sending our kids to public school and if they are college bound the guidance counselor is going to have to deal with more than 3 applications.

snmetz7 · December 2013

I've worked admissions before, and advising, and assessment now I'm in financial aid.

"helicopter parents" is what they call them. You can HELP them, just don't do it FOR them they will never learn if you hold their hands through everything and they will expect that everyone will hold their hands and do everything for them (i posted about this yesterday)

nessabeers · December 2013

I was an admissions advisor for a trade school and holy cow yes. I couldn't believe how many students would bring sometimes both parents in to talk about something that could be handled by themselves. Grow up already!

Usually like you've all said it was delivering bad news because their "child" was skipping classes, missing tests and not making them up in an appropriate matter. She signed a contract and we gave her a copy, simple as that. She's a big girl and makes her own decision, sometimes they decide to fail on their own and blame us- as we send various reminders and offer unlimited resources of assistance... Some people's children.

nessabeers · December 2013

I do have to add, one of my students schooling was paid by her grandfather. Who she would sign to release her grades to quarterly- and he couldn't understand why such a "bright girl" was so behind... Hours on the phone literally... some people just don't want to see what is right in front of them.

The financial aid director and I had a lot of fun cases we'd discuss at weekly meetings, I felt like a therapist half the time listening to life excuses.

Serenla · December 2013

LalaMama81 said:

heids4787 said:

I've worked at two mid-size state universities over the past few years(13-16k UG). Although the name of the school has changed, the run-ins with the parents has not, LOL.

I wish I could remember some of my better stories. I think the worst was a Dad who called basically saying, "My kid's roommate sounds like he's black based on his name; my sons not used to that." Ummmm....
...what?

Serenla · December 2013

My parents never held my hand after 18, well except when we found mold and roaches in my dorm room then my Mom went nuts on housing, but that aside I had classmates who would go sign up for classes. I was just floored, I mean isn't this why we have academic advisors? To help you pick your own classes and such?

I had to show one of my dorm mates how to do laundry.

LolaX2 · December 2013

I worked as an administrative assistant at an elite college admission office for 7 years. I used to get so disgusted with the parents, some would even call and try to pretend that they were the kid! I understand that people want their kids to get into good schools, but seriously the hand holding and doing everything for them is not helping them! If anything it hurts them, at some point they need to grow up an learn to do some things on their own.

LolaX2 · December 2013

Forgot to add - I now work in Counseling and Pcych services at the same college and I REALLY get to see how unprepared. immature, emotionally stunted and unresilient these kids are. They don't understand the first thing about how to get along without mommy and daddy at every step of the way...

bootsiebabe · December 2013

What a wake up call about what NOT to do!!

Serenla · December 2013

ColleenSwerb said:
All of this is SO mind boggling to me. The generation of kids hitting college and such gives me little hope for humanity.
Although on the flip side, I think it's made people my age (31) who are having kids so disgusted that we will do everything in our power to make sure our kids are NOT like that, lol.

My kids will have chores, and if they want money/cars they can get a job, and they will for SURE know what "no" means. And oh the personal responsibility, for SURE they will learn that. Oy.

The millennial generation is also know as the "me" generation has that reputation sadly, it drives me nuts because I'm a millennial and I HATE being lumped in with that.

Serenla · December 2013

ColleenSwerb said:
Oh I def don't think they are ALL like that, but the issue is rampant.

It really is, I was just floored by it when I got to college. Not many of my friends are like that so when I realized that a majority kind of was, my mouth dropped. I mean as soon as I was old enough to see over the counters I was doing chores and such.
It even translates to where I work now! Some of the adults my age need hand holding, it is silly.

JulianneJacks · December 2013

ColleenSwerb said:
All of this is SO mind boggling to me. The generation of kids hitting college and such gives me little hope for humanity.
Although on the flip side, I think it's made people my age (31) who are having kids so disgusted that we will do everything in our power to make sure our kids are NOT like that, lol.

My kids will have chores, and if they want money/cars they can get a job, and they will for SURE know what "no" means. And oh the personal responsibility, for SURE they will learn that. Oy.

Actually I think a lot of DH's 34 yr old friends are even worse than the millennials parents. They are spoiling they're kids so much and they think they're children are entitled to everything.

The school system has also changed to cater to bad behavior and give students more chances. The only contradiction to this is what I mentioned above- guidance counselors encouraging students to only apply to 3 colleges bc they don't want to send the hs transcript out to more schools. At least this gives kids a chance to deal w red tape and learn that they are going to have to learn how to politely get lazy people to help them through out life.

heids4787 · January 2014

These stories are so sad, but so great and true. I think my worst story was when I wore my alma mater's t-shirt while running errands and a stranger/mom explained her daughter was applying there. I made the mistake of mentioning my connections as a tour guide, but that I now work in higher ed at "blank" University in college admissions. She then proceeded to call me at my job to talk about getting her daughter into my alma mater (WHERE I DON'T WORK) and who she could reach out to. Mind you, all I said to her was my first name and the University I work for... yep, she tracked me down. OMG. Suffice it to say, my old supervisor put this mom in the "cray" file and she likely sabotaged her daughter's application.

sugarrush · January 2014

heids4787 said:

I've worked at two mid-size state universities over the past few years(13-16k UG). Although the name of the school has changed, the run-ins with the parents has not, LOL.

and the worst part is, it doesnt stop at undergrad or grad school... it carries right up through to MED School. Yep. The stories I could tell you all...

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