Friday, September 25, 2009
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About Me
- Ted Liu
- Sugar Land, Texas, United States
- Born and raised in Shanghai, China, I have been in the States for over twenty (20) years, fourteen (14) of which as a guidance counselor at one of the top high schools in the greater Houston area. My career interest is mainly, as you have probably already guessed, in college consultation.
Question, is/are there any advantage/s to apply early?
ReplyDeleteIt really depends. This a good question. Each school and each student is different, you or your student needs to find a timeline which works both for you and your school(s). Try to avoid any kind of game playing, in terms of getting into "Early Decision, Early Action, Single Choice, etc" when you are not certain or don't really care about your ultimate college of choice. Does that make sense?
ReplyDeleteMy daughter brought home the Transcript Request Forms and the Counselor Letter of Recommendation “getting to Know you” packet.
ReplyDeleteShe has asked me to help her figure out what is required. Two of the schools she is applying to use “The Common Application for Undergraduate Admissions”. I am sure you are familiar with it. I am looking at the print version, but she plans to complete it online and submit the electronic version. The Common App, does have a Section SR, Secondary School report, which my understanding comes to you via email if she is applying electronically. Most of the counselor requirements on that form are very basic, class rank, how demanding was her schedule, how many honors courses does the school offer, etc. There is an open ended question called “Evaluation”. So here is my “gray area” and question, the Transcript request form has a “Paperwork Needed from my Counselor” section and it appears that if you are requesting a form to be completed (like Form SR of the Common App) you don’t need to provide the “getting to know you” package”.
Am I guessing correctly or do you need student, parent and teacher input in order to complete the “Evaluation” question?
This is a good question. What I always do on Secondary School Report of the Common App is to fill out all blanks and for the open ended Evaluation part, I always write something like, “See the Attached Letter of Recommendation.” I always feel very strongly a well-written letter from me does a far better job than a short paragraph. So, to answer your question, yes, I do need you to complete the packet.
ReplyDeleteSomething else needs to be clarified a little bit after rereading your comment/question. Since our system is not equipped to upload the official transcript and the school profile securely, you do have to download the Secondary School Report, furnish all the info required, print it out and send it in to me with the packet, the transcript request(s), as well as the addressed/stamped envelope(s). I will forward everything to our registrar's office as soon as I am done with the SR. From there, they will put it in the mail with all the required documents in the same envelope.
ReplyDeleteOn the commonapp website it asks for the position of my counselor. I don't know what to write for this. Should I put counselor or something else?
ReplyDeleteCounselor will just do. Here is my info,
ReplyDeleteTed Liu, Counselor at William P. Clements High School
4200 Elkins Road, Sugar Land, TX 77479
School Code: 446784, email: Ted.Liu@fortbendisd.com
And my phone number is 281-634-2262, fax number, 281-634-2261.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about the whole letter of recomendation process. For the people that I want to write my letters of recomendation, what do I tell them? Should they send them straight to you? should they be hand written or saved on a disk or something of that sort? and then once I do get the letter or reccomendation, what do I do with them and how does this all tie in to the transcrpit form that is handed out at the registrar's office?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, please make sure the school(s) that you are applying to require(s) letters of recommendation. Because the vast majority of them out there don't, and the letters usually carry little weight in the admission process unless there is something exceptional to write about you. Then, if, only if, it is required that letter(s) of recommendation be part of application, you start to approach your teachers, past or present, that you know for sure they are going to give you a good letter. Give them time (a couple of weeks usually), and information about you, like a resume. Ask them nicely, of course, with a clear instruction in terms of how you want it to be handled, deadline etc. Like I said so many times in the past, each school is different. You have to find what the school(s) want(s) specifically, when putting together the instruction. Most schools want everything together in the same envelope which you need to provide, meaning you need to instruct the people writing your letter to send the letter(s) to your counselor, usually your counselor has his/her part to complete for those schools. Once your counselor has collected the letters, he/she will then forward the whole packet to the registrar's office with the transcript request form sent in earlier with the addressed and stamped envelope as well as any other paperwork required by your school(s). There in the registrar's office, an official transcript, and a school profile are usually the items put in the envelope and it will then go out to USPS. One envelop/transcript request per school, please. Those letters need to be typed, dated and signed using the school letterhead. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteI am parent of childs in the clement high school. how to help my kids get rank/gpa good? Should he stay honors? What grade she get befour I worry? Thank so much!
ReplyDeleteIs your child a senior already? If yes, then I am sorry to tell you that there is little you can do, the game is pretty much over. Generally speaking A's B's from honors are fine. Watch out for those C's even D's.
ReplyDeleteNone of my family members have gone to college, and I'm not sure if it's worth it to send my child to one. Should I?
ReplyDeleteSince we also need to ask teachers to fill out an evaluation in the "Getting to Know You" packet, should we ask them to fill out both the packet and their own letter of recommendation at the same time?
ReplyDeleteBoy, that is a loaded question on whether or not to send a child to college while nobody else in the family has been. Tell you what, let me take care of this student first and I will get back to it. For letters of recommendation, I think it will be just fine as long as you give them clear instructions on what exactly to do. My suggestion is to separate everything (counselor's packet, teacher's recommendation etc) with clearly marked/labeled folders and individual instructions inside. Please also take a close look at my October 6's posting.
ReplyDeleteI am back. On the question of whether or not a college education is something worth doing. My answer is a definite yes, even though I understand the arguments out there like "My mechanic makes a lot more money than you do and he did not even graduate from high school." I personally think that is simply some lame excuse, and I don't think I need point out the statistisc showing college graduates earn up to 25% more than high school graduates and additional 15% more than the high school drop-outs on the average according to the Labor Department. Further more, while "your mechanic" may be a success story, I am sure you know quite a few who struggle all the time. Plus, what would it be like if "your mechanic" had a college education? Is it possible "your college educated mechanic" would be even more successful? I think you know the answer to this question already. Of course, I am not trying to say that everyone must go to college and college education is the only key to success. Just like you send your child to Clements, as parents, we only want the best for our kids, a college education makes it more likely for a more successful life. That's all.
ReplyDeleteMost schools has programs/scholarships for first generation college students which could substantially reduce the cost. Please look into it.
What is the "getting to know you packet"?
ReplyDeleteIt is also known as the Counselor's Letter of Recommendation Information packet. It is for those students who need the counselor to write letters of recommendation as a part of their college application. It serves as an information gathering instrument for counselors to do a better job on making overall assessment/evaluation of our students. It consists of a student self-evaluation form, teacher assessment check lists, a parent brag sheet, and a sample transcript request form. We are in the process of uploading the complete packet onto our website after a recent revamp. You should be able to see/download it from CHS site very soon.
ReplyDeleteMr. Liu, if you will be writing a letter on behalf of a student for one college because it is required for their admission procedure, is it any trouble to forward that same letter to another college, where it may not be required but could be useful in a competitive situation (specifically UT). And if so, should the letter be sent with the transcript, non-electronically or can the transcript have been requested separately?
ReplyDeleteGood question! I would be more than happy to send the letter to UT if requested. Together with the school profile, we would have to send both of them separately through USPS, snail-mail. Please provide us with the addressed and stamped envelope when making the request.
ReplyDeleteI am confused about the time needed for processing letters of recommendation and transcript requests. It says the counselor's letter needs 3 weeks, and transcript request needs another 2~3 days, but what about teachers evaluation sheets? Another week? How many days total in advance do we need to plan on?
ReplyDeleteGreat question! It takes up to three (3) weeks to have counselor's letter of recommendation request processed. The registrar's office asks for an additional couple of days. I think these are pretty clear. The confusion comes in when teachers' evaluation sheets are required as part of counselor's "Getting to Know You" packet. You can take care of that part in a number of ways. The common practice here at CHS is that you give us your completed part of packet at least three (3) weeks prior to your application deadline, and inform us from whom we will be expecting the teachers' evaluation which you may have just given to them or earlier. And please give the teachers a reasonable time-frame to work with and instruct them to send the sheets directly to us.
ReplyDeleteHere is a clarification regarding the transcript process from the CHS Registrar's Office.
ReplyDeleteStudents needing transcripts for in-state schools can fill out a transcript request and put all texas schools on one form. Students requesting transcript requests for out of state schools must supply an addressed, stamped 9x12 size envelope with 3 stamps along with the transript request form for each out of state school. Submit transcript only requests to the registrar's office.
Texas State schools do not require teacher or counselor recommendations. The counselor's office will accomodate a student that requests a counselor recommendation for a state school. In this case, you must submit your transcript request form and check off counselor recommendation on the bottom of the form. Submit the transcript request form with an envelope to the counselor's office. Teacher/Counselor recommendations can not be uploaded with an electronic transcript and therefore must be mailed out separately.
Hope this clarifies some of the confusion.
Most colleges “prefer” all the additional info, (besides on-line application,) in the same envelope. The students have been instructed to tell teachers to send their letters to us, counselors, but we are not actually waiting for them in terms of being responsible for collecting them. Does that make sense? If the Secondary School Report is ready, it is going to be sent immediately. If the teacher’s letter comes in later, we, counselors, will tell the student to get a stamped and addressed envelope (if we don’t already have one) and we will put it in the mail. Hope this clarifies a little bit.
ReplyDeleteOn the Teacher Evaluation and Secondary School Report, there is a blank for the CEEB/ACT code, what is that?
ReplyDeleteIt is the same code as SAT school code, which is 446784 for Clements.
ReplyDeleteIs it more important for students to attend a school with an excellent reputation and rank or a school that is exceptional in my daughter's major, but doesn't have a good reputation?
ReplyDeleteFor the past couple of days I have been thinking about a better way to answer the question. I actually started answering it directly but as I soon found out, I put myself in a place I did not want to be, meaning, it was not at all what I was trying to convey. I then realized that the questioner had focused on the aspects which should not be the primary consideration when it comes to the ultimate college choices. It is a process one should always try to go through. Here are some of the steps.
ReplyDeleteGenerally speaking, one looks at following when he determines which one to choose.
The Needs of the Student - What is he looking for in his college experience? What is/are his personality, interest(s), his strengths and weaknesses?
Location - Where does he want to go to school? Far from, or close to home? Eastern/Western coast, the south/north, mid-west, plains, mountains, etc? Weather should always be a factor, too. Which does he prefer? Cold or hot? In each region, he can always find a school best fits his needs, and with “a great reputation/rank”.
Size - How big/small of a school he does want to go? Size always matters, in terms of class, school, student and professor ratio are all parts of it. Furthermore, number of programs, books in the library, and lab facility etc also usually go with the size of the college.
Setting - Urban or rural? The question is often if he wants to a school in a big city or a small town; or if he even cares about experience so-called “campus life”. Security can be a concern, too.
Program/major – Do they have what he want? How strong the program is? Job prospects, or professional school acceptance rate, or do they have many well-known scholarly program recipients like, Rhodes, Goldwater, Truman or Fulbright, etc?
Cost – How much is expected to contribute by the family? Do they offer need-based only financial assistance, or both merit and need based aid? How much can we afford? Do we have a budget?
Selectivity – How selective those schools are? Can he get in with what he has? What kind of students got in for the past 3~5 years?
There is always this public vs. private which I think ties into all of the above. Usually, private schools are smaller in size, cost more, more growth orientated college experience, better service in terms of individualized advisory, lower student teacher ratio which further leads to more individual attention/interaction/supervision etc. While as public institutions are usually bigger in size, less expensive, more diverse, have more programs/majors, bigger/better lab/library facilities, higher student teacher ratio which leads to, on the contrary, less personalized advisory/attention/interaction/supervision etc.
One more thing, college visit should always be an integral part of the process. Many questions listed above can easily be answered through college visits.
Hope this helps.
I want to apply for the Texas A&M Scholarship, but I need to send in my application in by the first. Do you think if I give you the green form on Monday it will be in by Dec. 1 ?
ReplyDeleteThey also have a single page info sheet we are supposed to fill out. Please bring both in ASAP with an addressed and stamped envelope and I will see what I can do.
ReplyDelete