Where DS goes to school, the counselor is now recommending...

[Ann.without.an.e]

As a PSA, remember don't trust pre-med advisors at colleges either - even top colleges.  Check their credentials as apparently many are hired with no background for their job and no desire to learn about it.  We're still reeling...  What we are finding from (multiple) knowledgeable people vs what my guy was told from his college's advisors keeps our heads spinning.  It's making the knowledgeable folks' heads spin too.  There is absolutely no reason my guy should be needing one more year before starting med school.  It's 100% due to bad advising - incorrect info - and he's not the only one affected (this year or other years).

 

On the plus side, next year things should be very different... but still, it's another year of his life for an already long commitment, esp since he's already taken an extra year.

 

 

Basically, wherever they are - homeschool, private school, public school, or college...we will always be their best counselors.  We can't 100% hand that over to someone else.  You would think that we could do that in college, right?  I was sick to my stomach over what your DS is going through.  It is just wrong on all levels.  

[creekland]

Basically, wherever they are - homeschool, private school, public school, or college...we will always be their best counselors.  We can't 100% hand that over to someone else.  You would think that we could do that in college, right?  I was sick to my stomach over what your DS is going through.  It is just wrong on all levels.  

 

At a higher ranked school that has its own med school, one would think they could trust the pre-med advisors.  That seemed so logical it never entered our minds otherwise.  Instead, they picked graduates with no background in the field?  Why???  And then those graduates make minimal effort to actually learn their job or advocate with it as happens at other schools.

 

I updated on the acceptance thread that at least now he has knowledgeable people in his corner giving him correct info - all via those who he knows personally who were also upset when they found out what happened - and all at no cost to him (saving us from having to go with a private counselor). It's renewed his mind that nothing is wrong with him.  He should be set for next year... and who knows, maybe one of his two wait lists will come through for this year.  If not, he has decent ideas of what to do with his time.  He's not the type to sit around doing nothing with his life.  ;)

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I haven't finished reading everyone's replies but that is what the counselors here recommend - the reach, the possibility, the safety. Some of the more rural schools are one-and-done.  From what I've seen, the number of schools a student applies to is related to the parents education level and economic status. Students of higher educated, professional parents tend to apply to more, and a wider variety, of schools than the students from blue collar or working class families. Our counselors do nothing to help the students work on finding schools that will be the best fit for them nor do they encourage schools from outside the midwest (unless it's an Ivy or a Big 10).

[FaithManor]

I haven't finished reading everyone's replies but that is what the counselors here recommend - the reach, the possibility, the safety. Some of the more rural schools are one-and-done.  From what I've seen, the number of schools a student applies to is related to the parents education level and economic status. Students of higher educated, professional parents tend to apply to more, and a wider variety, of schools than the students from blue collar or working class families. Our counselors do nothing to help the students work on finding schools that will be the best fit for them nor do they encourage schools from outside the midwest (unless it's an Ivy or a Big 10).

The problem that I see with one and done if the that one is a safety and generally a state school is that often times due to being local, lower priced, and high acceptance rates, the freshman classes are very full with many students having to wait until winter semester to even start. Large student to instructor ratio, late start, ...not a fan. That is what happens out here in rural land. The commuter university - also known locally as "Crappy But Cheap State U" - is so over booked that the average time in school for a full time student to graduate is over six years! Two things, the advising is absolutely horrible, and the classes they need are always full. It isn't so cheap anymore when one pays per credit hour plus books for coursework that doesn't count towards graduation or doesn't get a prerequisite they need out of the way.

 

So I am not a fan of that advice for the local kids. They do so much better if they have high enough stats to pick a "safety" that still has lower acceptance rates or lower matriculation rates so the classroom sizes are manageable.

 

But often the uninformed guidance counselors around here tell the kids to just one and done to Crappy But Cheap State U which usually leaves the student pretty unhappy a year later, but locked in because a TON of our other state U's and nearly all of the privates do not accept credits from Crappy. This is another fact that local guidance counselors are entirely unaware of. Oh, and the truly unbelievably crappy CC who know self respecting school in Michigan will accept credits from gets a lot of recommendations too! I have warned, and warned, and warned. Guess what? They are closing for a TON of violations. I tried to tell a local student not to go there and instead enroll in Ferris State for their two year welding technician degree. Nope. Had to go to crappy because it was cheaper. 3 semester later, none of his credits are any good, and he is starting from scratch at.......you guessed it! Ferris State.

 

Sigh....

 

These poor kids. I feel for them. But as the "homeschooling" parent, my opinion with the local PS teachers and administrators is not given any notice.